BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

o 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


COPYRIGHT  SECURED,   1884,  BY 

WM.  CAREY  CRANE. 


PREFACE. 


IN  the  year  1865,  Mrs.  Margaret  M.  Houston  (widow  of  Gen.  Sam 
Houston),  with  whom  I  had  become  acquainted  at  Marion,  Ala., 
in  August,  1839,  when  she  was  Miss  Lea,  requested  me  to  undertake 
to  write  the  life  and  edit  and  publish  the  literary  remains  of  her  hus- 
band. I  did  not  then  feel  competent  to  the  task,  especially  as  I  had 
only  seen  the  General  twice  in  my  life,  once  at  the  President's  house 
in  1846,  and  again  on  the  floor  of  the  U.  S.  Senate  in  1852  ;  on  both 
occasions  while  I  was  with  our  mutual  friend,  Hon.  Stephen  Adams, 
M.  C.  from  Mississippi.  With  reluctance  I  consented,  in  the  belief 
that  the  parties  to  whom  she  referred  me  for  aid  and  information 
would  give  me  their  assistance.  None  of  these  parties  have,  to  this 
day,  given  me  any  aid,  except  two ;  to  whom  due  credit  has  been 
given  in  this  work.  All  counselled  delay.  An  extract  from  one  of 
the  gentlemen  named  as  my  counsellor  and  assistant,  will  account 
in  some  measure  for  delay.  It  is  dated  March  23,  1866:  "  It  does 
not  seem  to  me  that  there  is  any  pressing  urgency  to  present  the 
Life  and  Labors  of  Gen.  Houston  to  the  world.  It  is  true  that  they 
will  possess  a  paramount  interest  so  long  as  the  Republic,  or  State,  or 
Country  of  Texas,  whichever  it  may  be,  shall  possess  an  interest  for 
men  ;  yet  even  in  this  view  there  is  an  advantage  in  bringing  out  a 
book  in  an  opportune  time.  At  the  present  time  every  mind  that 
thinks  is  powerfully,  often  painfully  preoccupied  with  the  strange, 
anomalous,  grave  condition  of  our  affairs,  with  the  uncertainty  of 
our  future  and  of  that  of  the  gigantic  Government  of  the  United 
States."  The  writer  of  the  letter  from  which  this  extract  is  taken 
referred  me  to  my  old  schoolmate  and  fellow-townsman  in  Rich 
mond,  Va.,  Major  James  W.  Scott,  of  Houston,  and  Washington  D 
Miller,  Esq.,  the  admirable  private  secretary  of  Gen.  Houston.  Both 
of  these  gentlemen  have  passed  away ;  but  each  did  all  he  could  to 
put  me  in  possession  of  needed  information. 

From  Mrs.  Houston  I  had  one  positive  injunction  ;  which  was,  to 
have  at  least  one  chapter  setting  forth  Gen.  Houston's  religious 
character ;  which  I  have  given.  I  have  consulted  the  following 
authorities  : 

1.  "  Private  Records  of  Sam  Houston's  Administration  of  the  Presidency  of  the 
Republic,  from  1841  to  1844."     A  most  important  written  volume,  the  most  val- 
uable of  Houston's  literary  remains. 

2.  C.  Edwards  Lester's  "  Houston  and  his  Republic." 

3.  Hon.  Ashbel  Smith's  "  Reminiscences  of  the  Texas  Republic." 

4.  Col.  V.  O.  King's  "  Battle  of  San  Jacinto  viewed  from  American  and  Mex- 
ican Stand-points." 

(3) 


4  Preface. 

5.  Articles   in  "Texas  Almanac"  of  1859,  viz.:  (i)  "Compendium    of  Early 
History  of  Texas."    (2)  Gen.  Sam  Houston.    (3)  Life  of  Stephen  F.  Austin.    (4) 
Life  of  Gen.  Edward  Burleson.     (5)  Dr.  N.  D.  Labadie's  "  San  Jacinto  Campaign 
and  Texan  Revolution." 

6.  Col.   Alexander   Horton's  "  Sketch  of  War  of  '36,"  Eastern    Texan,  San 
Augustine,  Aug.  i,  1857. 

7.  Letters  of  W.  S.  Taylor,  Esq.,  and  Gen.  Sidney  Sherman's  Correspondence 

8.  Correspondence  of  W.  M.  Gilleland  and  R.  J.  Calder,  Esqrs. 

9.  Correspondence  of  W.  H.   Dangerfield,  Secretary  of  the   Treasury,  and 
Minister  to  France. 

10.  Rev.  H.  S.  Thrall's  "  History  of  Texas." 

11.  Yoakum's  "  History  of  Texas." 

12.  Gen.  Waddy  Thompson's  "Recollections  of  Mexico." 

13.  A  large  mass  of  letters,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers. 

I  have  been  aided  by  the  kind  counsels  of  many  gentlemen  ;  es- 
pecially by  the  Hon.  Ashbel  Smith,  who  prepared  the  very  able 
chapter  on  the  Finances  of  Texas  during  Houston's  Presidencies 
and  the  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Samson,  D.D.,  now  of  New  York  City,  who 
furnished  the  chapters  on  Houston's  Congressional  Career.  Dr. 
Samson  has  furnished  the  main  points  of  speeches  which  are  not 
placed  among  the  State  papers  ;  it  would  require  a  dozen  volumes 
to  publish  every  document.  Major  Moses  Austin  Bryan  has  aided 
me  in  important  verbal  statements.  Prof.  C.  H.  Wedemeyer  and 
my  son,  Royston  Campbell  Crane,  also  have  given  very  valuable  aid. 
C.  Edwards  Lester,  having  written  "  Houston  and  his  Republic," 
under  the  same  roof  in  Washington  City  with  Gen.  Houston,  and 
Mrs.  Houston  having  informed  me  that  Gen.  H.  had  told  her  that 
Lester's  book  was  the  only  reliable  account  of  him  then  written,  I 
have  taken  his  statements  without  question,  and  often  used  his  lan- 
guage, although  consulting  and  comparing  all  varied  statements 
with  his  points  of  fact.  While  I  have  had  the  countenance  and  aid 
of  all  Gen.  Houston's  children,  I  am  especially  indebted  to  his  son- 
in-law,  W.  L.  Williams,  Esq.,  and  his  lady,  Mrs.  Maggie  Houston 
Williams,  and  also  to  Temple  Houston,  Esq.  I  am  largely  indebted 
to  my  lifelong  friend,  Dr.  Samson,  already  alluded  to,  for  assist- 
ance in  this  work  indispensable  to  its  success. 

The  truth,  without  fear,  favor,  or  affection,  has  been  the  only  aim 
in  the  preparation  of  this  work.  Little  reference  has  been  made 
•to  the  Santa  Fe  Expedition.  Gen.  Houston's  relation  to  it  was 
mainly  to  save  it  from  disaster.  Let  the  people  of  Texas  read 
this  volume  with  the  earnest  desire  to  obtain  a  satisfactory  history 
of  the  life,  times,  and  labors  of  Sam  Houston ;  which  it  is  believed 
these  pages  will  afford  to  the  candid  reader. 

WM.   CAREY   CRANE. 

BAYLOR  UNIVERSITY,  Independence,  Texas,  Jan.  26,  1884. 


CONTENTS  OF  VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

Early  History  of  Texas  before  the  Battle  of  San  Jacinto — The  Name 
— Spanish  and  French  Efforts  at  Colonization— Moses  Austin  and 
his  Colony  of  Three  Hundred  Families — Stephen  F.  Austin  — Sam 
Houston 9 

CHAPTER    II. 

Parentage  and  Early  Life — First  Efforts  in  Education — His  Boy-life 
among  the  Cherokee  Indians 17 

CHAPTER    III. 

His  Early  Military  Career — Common  Soldier,  Orderly-Sergeant,  En- 
sign, Lieutenant — Battle  of  Tohopeka— Service  under  Gen.  Coffee 
and  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson 24 

CHAPTER    IV. 

Studies  Law — Admitted  to  the  Bar — Letters  of  S.  V.  Drake  and  F. 
Golladay — District  Attorney — Major-General — Member  of  Congress 
— Governor — First  marriage — Reasons  for  Leaving  his  first  Wife 
— Departure  to  the  Indians 31 

CHAPTER    V. 

Life  among  the  Indians — Wrongs  done  them — His  condemnation  of 
such  Wrongs — His  Difficulty  with  Hon.  Mr.  Stansbury,  of  Ohio — 
The  Caning — Trial  by  House  of  Representatives  and  Courts  of  D.  C.  39 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Texas  Struggling — Houston's  first  Visit  to  Texas — Letter  to  Gen. 
Jackson — Letter  of  John  Van  Fossen  to  Houston — The  Convention 
at  San  Felipe  de  Austin — Efforts  to  form  Texas  into  a  Constitu- 
tional State  of  Mexico — Houston  in  the  Convention — Austin,  as  a 
Messenger  to  Mexico — His  111  Success 46 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Texas  Triumphing — Struggles  under  Austin  and  Houston— Consulta- 
tions and  Collisions  in  Council — Houston  appointed  Commander-in- 
Chief — Commission  Revoked — Grant's  Effort  to  Capture  Matamoras 
— Troubles  connected  with  Gov.  Henry  Smith's  Administration — 
Siege  and  Capture  of  San  Antonio  by  Gen.  Burleson — Declaration 
of  Independence — Houston  again  appointed  Commander-in-Chief  .  53 

(5) 


6  Contents. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

PAGE 

The  Alamo — Goliad — The  Fall  of  one,  the  Massacre  of  the  other — 
Movements  of  Gen.  Houston,  before  and  after  these  Memorable 
Events— Movements  Preparatory  to  the  Battle  of  San  Jacinto  .  62 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Battle  of  San  Jacinto— The  Hero  Chieftain  and  the  Hero  Soldiers — 
Gen.  Houston's  Report — Col.  Robison's  Report  of  Capture  of  Santa 
Anna — T.  Houston's  Address  and  Exercises  at  Unveiling  of  Memo- 
rial Monument 77 

CHAPTER    X. 

Capture  of  Santa  Anna— Statement  of  Joel  W.  Robison,  Esq. — Intro- 
duction of  Santa  Anna  to  Houston — Conversation — Scene  with 
Young  Zavala — Almonte — Arrival  of  the  Government  ad  interim 
— Houston  Leaves  the  Army — Goes  to  New  Orleans  for  Medical 
Aid — The  Cabinet  Treats  with  Santa  Anna — Troubles — Extract 
from  Hon.  Ashbel  Smith's  Speech  at  Austin  in  1879  ...  99 

CHAPTER    XI. 

Houston's  Election  to  the  Presidency — Departure  of  Santa  Anna  to 
Washington  City— His  Conduct — Sent  to  Vera  Cruz  in  a  U.  S.  War 
Vessel — Memorandum  of  Gen.  Houston  for  Santa  Anna  .  .  .116 

CHAPTER    XII. 

Recognition  of  Texan  Independence — Close  of  Gen.  Houston's  First 
Term  as  President — Gen.  Felix  Huston — Efforts  to  Conciliate  the 
Indians — Mirabeau  B.  Lamar  elected  President  .  .  .  .124 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

The  Succeeding  Administration  the  Reverse  of  Houston's — Houston 
a  Member  of  the  Texan  Congress — Santa  Fe  Expedition  and  its 
Result— War  on  the  Indians — Letter  to  Anthony  Butler — Estimate 
of  the  Patriotism  and  Public  Virtues  of  M.  B.  Lamar  and  D.  G. 
Burnet .133 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

Gen.  Houston's  Second  Presidential  Term — The  Exchequer  System  of 
Finance — Annexation — Rumors  of  Invasion  by  Mexico — Veto  of 
Bill  to  make  him  Dictator — The  Excitement — Appeal  to  the  Great 
Powers  for  Recognition  of  Independence  .  .  .  .  .  .139 

CHAPTER    XV. 

Impressions  produced  by  the  Appeal  to  Great  Powers— Annexation — 
Correspondence  with  Hon.  Mr.  Van  Zandt — Attitude  of  the  United 
States,  France,  and  England— Views  and  Positions  of  President 
Tyler .  .  148 


Contents.  7 

*-* 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

PAGE 

Secret  Message  to  the  Texan  Congress  on  Annexation  .        .        .        .153 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

Close  of  Houston's  Second  Term  as  President — Resolutions  of  the 
Senate — Houston's  Management  of  the  Finances  of  Texas  during 
his  two  Administrations,  and  his  Admirable  Success — A  Review 
and  Explanation  of  the  System 1 56 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Houston's  Entrance  into  the  U.  S.  House  of  Representatives,  Dec.,  1823 
—His  Contemporaries  and  the  Questions  of  the  Hour  .  .  .166 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

Houston's  Four  Years  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  from  1823  to 
1827 175 

CHAPTER    XX. 

Houston's  Entrance  into  the  U.  S.  Senate,  March,  1846 — Questions  of 
the  Day— Movements  of  interest  .  .  ."  .  .  .  .187 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

Houston  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  under  President  Polk,  from  March,  1846, 
to  March  4,  1849 193 

CHAPTER    XXI  I. 

Houston  in  the  Senate  under  the  Whig  Administration,  from  1849  to 
1853 203 

CHAPTER    XXII  I. 
Houston  in  the  Senate  under  President  Pierce,  from  1853  to  1857        .    215 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 

Houston  in  the  Senate  under  President  Buchanan,  from  March  4,  1857, 
till  his  Retirement,  March  4,  1859 226 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

Career  of  Houston  as  Governqf  of  Texas — State  Measures — Want  of 
Harmony  between  the  Executive  and  the  Legislature — Secession — 
His  Deposition  from  the  Gubernatorial  Office 231 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

Closing    Days — Resolutions  of  Texas    House  of   Representatives — 

Soeech  of  Hon.  J.  H.  Banton,  of  Walker  Co.      .  .  236 


8  Contents. 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

PAGE 

Gen.  Houston's  Religious  Life— Letter  of  Rev.  Geo.  W.  Samson,  D.D. 
— Statement  of  Rev.  George  W.  Baines,  Sr 240 

CHAPTER    XXVI  I  I. 
Anecdotes — Interesting  Letter  of  Gen.  E.  G.  W.  Butler        .        .        .246 

CHAPTER   XXIX. 

Domestic  Life  of  Sam  Houston — Mrs.  Margaret  Moffette  Lea  Houston 
—Poetry 253 

CHAPTER    XXX. 
General  Estimate  of  Houston's  Character 258 


APPENDIX, 


Texan  Declaration  of  Independence  March  2, 1836 — Names  of  Signers .    263 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Youthful  Portrait Frontispiece,  Vol.  I. 

Letter  of  Jackson, To  face  page  42 

Santa  Anna's  Advance  to  San  Jacinto,   -        ...  "          "70 

Battle-Field  of  San  Jacinto, "          "80 

Memorial  to  Santa  Anna, "          "122 

Portrait  in  Age,  .        .        .        .        .        .        .      Frontispiece,  Vol.  II. 


CHAPTER     I. 

EARLY  HISTORY  OF  TEXAS  BEFORE  THE  BATTLE  OF  SAN  JACINTO— THE  NAME— SPANISH 
AND  FRENCH  EFFORTS  AT  COLONIZATION— MOSES  AUSTIN  AND  HIS  COLONY  OF  300 
FAMILIES— STEPHEN  F.  AUSTIN— SAM  HOUSTON. 

A  MAP  of  North  America,  with  the  West  India  Islands,  was  pub- 
lished in  London,  February,  1777.  It  was  laid  down  according 
to  the  latest  surveys,  and  corrected  from  the  original  materials  of 
Governor  Pownall,  member  of  Parliament.  On  the  region  between 
our  north-eastern  boundary  and  the  Colorado,  as  laid  down  on  that 
map,  the  name  TICAS  is  found  in  capital  letters.  It  is  assumed  by 
students  in  aboriginal  and  Spanish  etymology,  that  Ticas  is  the  same 
as  the  present  word  Texas.  The  history  of  the  discovery  of  Texas 
has  been  in  dispute.  Yielding  credit  to  authorities  possessed  of  the 
best  means  of  giving  true  information,  it  will  be  admitted  that  early 
Spanish  navigators  first  discovered  Texas,  landed  on  its  coast,  and 
laid  claim  to  the  country.  Previously  to  1595  they  established  settle- 
ments on  both  sides  of  the  Rio  Grande.  This  was  nearly  one 
hundred  years  before  La  Salle,  the  French  navigator,  then  in  search 
of  the  mouth  of  .the  Mississippi,  was  carried  by  errors  of  reckoning 
out  of  his  course,  and  landed  on  Matagorda  Bay,  February  18,  1685. 
La  Salle  was  a  gallant  knight,  and  claimed  the  country  under  the 
name  of  his  master,  Louis  XIV.  Enterprising,  firm,  talented,  he  was 
furnished  by  his  king  with  a  squadron  of  four  vessels,  manned  by 
300  men.  Touching  land  first  near  Sabine  Bay,  making  no  discover- 
ies, and  obtaining  no  information  from  the  Indians,  La  Salle  pro- 
ceeded westward,  sailed  through  Pass  Cavallo,  and  entered  the  Bay 
of  St.  Bernard,  now  known  by  the  same  name.  Wrecking  unfortu- 
nately one  of  his  vessels  in  the  attempt  to  land,  he  succeeded  in 
landing  the  men  of  the  other  three,  and  formed  a  camp  on  the  west 
side,  near  the  entrance  of  the  bay.  Game  and  fish  refreshed  the  new 
comers.  The  country  charmed  them.  They  saw  herds  of  deer  and 
buffalo  grazing  on  the  prairies,  and  innumerable  wild  flowers  cover- 
ing the  earth.  They  were  cheered  by  the  warbling  of  wild  birds  in 
the  trees,  and  a  sky  clearer  and  brighter  than  Italy  smiled  upon 
them.  It  was  not  strange  that  they  fancied  they  had  reached  an 
earthly  paradise.  But  troubles  with  the  Indians,  supplies  failing,  sick- 
ness thinning  their  numbers,  disagreements  between  La  Salle  and  his 
leading  men,  the  desertion  of  a  captain— leaving  with  a  vessel  carrying 


10  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

most  of  the  ammunition  back  to  France — finally  determined  the 
colonists  to  abandon  this  location  and  seek  a  new  one  on  the  La 
Vaca  River.  Here  a  fort  was  erected  named  St.  Louis,  in  honor  of 
Louis  XIV.  of  France,  and  La  Salle,  adventurous  in  spirit,  burning 
with  intense  desire  to  ascertain  the  exact  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  soon  after  started  to  explore  the  vast  regions  between  Texas 
and  Illinois.  Enduring  incredible  hardships,  and  meeting  with  many 
wild  and  romantic  adventures,  he  was  finally  murdered  by  one  of  his 
own  men.  Hearing  of  La  Salle's  death,  the  Indians  attacked  Fort 
St.  Louis,  killed  or  scattered  all  the  colonists,  and  this  ended  the 
French  attempt  to  found  a  colony  in  Texas.  Early  in  1686  the 
Spaniards,  holding  possession  of  Mexico,  heard  of  the  efforts  of  the 
French  under  La  Salle  to  make  settlements  in  Texas,  and  determined 
to  drive  them  out  of  the  country.  In  1689,  an  expedition  of  one 
hundred  men  left  the  Spanish  settlement  of  Monclova,  and  reached 
Fort  St.  Louis  on  the  La  Vaca  River.  Finding  it  abandoned  they 
went  into  the  country,  where  they  found  two  of  the  French  colonists 
among  the  Cenis  Indians  ;  taking  them  prisoners  they  sent  them  to 
Mexico,  condemned  to  work  in  the  mines.  Returning  to  Fort  St. 
Louis,  the  Mission  of  San  Francisco  was  established,  and  priests  and 
friars  commenced  efforts  to  convert  the  Indians.  The  king  of  Spain 
was  determined  to  maintain  possession  of  Texas  and  Cochinla,  and 
appointed  a  Governor,  sent  soldiers  and  priests  to  establish  military 
posts  and  missions,  taking  cattle  for  farm  uses  and  seed  for  planting, 
with  them.  Settlements  were  formed  on  Red,  Nechos,  and  Guada- 
lupe  Rivers.  These  colonies,  as  well  as  that  of  San  Francisco,  began 
early  to  decline.  The  Indians  were  hostile,  crops  failed,  and  the 
cattle  died.  Although  a  first  attempt  at  a  settlement  was  made  at 
San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  by  Spaniards,  in  1692,  all  efforts  for  coloniza- 
tion were  abandoned  in  1693,  and  Texas  was  once  more  without 
European  settlers.  Little  was  done  to  settle  Texas  until  1715.  Per- 
manent occupation  by  Spain  may  date  from  this  year.  La  Bahia,  or 
Goliad,  was  settled  in  1716,  Nacogdoches  in  1732,  and  Victoria  soon 
afterward.  Efforts  were  made  in  good  earnest  to  found  colonies,  to 
establish  missions,  and  by  arms,  agriculture,  and  arts  to  extend  and 
to  establish  Spanish  influence  and  laws  over  the  whole  country 
Prosperity  did  not  attend  these  efforts  and  sacrifices  ;  as  may  be 
evinced  by  the  fact,  that  the  entire  population  in  Texas  in  1745  did 
not  exceed  fifteen  hundred  people,  with  perhaps  an  equal  number  of 
Indians.  The  fearful  butchery  of  priests,  soldiers,  and  Indian  con- 
verts  at  San  Saba,  by  hostile  Indians — not  leaving  one  alive  to  tell 
the  tale— in  1758,  caused  Spanish  missions  in  Texas  everywhere  to 
decline.  Until  1821,  the  old  Spanish  settlements  continued  to  be 
surrounded  by  savage  Indians,  and  Texas  was,  for  the  most  part,  an 


Spanish  History  of  Texas.  11 

unexplored  wilderness.  During  the  American  Revolution,  of  which 
the  4th  of  July  is  the  memorial  day,  the  Spanish  possessions  of 
Mexico  and  Texas  remained  in  quiet.  Texas  was  safe  from  danger  ; 
her  harbors  were  almost  unknown  ;  her  property  offered  no  tempta- 
tion to  pillage,  and  her  scattered  population  could  afford  no  recruits. 
The  Spanish  settlement  at  Natchez  had  opened  a  trade  with  Texas 
through  Nacogdoches.  This  road  had  become  familiar  to  many 
besides  the  Spaniards.  Traders  on  their  return  would  make  reports 
to  the  Americans  in  and  around  Natchez,  of  the  advantages  of  trade 
in  Texas,  the  surpassing  beauty  and  richness  of  the  country,  the 
abundance  of  game,  and  the  numerous  other  attractions  to  advent- 
urers. Thus,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  tide 
of  trade  and  travel  began  to  take  the  direction  of  this  new  country. 
The  town  of  Nacogdoches  soon  became  a  place  of  much  importance  ; 
many  persons  of  wealth  and  education  emigrated  from  Louisiana  to 
that  place.  The  old  missionary  station  became  a  town  ;  arsenal,  bar* 
racks,  and  substantial  buildings,  some  of  which  are  still  standing, 
were  erected.  And,  although  the  Spaniards  held  "the  country  for  up- 
wards of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years,  little  now  exists  in  Texas  to 
remind  us  of  their  rule,  except  the  names  which  they  gave  to  many 
towns  and  rivers.  In  1810  to  1812  there  was  a  military  expedition, 
composed  of  American  volunteers,  intended  to  aid  Mexico  in  its 
revolt  from  Spain.  This  expedition  proceeded  as  far  as  San  Antonio 
River.  Parties  passed  to  and  fro  from  this  expedition  for  more  than 
two  years.  The  founder  of  the  town  of  Washington  on  the  Brazos, 
Capt.  Jack  Hall,  was  one  of  the  expedition.  It  is  now  generally 
believed  that  all  that  part  of  Texas  known  in  common  parlance  as 
the  white  settlements,  was  thoroughly  explored  by  American  ad- 
venturers previous  to  Austin's  colonial  enterprise. 

Although  Mexico  was  still  under  the  sway  of  Spain,  Moses  Austin, 
a  native  of  Connecticut,  for  a  while  a  resident  in  Virginia,  then  a 
citizen  of  Missouri,  succeeded,  after  various  rebuffs  and  adverse 
courses  of  action,  in  concluding  a  proposition  with'  Don  Antonio 
Martinez,  Governor  of  the  province  of  Texas,  for  the  settlement  of 
three  hundred  families  within  the  limits  of  Texas.  The  Governor 
had  treated  Moses  Austin,  at  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  very  ungraciously, 
and  even  ordered  him  to  leave  the  province  without  delay.  He 
retired  from  the  government  house  resolved  to  leave  San  Antonio  de 
Bexar  within  the  hour.  As  he  crossed  the  plaza  he  accidentally  met 
a  gentleman  with  whom,  many  years  before,  he  spent  a  night  at  a 
country  tavern  in  one  of  the  Southern  States.  This  gentleman  was 
the  Baron  de  Bastrop.  When  together,  they  had  conversed  freely, 
and  had  thus  acquired  some  knowledge  of  each  other,  both  being 
men  of  enterprise  and  of  much  experience.  Now,  when  they  unex- 


]  2  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

pectedly  met  on  the  plaza,  their  recognition  was  instant.  The  Baron 
invited  Moses  Austin  to  his  house,  where  the  latter,  in  a  few  words, 
explained  to  him  the  object  of  his  visit  to  San  Antonio,  and  informed 
him  of  his  interview  with  the  Governor  and  of  its  consequences. 
The  Baron  entered  immediately  into  the  spirit  of  the  enterprise, 
waited  on  the  Governor,  informed  him  that  Austin  was  his  friend, 
and  enlisted  the  aid  of  influential  citizens.  At  the  end  of  a  week  the 
objections  of  the  Governor  were  removed,  and  a  promise  secured  to 
recommend  Austin's  proposition  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  the 
Commandant  General,  Don  Joaquin  Arredondo,  and  the  Provincial 
Deputation  of  the  Eastern  Internal  Provinces,  holding  sessions  at 
Monterey,  and  sharing  with  the  Commandant  General  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Eastern  Provinces  of  New  Spain.  These  efforts  proved 
successful.  Shortly  after  his  return  to  Missouri  he  had  the  pleasure 
of  hearing  officially  from  Governor  Martinez,  that  his  propositions 
had  been  favorably  received  at  Monterey,  and  that  he  was  at  liberty 
to  commence  his  settlement  in  Texas  immediately.  He  commenced 
preparations  to  return  to  Texas,  giving  notice  to  all  who  wished  to 
accompany  him,  to  meet  him  in  Nachitoches,  La.,  in  the  latter  part 
of  May,  1821,  and  proceed  with  him  on  his  way  to  the  Brazos  and 
Colorado.  But  he  was  taken  sick  about  the  first  of  June,  at  the 
house  of  his  daughter,  Mrs.  James  Bryan,  well  known  in  Texas  as 
Mrs.  James  F.  Perry,  and  died  in  his  daughter's  arms,  on  the  loth  of 
June,  1821,  in  the  fifty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  His  family  consisted 
at  this  time  of  his  wife,  who  survived  him  about  three  years,  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Bryan,*  already  named,  of  his  son,  Stephen  F.,  then  in 
New  Orleans,  and  of  a  younger  son,  James  Brown  Austin,  then  at 
school  in  Kentucky,  and  afterward  well  known  in  Texas.  On  his 
death-bed,  Moses  Austin  declared  it  to  be  his  earnest  desire  that  his 
son,  Stephen  F.  Austin,  should  endeavor  to  have  himself  recognized 
by  the  Spanish  authorities  in  Texas,  as  his  representative,  and  that 
he  should  carry  forward  the  enterprise  of  colonization.  The  son 
undertook  the  great  and  noble  work  of  carrying  out  his  father's 
plans.  He  was  born  in  Virginia,  had  been  well  educated,  and  had 
served  with  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton  in  the  Territorial  Legislature 
of  Missouri.  With  the  first  Anglo-American  settlers  he  arrived  on 
Brazos  River,  December,  1821.  He  camped  with  his  party  on  a  small 
creek,  near  the  present  town  of  Brenham,  on  the  first  day  of  January, 
1822,  and  from  that  circumstance  called  the  creek  New  Year's,  a 
name  it  bears  at  this  time.  He  explored  the  country  watered  by  the 
Guadalupe,  Colorado,  and  Brazos  Rivers,  and  laid  out  the  town  of 
San  Felipe  de  Austin,  on  the  Brazos.  He  did  not  succeed  in  getting 


*  Mother  of  Major  Moses  Austin  Bryan  and  Hon.  Guy  M.  Bryan. 


Early  American  Settlers  in  Texas.  13 

a  confirmation  at  the  City  of  Mexico,  after  the  declaration  of  Mexican 
independence,  of  his  authority  to  locate  a  colony,  until  he  had,  with 
two  or  three  companions,  made  the  perilous  journey*  of  1,200 
miles,  on  horseback,  to  the  capital  of  Mexico,  and  had  been  de- 
tained there  one  year  during  the  repeated  changes  of  government, 
by  which  all  supreme  authority  in  Mexico  was  agitated  and  disturbed. 
From  this  time  settlements  began  to  be  made,  as  fast  as  lands  were 
designated  by  the  surveyors  appointed. 

Col.  Jared  E.  Groce  and  Judge  John  P.  Cole  were  the  first  to  come 
to  the  east  side  of  the  Brazos  in  the  winter  of  1821-1822.  Sam  Gates, 
William  Gates,  Amos  Gates  (living  August,  1881),  James  Whitesides 
and  Josiah  H.  Bell  came  to  the  Brazos  in  the  year  1822-1823.  The 
first  Mexican  Civil  Government  was  organized  by  Don  Juan  Antonio 
Sancedo,  Political  Chief  of  the  Province  of  Texas.  His  proclama- 
tion, May  20,  1824.  issued  at  San  Felipe  de  Austin,  assuming  command 
of  the  colony  is  brief  and  sensible.  His  duty  would  be  to  appoint  as 
many  Alcaldes  (Justices  of  the  Peace)  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  people  and  to  command  the  militia.  He 
appointed  Stephen  F.  Austin,  Political  Chief  and  Judge,  until  the 
Ayuntamiento  should  be  organized.  The  first  land  titles  were  issued 
in  July,  1824.  The  first  surveyor  was  Baron  de  Bastrop,  appointed 
commissioner  to  issue  land  titles  by  Governor  Luciano  Garcia,  in  the 
summer  of  1823.  The  first  settlements  in  Austin's  Colony  were  made 
in  different  places  simultaneously,  dispersed  over  a  large  area,  from 
Burleson  County  as  now  laid  down  upon  the  map  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  from  the  La  Vaca  to  the  San  Jacinto. 

From  this  period  may  date  the  American  history  of  Texas.  The 
Mexican  Government  passed  colonization  laws  and  held  out  other  in- 
ducements to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  to  settle  within  the  limits 
of  Texas,  guaranteeing  all  rights,  liberties,  and  immunities  of  Mexi- 
can citizens  for  protection  of  person  and  property. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1824,  the  Federal  Constitution  of  Mexico, 
similar  to  that  of  the  United  States,  was  proclaimed  as  the  established 
policy  of  the  nation,  and  by  a  decree  of  May  yth  of  the  same  year, 
the  provinces  of  Texas  and  Cochinla  were  provisionally  united  to 
form  one  of  the  constituent  and  sovereign  States  of  the  Mexican 
Confederacy.  Under  these  enactments  immigration  began  to  flow 
and  spread  itself  over  the  fertile  domain  of  the  province  of  Texas. 
The  forest  gave  way  to  the  axe  of  the  hardy  pioneer  ;  the  wild  prairie 
to  the  plowshare  of  the  husbandman  ;  plantations  were  opened  and 


*  Austin  (as  will  appear  hereafter  in  this  work)  made  a  similar  trip  in  1835,  tearing 
the  Constitution,  on  which  he  hoped  Texas  would  become  one  of  the  States  of 
Mexico.  He  was  thrown  into  prison  and  kept  a  year,  with  danger  to  his  life 


14  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

villages  sprung  up  on  the  hunting-grounds  of  the  savage.  In  nine 
years  from  the  first  settlement  of  Austin,  the  Americans  had  explored 
the  whole  southern  portion  of  the  province,  and  redeemed  it  from 
the  wilderness  of  the  wild  beast  and  the  Indian,  and  covered  it  with 
an  industrious  and  thrifty  population.  The  news  of  Austin's  Colony 
spread  rapidly  over  the  Western  States,  and  many  adventurers  sought 
to  join  him.  Colonists  came  faster  than  provision  could  be  made 
for  their  support.  Besides  suffering  greatly  from  the  Corankaw 
Indians,  the  first  settlers  were  often  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  living 
entirely  on  wild  game  and  clothing  themselves  with  skins.  Buck- 
skin was  the  common  dress.  Occasionally  a  strolling  peddler  would 
penetrate  the  wilderness  with  a  piece  of  domestic  or  calico,  which 
was  esteemed  as  valuable  and  elegant  as  silk  and  satin  are  with  us 
now.  Letters  now  extant,  give  harrowing  pictures  of  the  sufferings 
of  women  and  children  for  the  ordinary  necessaries  of  life.  Such 
was  the  foundation  of  the  goodly  heritage  now  enjoyed  by  the  in- 
habitants of  Texas. 

Many  other  colonies  succeeded  Austin's  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  Victoria  was  commenced  as  a  new  settlement,  and  Gon- 
zales  laid  off  as  a  town  in  1825. 

In  1828,  Stephen  F.  Austin  obtained  another  contract  to  colonize 
three  hundred  families  more,  on  land  near  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Texas  had  now  become  the  point  of  attraction  to  thousands  of  ad- 
venturers from  all  parts  of  the  United  States.  Men  of  desperate  for- 
tunes and  roving  habits,  speculators  in  lands,  broken-down  poli- 
ticians, refugees  from  justice,  as  well  as  multitudes  of  a  better  class, 
desirous  of  finding  homes  for  their  growing  families  and  increasing 
slaves,*  swelled  the  tide  of  Texan  immigration.  This  tide  rolling 
down  from  the  Northern  and  Western  as  well  as  the  Southern  States, 
excited  the  jealousy  of  the  Mexican  Government,  and  finally  brought 
on  war  with  Mexico,  which  resulted  in  the  victory  of  San  Jacinto 
and  secured  the  independence  of  Texas.  Mexico  was  at  that  time,  as 
unhappily  has  been  its  history  from  the  downfall  of  the  Montezumas 
to  the  coronation  and  execution  of  Maximilian  the  First,  convulsed 
by  political  commotions,  and  harassed  by  most  disastrous  civil 
wars.  The  Texans,  so  long  as  they  were  unmolested  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  their  rights,  took  no  part  and  but  little  interest  in  the  con- 
vulsions of  the  Mexican  Government.  Their  rapidly  growing  strength 
and  steady  adherence  to  republican  principles  began,  at  length,  to 
attract  the  notice  and  arouse  the  jealousy  of  the  Mexican  authorities. 
On  April  6,  1830,  an  arbitrary  law  was  passed,  prohibiting  immigra- 
tion in  future,  of  American  settlers  into  Texas.  Military  posts  were 


*  Slavery  then  existed  in  Texas  and  the  Southern  States. 


Slavery  not  an  Aim  of  American  Settlers.          15 

established  throughout  the  province,  the  civil  authorities  were 
trampled  underfoot,  and  the  people  were  subjected  to  the  capricious 
tyranny  of  unrestrained  military  rule.  Allusions  to  these  and  other 
facts  will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  following  work.  The  atten- 
tion of  Gen.  Sam  Houston  was  turned  to  Texas  about  the  time  this 
tyranny  was  manifested. 

What  the  history  of  Texas  has  been,  the  civilized  world  knows. 
What  Texas  now  is,  and  promises  to  be,  is  the  theme  of  the  press  of 
English-speaking  Christendom,  and  what  it  is  to  be  is  the  vaticina- 
tion of  the  political  prophet. 

Any  history  of  Texas  would  be  incomplete  without  awarding  due 
honor  to  Stephen  F.  Austin.  All  parts  of  it,  from  the  Colony  to  the 
American  State,  exhibit  his  self-sacrifice,  patriotism,  and  ability.  The 
pages  which  will  follow  will  show  what  part  Sam  Houston  took  in 
moulding  and  saving  a  State.  To  Houston  has  been  awarded  the 
high  honor  of  giving  name  to  a  city  which,  in  no  remote  future,  will 
be  a  great  commercial  centre.  To  Austin  has  been  assigned  the 
honor  of  giving  name  to  the  present  beautiful  capital  of  this  great 
empire  State.  Let  the  sculptor  do  his  work,  let  the  painter  exert  his 
skill,  let  the  historian  exhibit  his  ability,  let  the  orator  speak  the 
truth,  Austin  will  say,  "  Lector  circumspice,"  and  Houston  will  say, 
"  Exegi  monumentum  sere  perennius." 

In  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  in  1836,  Hon.  T.  H.  Benton 
said  : 

"  Heartless  is  the  calumny  invented  and  propagated,  not  from  this  floor,  but  else- 
where, on  the  cause  of  the  Texan  revolt.  It  is  said  to  be  a  war  for  the  extension 
of  slavery.  It  had  as  well  been  said  that  our  own  Revolution  was  a  war  for  the 
extension  of  slavery.  So  far  from  it,  that  no  revolt,  not  even  our  own,  ever  had  a 
more  just  and  a  more  sacred  origin.  The  settlers  in  Texas  went  to  live  under  the 
form  of  government  which  they  had  left  behind  in  the  United  States — a  govern- 
ment which  extends  so  many  guarantees  for  life,  liberty,  property,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  and  which  their  American  and  English  ancestors  had  vindicated  for 
so  many  hundred  years.  A  succession  of  violent  changes  in  government,  and  the 
rapid  overthrow  of  rulers,  annoyed  and  distressed  them  ;  but  they  remained  tran- 
quil under  every  violence  which  did  not  immediately  bear  on  themselves.  In  1822 
the  republic  of  1821  was  superseded  by  the  imperial  diadem  of  Iturbide.  In  1823 
he  was  deposed  and  banished,  returned  and  was  shot,  and  Victoria  made  Presi- 
dent. Mentuno  and  Bravo  disputed  the  presidency  with  Victoria  ;  and  found,  in 
banishment,  the  mildest  issue  known  among  Mexicans  to  unsuccessful  civil  war. 
Pedraza  was  elected  in  1828  ;  Guerrero  overthrew  him  the  next  year.  Then  Bus- 
tamente  overthrew  Guerrero  ;  and  quickly,  Santa  Anna  overthrew  Bustamentc, 
and,  with  him,  all  the  forms  of  the  Constitution,  and  the  whole  frame  of  the  feder- 
ative government.  By  his  own  will,  and  by  force,  Santa  Anna  dissolved  the  exist- 
ing Congress,  convened  another,  formed  the  two  Houses  into  one,  called  it  a 
Convention,  and  made  it  the  instrument  for  deposing,  without  trial,  the  constitu- 
tional Vice-President,  Gomez  Fatias,  putting  Barragan  into  his  place,  annihilating 


16  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  State  government,  and  establishing  a  consolidated  government,  of  which  he 
was  monarch,  under  the  retained  republican  title  of  President.  Still,  the  Texans 
did  not  take  up  arms ;  they  did  not  acquiesce,  but  they  did  not  revolt.  They  re- 
tained their  State  government  in  operation,  and  looked  to  the  other  States,  older 
and  more  powerful  than  Texas,  to  vindicate  the  general  cause,  and  to  re-establish 
the  federal  constitution  of  1824.  In  September,  1835,  this  was  still  her  position. 
In  that  month,  a  Mexican  armed  vessel  appeared  off  the  coast  of  Texas,  and  de- 
clared her  ports  blockaded.  At  the  same  time,  General  Cos  appeared  in  the  West, 
with  an  army  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  with'  orders  to  arrest  the  State  authorities, 
do  disarm  the  inhabitants,  leaving  one  gun  to  every  five  hundred  souls ;  and  to  re- 
duce the  State  to  unconditional  submission.  Gonzales  was  the  selected  point  for 
the  commencement  of  the  execution  of  these  orders ;  and  the  first  thing  was  the 
arms,  those  trusty  rifles  which  the  settlers  had  brought  with  them  from  the  United 
States,  which  were  their  defence  against  savages,  their  resource  for  game,  and  the 
guard  which  converted  their  houses  into  castles  stronger  than  those  '  which  the 
king  can  not  enter.'  A  detachment  of  General  Cos's  army  appeared  at  the  village 
of  Gonzales,  on  the  28th  of  September,  and  demanded  the  arms  of  the  inhabitants ; 
it  was  the  same  demand,  made  for  the  same  purpose,  which  the  British  detach 
ment,  under  Major  Pitcairn,  had  made  at  Lexington,  on  the  i6th  of  April,  1775 
It  was  the  same  demand  !  And  the  same  answer  was  given — resistance— battle — 
victory  !  The  American  blood  was  at  Gonzales  what  it  had  been  at  Lexington  ; 
and  between  using  their  arms  and  surrendering  their  arms,  that  blood  can  never 
hesitate.  Then  followed  the  rapid  succession  of  brilliant  events,  which  in  two 
months  left  Texas  without  an  armed  enemy  in  her  borders,  and  the  strong  forts  of 
Goliad  and  the  Alamo,  with  their  garrisons  and  cannon,  the  almost  bloodless  prizes 
of  a  few  hundred  Texan  rifles.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  revolt ;  and  a  calumny 
more  heartless  can  never  be  imagined  than  that  which  would  convert  this  rich  and 
holy  defence  of  life,  liberty,  and  property,  into  an  aggression  for  the  extension  of 
slavery.  Just  in  its  origin,  valiant  and  humane  in  its  conduct,  the  Texan  revolt 
has  illustrated  the  Anglo-Saxon  character,  and  given  it  new  titles  to  the  respect 
and  admiration  of  the  world.  It  shows  that  liberty,  justice,  valor — moral,  physi- 
cal, and  intellectual  power— characterize  that  race  wherever  it  goes.  Let  our 
America  rejoice,  let  old  England  rejoice,  that  the  Brazos  and  Colorado,  new  and 
strange  names — streams  far  beyond  the  western  bank  of  the  Father  of  Floods- 
have  felt  the  impress,  and  witnessed  the  exploits  of  a  people  sprung  from  their 
loins,  and  carrying  their  language,  laws,  and  customs,  their  magna  charta  and  its 
glorious  privileges,  into  new  regions  and  far  distant  climes." 


CHAPTER    II. 

PARENTAGE  AND  EARLY  LIFE— FIRST  EFFORTS  IN  EDUCATION— His  BOY-LIFE  AMONG 

THE  CHEROKEE  INDIANS. 

NEAR  a  locality  known  as  Timber  Ridge  Church,  seven  miles  east 
of   Lexington,  in   Rockbridge  County,  Virginia,  on  the  26.  of 
March,  1793,  Sam  Houston  was  born.      His  birth-day  was,  in  1836, 
the  natal  day  of  a  young  Republic,  in  the  achievement  of  whose  lib- 
erties he  was  the  chosen  leader. 

On  his  father's  and  mother's  side,  in  both  lines,  his  ancestry  is 
traced  to  the  highlands  of  Scotland.  By  the  side  of  John  Knox,  they 
fought  for  "  God  and  Liberty."  With  a  multitude  of  others  they 
were  forced  to  leave  their  Scottish  homes,  and  seek  a  refuge  in  the 
north  of  Ireland.  After  the  siege  of  Derry,  in  which  they  were  en- 
gaged, they  emigratad  to  Pennsylvania.  For  more  than  a  century 
the  ancestors  of  his  father  and  mother  were  near  each  other.  They 
had  settled  in  Virginia,  in  close  proximity,  many  years  before  the 
marriage  of  the  father  and  mother  of  Sam  Houston. 

His  father  was  a  man  of  remarkable  physique,  powerful  in  frame, 
lofty  in  bearing,  and  of  undisputed  bravery.  His  chief  passion  was 
for  a  military  life.  A  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  he  served  succes- 
sively as  Inspector  of  the  Brigades  of  Generals  Bowyer  and  Moore, 
and  held  office  with  the  latter  at  the  time  of  his  death,  in  1807,  while 
on  an  inspecting  tour  among  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  Possessed 
merely  of  a  comfortable  living,  he  bequeathed  to  his  son  only  the 
qualities  of  soul  and  body  with  which  he  was  endowed. 

His  mother  was  distinguished  in  person,  manners,  and  mind.  Her 
countenance  was  impressive  and  dignified,  her  form  tall  and  matronly, 
her  carriage  easy  and  graceful.  Beyond  most  of  her  sex,  her  in- 
tellectual and  moral  qualities  were  conspicuous.  And  the  wild 
scenes  of  frontier  life,  buoyed  by  unflinching  fortitude,  purity,  and 
benevolence,  illumined  her  life.  So  universal  was  her  beneficence 
that  the  poor  and  the  suffering  gratefully  blessed  her  name.  Her 
son  returned  from  a  distant  exile  to  weep  by  her  bedside,  when  it 
was  her  lot  to  die. 

The  influence  of  such  parents  on  Sam  Houston  was  seen  in  every 
period  of  his  life. 

2  (I?) 


18  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

His  early  years  exhibited  a  daring  independence  and  self-reliance 
very  remarkable,  and  to  many  minds  indicated  a  disastrous  rather 
than  a  prosperous  future.  Not  until  eight  years  old  could  he  be  in- 
duced to  enter  a  school-house.  In  the  imperfect  schools  then 
existing  in  Virginia,  he  learned  to  read  and  write,  and  obtained  some 
skill  in  arithmetic.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  father's  death,  which  oc- 
curred when  he  was  thirteen  years  old,  he  had  hardly  been  to  an 
"  Old  Field  "  school  more  than  six  months  in  all.  Through  the  exer- 
tions of  his  father,  the  family  had  been  maintained  in  comfortable 
circumstances,  but  at  his  death  the  burden  of  providing  for  a  family 
of  six  sons  and  three  daughters  fell  on  Mrs.  Houston.  Resolute  of 
purpose,  she  at  once  sold  out  her  homestead,  and  sought  to  establish 
a  new  home  on  the  fertile  banks  of  the  Tennessee  River.  Many  in- 
cidents occurred  on  her  adventurous  journey  to  seek  a  forest  home, 
more  thrilling  than  ever  really  transpired  near  the  classic  haunts  of 
the  old  countries  of  Europe.  Heroic  in  spirit,  this  family  of  four 
females  and  six  males  halted  not  till  it  had  reached  the  verge  of  emi- 
grants' wanderings  sixty  years  ago.  The  Tennessee  River  was  the 
boundary  line  between  the  white  men  and  the  Cherokee  Indians. 
Eight  miles  from  this  river  the  Houstons  pitched  their  tents.  Here 
Sam  and  his  brothers  soon  commenced  breaking  up  soil  never  before 
touched  by  the  plow,  and  providing  subsistence  for  their  mother 
and  sisters.  Here  hard  work  and  Sam  Houston  first  became  familiar. 
For  a  short  time  he  went  to  an  Academy,  which  at  that  time  flour- 
ished in  East  Tennessee.  Translations  of  some  of  the  classics  which 
described  the  ancient  heroes,  who  stood  above  the  ruins  of  Rome  and 
Greece  in  immortal  glory,  fell  into  his  hands,  awakening  his  imagina- 
tion and  stirring  his  spirit.  It  is  said  that  he  could  repeat  Pope's 
Homer's  Iliad  almost  verbatim.  His  anxiety  to  study  the  languages 
of  Rome  and  Greece  became  intense.  He  asked  for  permission  to 
study  Latin,  and  for  some  strange  reason  the  school-master  denied 
his  request.  So  indignant  was  he  at  this  refusal,  that,  turning  on  his 
heel,  he  affirmed  deliberately  that  he  never  would  recite  another 
lesson  so  long  as  he  lived.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  he  kept  his  word. 
Students  of  Homer,  Demosthenes,  Euripides,  ^Eschylus,  or  Sopho- 
cles, probably  never  gathered  more  of  classic  lore  from  their  authors 
in  the  original,  than  Sam  Houston  extracted  from  Pope's  translation 
of  the  Iliad.  Achilles  and  Hector  were  studied  by  him  with  admir- 
ing wonder.  The  contests  of  Trojans  and  Greeks  infused  into  his 
breast  an  enthusiastic  desire  for  the  stirring  scenes  of  martial  life, 
and  the  renown  which  gathers  around  the  hero's  brow.  His  brothers 
did  not  sympathize  with  what  they  regarded  as  his  romantic  fancies, 
threw  around  him  galling  restraints,  and  at  length  placed  him  as 
a  clerk  in  a  merchant's  store.  For  such  a  life  he  had  no  relish.  Very 


Eoyjiood,  Schooling,  and  Indian  Life.  19 

soon  he  was  missing.  Diligent  search  was  made  for  him  for  many 
weeks,  and  at  last  his  family  learned  that  he  was  sojourning,  more  ac- 
cording to  his  existing  taste,  with  the  Cherokee  Indians,  who  lived 
across  the  Tennessee  River.  Questioned  by  relatives  as  to  his 
motives  for  such  a  wild  choice,  he  replied,  that  he  "  preferred  measur- 
ing deer  tracks  to  measuring  tape — that  he  liked  the  wild  liberty  of 
the  red  men  better  than  the  tyranny  of  his  own  brothers,  and  if  he 
could  not  study  Latin  in  the  Academy,  he  could,  at  .least,  read  a 
translation  from  the  Greek  in  the  woods,  and  read  it  in  peace.  So 
they  could  go  home  as  soon  as  they  liked."  Nearly  six  feet  high,  and 
standing  straight  as  an  Indian,  he  commanded  the  respect  and  the 
good-will  of  the  red  men  and  their  families.  He  did  not  make  his 
appearance  among  his  friends  again  until  his  clothes  were  worn  out, 
and  he  returned  for  repairs  and  refitting.  His  good  mother  received 
him  kindly,  and  his  brothers  cared  for  him  properly.  But  he  was 
driven  to  the  woods  again  at  the  first  exhibition  of  tyranny.  Here, 
again,  he  passed  months  in  wild  chases,  with  his  Indian  mates,  after 
the  game  of  the  forest,  wandering  by  the  streams  with  Indian 
maidens,  communing  in  Nature's  language  in  the  period  of  his  life 
which  was  fashioning  the  man  for  his  destiny.  He  was  at  a  school, 
learning  his  lessons,  expanding  those  powers  which  in  after-years 
were  to  be  tested  in  associations  with  the  various  classes  of  human 
nature.  No  other  American  has  ever  had  just  such  an  education, 
and  no  other  one  has  had  just  such  an  occasion  for  the  educa- 
tion which  he  received.  Those  who  prognosticated  the  future 
could  see  no  good  in  these  strange  adventures  and  studies. 
But  he  was  preparing  for  the  career  of  a  soldier,  a  general,  a  diplo- 
matist, a  governor,  and  a  benefactor  of  his  country  and  race.  His 
knowledge  of  Indian  character  became  complete.  His  sway  over  the 
savage  mind  was  powerful.  No  Indian  tribe  violated  a  treaty  with 
the  Republic  of  Texas  while  he  was  its  President ;  a  fact  which  may 
be  traced  to  his  early  acquaintance  with  Indian  character.  But  his 
career  among  the  Indians  entailed  upon  him  a  small  debt  for  articles 
of  taste,  which  he  purchased  for  the  Indians.  To  liquidate  this  debt 
he  returned  to  his  white  friends  and  proposed  to  open  a  school. 
This  was  a  new  surprise  to  those  who  knew  him,  and  the  enterprise 
advanced  tardily.  Persevering,  however,  in  his  determination,  he 
soon  had  more  scholars  than  he  could  teach,  and  was  compelled  to 
send  some  away.  He  raised  the  price  of  tuition  from  $6  to  $8  per 
annum,  and  received  it  in  equal  amounts  of  corn,  variegated  cotton 
cloth,  and  cash.  Having  made  money  enough  to  pay  off  his  debts, 
he  returned  to  his  old  school-master  and  chosen  studies.  The  master 
gave  him  Euclid's  Elements  of  Geometry  to  study  ;  for  a  few  days 
he  carried  this  unpoetic  book  back  and  forth,  to  and  from  school, 


20  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

and  then  concluded,  that  as  he  had  not  tried  to  solve  a  problem,  he 
would  not  try  again  to  be  a  scholar. 

The  following  letter,  from  Miss  N.  B.  Hamilton,  one  of  his  blood 
relatives,  gives  a  running  account  of  his  genealogy  and  entire  life  : 

TUSCUMBIA  ALA.,  May  19,  1866. 
Rev.  W.  C.  CRANE,  D.D.  : 

Having  seen  in  the  Virginia  papers  your  call  upon  the  friends 
and  relatives  of  the  late  Gen,  Sam  Houston,  for  contributions,  I  now 
address  you. 

Being  a  native  of  Rockbridge  County,  a  friend  and  relative,  and 
having  a  brief  genealogical  account  of  the  family,  and  having  been 
honored  for  many  years  by  his  affectionate  interest,  and  wishing  to 
see  justice  done  to  his  memory,  I  will  try  to  send  you  a  few  reminis- 
cences of  our  most  pleasant  intercourse.  For  in  the  social  circle  he 
stood  pre-eminent.  He  seemed  the  inspiration  of  music,  poetry,  love, 
and  friendship,  that  seemed  to  spread  their  radiant  wings,  gilding  his 
delicious  intercourse  with  the  glorious  rays  of  Heaven,  making  his 
associates  forget  they  were  the  denizens  of  earth,  until  separation 
struck  the  wand,  bringing  them  down  to  the  actual.  For  he  was  a 
dreamer,  a  poet,  as  well  as  a  statesman,  patriot,  and  warrior. 

His  letters  to  me  are  purely  family,  and  therefore  too  sacred  to 
bear  the  light  of  publication. 

The  persons  that  have  heretofore  sketched  his  life  have  fallen  into 
a  common  American  error  :  that  to  make  a  hero  they  must  make  him 
spring  from  nothing.  His  fame  needs  the  aid  of  no  such  props,  and 
I  hope  your  history  will  be  more  just  to  his  honorable  ancestry. 

The  Houstons  belonged  to  the  lowlands  of  Scotland,  and  were  of 
note  enough  to  possess  a  Coat  of  Arms,  that  you  can  find  registered 
at  the  Herald's  office  in  London. 

At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  they  embraced  the  tenets  of  Calvin. 
They  have  often  been  called  Puritans.  They  were  of  pure  Celtic 
blood,  unmixed  with  either  Saxon  or  Norman.  The  branch  General 
Houston  is  descended  from  was  forced  to  leave  Scotland,  and  take 
refuge  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  shared  and  suffered  the  woes  of 
the  celebrated  siege  of  Derry. 

About  the  year  1689,  John  Houston  and  his  son  John,  with  many 
wealthy  friends,  emigrated  from  Ireland  to  America. 

Having  a  large  amount  of  funds  with  them,  and  from  the  actions 
of  the  captain  and  the  crew,  they  were  forced  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  intended  to  rob  and  murder  them,  so  they  held  a  consultation, 
and  determined  to  seize  the  captain  and  crew ;  which  determination 
they  put  into  execution,  and  in  eight  days  afterwards  they  landed  at 
Philadelphia,  and  settled  there  ;  where  John  the  second  married  a 


Miss  Hamilton's  Recollections  of  his   Youth.         21 

Miss  Cunningham.  They  had  two  daughters  and  four  sons,  John, 
James,  Robert,  and  Matthew.  One  of  the  daughters  married  a  Gil- 
lespie,  and  the  other  a  Montgomery.  Their  descendants  are  all  of 
the  highest  respectability,  both  in  Church  and  State.  They  all  re- 
moved South.  Three  of  the  sons  and  one  of  the  daughters  removed  to 
Tennessee,  and  the  remainder  settled  in  Rockbridge  County,  Va. 

Gen.  Sam's  grandfather,  Robert,  purchased  a  plantation  on  Tim- 
berbidge,  and  married  Miss  Margaret,  daughter  of  Samuel  Davidson 
and  Ann  Dunlop,  of  the  Scottish  house  of  Dunlop.  They  had  two 
sons  and  five  daughters,  Mistresses  McClung,  Hopkins,  McKee, 
Letcher,  and  Gillespie.  John  was  a  magistrate  ;  Major  Sam  inherited 
the  homestead,  and  married  Miss  Elizabeth  Paxton,  a  lady  of  the 
highest  respectability.  Major  Houston  was  a  very  fine-looking  man, 
and  was  Brigade  Inspector  for  many  years  ;  indeed,  he  lost  his  life 
making  his  last  round. 

When  his  son,  Gen.  Sam,  was  a  lad  not  thirteen  years  old,  Aunt 
Houston  removed  with  her  young  family  to  Tennessee.  She  was  a 
noble  woman,  and  reared  her  family  well,  and  Sam  \vas  a  debtor 
to  that  mother  for  much  that  was  great,  noble,  and  good  in  his 
character. 

From  the  time  he  was  seventeen  history  began  to  write  his  life. 

Much,  very  much,  he  said  to  me  in  confidence ;  from  all  such  con- 
versations I  shall  never  lift  the  veil. 

He  paid  us  a  visit  in  Lexington  after  his  celebrated  rencounter 
with  the  Hon.  Mr.  Stansberry,  of  Ohio.  I  asked  him  how  he  felt 
whilst  chastising  him  :  "  Meaner  than  ever  I  felt  in  my  life  ;  I  thought 
I  had  gotten  hold  of  a  great  dog,  but  found  a  contemptible  whining 
puppy." 

After  he  had  fought  for  and  gained  the  independence  of  Texas,  he 
wrote  to  me  to  come  to  Texas,  offering  me  a  fine  plantation.  That 
was  just  in  character  with  his  profuse  liberality.  He  said  they  needed 
the  influence  of  woman  to  give  stability  to  the  government.  I  jest- 
ingly replied  he  had  the  example  of  Romulus  ;  he  laughingly  said, 
"  he  had  no  doubt  if  he  would  send  and  bring  round  to  Texas  a  few 
ship  loads  of  Yankee  onion  girls,  they  would  thank  him  for  the 
rape." 

At  the  time  of  the  disturbance  of  the  Mo.  Compromise,  his  saga- 
cious mind  intuitively  perceived  the  end.  From  the  beginning  he 
opposed  that  Pandora's  box  of  evils.  He  was  opposed  to  violating 
that  Compromise,  unjust  as  he  viewed  it  in  the  beginning;  yet  there 
had  been  rights  secured  to  the  poor  red  man  that  he  wished  to  see 
inviolably  carried  out.  But  his  greatest  fears  were  realized,  for  he 
said  the  disturbance  was  virtually  putting  the  knife  to  the  throat  of 
the  South. 


22  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

For  the  space  of  a  year,  or  more,  before  his  name  was  brought  be- 
fore the  Baltimore  Democratic  Convention,  in  1856,  I  had  a  regular 
correspondence  with  him,  and  I  yet  think,  if  he  had  followed  my  ad- 
vice he  would  have  secured  the  nomination  for  President.  But  he 
would  not  stoop  from  what  he  viewed  his  lofty  position,  to  secure  it. 

The  winter  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  Convention,  the  politi- 
cians of  Virginia  began  to  view  him  as  the  available  man.  Mr. 
Henry  A.  Wise,  his  inveterate  enemy,  knew  the  importance  of  fore- 
stalling public  opinion,  went  to  Richmond,,  procured  the  hall  of  the 
House  of  Delegates,  thereby  securing  the  presence  of  the  members, 
with  the  ostensible  purpose  of  exposing  Col.  Benton's  treachery  to 
the  Democratic  party.  He  took  the  hour  to  pour  forth  his  bitterest 
shafts  of  satire  and  malice,  against  a  man  that  he  must  have  known 
to  be  innocent.  But  his  purpose  was  effected,  for  the  members  told 
me  they  would  never  touch  Houston,  after  such  an  expose*.  I  wrote 
to  him  at  Washington  city,  begging  him  to  come  and  reply  to  that 
speech,  in  the  same  place,  and  before  the  same  audience.  In  reply, 
he  said,  "  Virginia  had  never  done  anything  for  him,  and  he  would 
never  stoop  to  conciliate  her." 

I  wrote  to  him  that  I  knew  a  woman's  judgment  was  not  worth 
much,  but  unless  he  would  come  and  put  himself  right  before  the 
Legislature,  he  would  lose  the  support  of  the  State,  and  in  that  case 
fail  of  receiving  the  nomination.  I  urged  him  then  to  come  and  pay 
me  a  visit,  hoping  that  if  he  did  his  friends  would  compel  him  to 
speak.  His  reply  was  like  himself  ;  he  said,  how  delighted  he  would 
be  to  see  me,  and  under  different  circumstances  he  would  come, 
"that  no  one  would  believe  I  have  no  ulterior  views  to  serve  if  I 
should  come  to  Richmond." 

I  spent  several  days  with  him  in  Washington,  and  we  parted  a 
short  time  before  the  Convention  met.  He  still  persisted  in  the 
thought  that  Virginia  could  not  prevent  his  nomination.  He  was 
sanguine  of  success,  for  he  well  knew  that  if  nominated  he  would 
sweep  over  the  country  like  an  avalanche. 

That  winter  he  was  surrounded  by  a  great  many  female  relations 
As  he  was  a  great  whittler,  he  whittled  several  small  hearts  out  of 
pine,  and  sent  one  to  each  of  us,  which  we  had  set  and  attached  to 
our  watch-chains. 

In  1834,  he  paid  us  a  visit  on  his  return  from  New  York  and 
Washington,  where  he  had  been  making  arrangements  for  the  liber- 
ation of  Texas.  He  picked  up  my  album  ;  I  said  he  must  contribute 
something.  "  Yes,"  said  he,  "  I  will  contribute  by  correcting  a  mis- 
take." He  was  surrounded  by  a  roomful,  and  in  the  midst  of  that 
crowd,  and  sustaining  his  part  in  the  conversation,  he  composed  the 
following  lines  • 


Houston's  Poetic   Vein.  23 

"Remember  thee? 
Yes,  lovely  girl ; 

While  faithful  memory  holds  its  seat, 
Till  this  warm  heart  in  dust  is  laid, 

And  this  wild  pulse  shall  cease  to  beat, 
No  matter  where  my  bark  be  tost, 

On  life's  tumultuous,  stormy  sea ; 
My  anchor  gone,  my  rudder  lost, 

Still,  cousin,  I  will  think  of  thee." 

I  send  the  above  lines,  not  so  much  for  their  poetic  merit,  but 
merely  to  illustrate  the  character  of  the  man  whose  mind  was  bur- 
dened with  the  uncertainty  of  great  events,  that  were  to  startle  the 
world  by  their  magnitude,  yet  could  turn  aside  to  the  call  of  love  or 
friendship  with  the  graceful  ease  of  a  courtier. 

Very  respectfully, 
N.  B.  HAMILTON. 

The  Houston  family  tree,  as  intimated  by  Miss  Hamilton's  letter,  embraces  the 
names  of  Paxton,  McClung,  Cassidy,  Hopkins,  McKee,  Letcher,  Moore,  Wallace, 
Bradstator,  Pugh,  Guy,  Ross,  and  Hamilton,  names  connected  with  the  best  blood 
and  characteristics  of  Virginia  and  the  American  Union. 


CHAPTER    III. 

His  EARLY  MILITARY  CAREER— COMMON  SOLDIER— ORDERLY  SERGEANT— ENSIGN— LIEU- 
TENANT—BATTLE  OF  TOHOPEKA— SERVICE  UNDER  GEN.  COFFEE  AND  GEN.  ANDREW 
JACKSON. 

IN  1813,  while  the  war  was  progressing  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain,  he  enlisted  at  Marysville,  Tennessee,  in  the 
United  States  Army.  Friends  remonstrated  against  his  becoming  a 
common  soldier,  and  when  his  resolution  was  carried  into  effect,  con- 
sidered him  disgraced  and  unworthy  of  future  notice.  But  he  told 
them,  "You  don't  know  me  now,  but  you  shall  hear  of  me."  His 
mother  consented,  and  stimulated  him  by  encouraging  words  to  aim 
at  success  by  an  honorable  effort.  It  was  not  long  before  he  became 
a  sergeant ;  then  the  best  drill  officer  in  the  regiment.  He  was  first 
stationed  at  Fort  Hampton,  at  the  head  of  the  Muscle  Shoals,  on  the 
Tennessee  River  in  Alabama.  Here  he  was  promoted  to  be  an  en- 
sign, and  afterward  at  Knoxville,  aided  in  drilling  and  organizing 
the  Eastern  battalion  of  the  39th  Regiment  of  Infantry.  For  some 
time  he  was  encamped  with  his  comrades  at  Ten  Islands.  Soon  after, 
he  took  up  the  line  of  march  to  Fort  William,  where  his  regiment  by 
the  way  of  the  Coosa  River,  proceeded  to  Tohopeka,  or  the  horse- 
shoe. For  a  long  time  an  unsuccessful  contest  had  been  waged  with 
the  Creek  Indians.  Open  warfare  they  avoided.  They  hoped  to 
weary  out  their  foes  by  "  forest  ambuscades  and  stealthy  eruptions." 
In  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson  and  his  army,  the  enemy  had  to  contend 
with  foemen  who  excelled  in  military  artifices,  and  who,  with  the  dar- 
ing courage  of  their  natures  nurtured  in  forest  homes,  were  eager  to 
enter  the  strife  even  at  the  cost  of  annihilating  their  Indian  oppo- 
nents. Encamped  at  Fort  Williams,  Gen.  Jackson's  army  contained 
more  than  two  thousand  men  ;  and  through  the  forests,  in  every 
direction,  his  spies  and  scouts  were  scattered.  Guided  by  their 
prophets,  the  Creek  Indians  had  retreated  from  village  to  village  and 
gathered  the  whole  of  their  available  force,  the  chosen  warriors  of  the 
nation,  one  thousand  strong,  on  a  bend  of  the  Tallapoosa  River,  well 
described  by  its  name  Tohopeka,  or  the  horseshoe.  Here  they  resolved 
to  stand  and  risk  their  destiny  on  a  single  contest.  The  horseshoe 
bend  is  a  peninsula,  comprising  about  one  hundred  acres  of  land, 
(24) 


Houston  enters  the   U.  &  Army.  25 

which  opened  to  the  north.  This  opening  was  protected  by  a  huge 
breastwork,  constructed  of  three  tiers  of  heavy  pine  logs,  with  two 
rows  of  skillfully  arranged  port-holes.  This  breastwork  reached 
both  sides  of  the  river,  across  the  peninsula. 

On  the  2yth  of  March,  1813,  Gen.  Jackson  arrived  at  the  horseshoe 
bend,  or  Tohopeka.  In  a  few  hours,  by  a  skillful  arrangement  of  his 
forces,  he  had  completely  invested  the  peninsula  and  was  prepared 
for  action.  Gen.  Coffee,  with  all  the  friendly  Indians  serving  under 
Gen.  Jackson  and  a  body  of  mounted  men,  crossed  the  Tallapoosa 
River,  at  a  ford  two  miles  below  Tohopeka.  By  drawing  up  his 
lines  on  the  south  of  the  bend,  at  10  o'clock  he  had  cut  off  all  escape 
from  tferee  sides  of  the  peninsula.  The  main  army  advanced  to  the 
north  side  of  the  bend,  the  lines  were  drawn  up  for  battle,  and  two 
pieces  of  artillery  began  to  play  upon  the  pine-log  breastworks.  From 
half-past  ten  to  one  o'clock,  a  brisk  and  apparently  ineffectual  firing 
was  maintained,  the  massive  timbers  proving  how  harmless  were  the 
small  cannon  shot  which  were  played  upon  them.  The  main  body 
of  the  army  had  as  yet  no  opportunity  to  show  their  valor.  But  soon 
from  the  southern  part  of  the  bend  there  appeared  rolling  up,  a 
heavy  column  of  smoke,  and  the  sharp  crack  of  a  hundred  rifles 
mingled  with  the  rattle  of  musketry. 

A  line  of  canoes  half  concealed  by  the  bushes  on  the  opposite 
shore,  were  discovered  by  the  Cherokees  under  Gen.  Coffee.  They 
swam  the  stream  at  once,  and  in  a  few  minutes  brought  the  canoes 
across.  Richard  Brown,  the  gallant  Cherokee  chief,  followed  by  his 
brave  warriors,  jumped  into  the  canoes,  accompanied  by  Capt  Rus- 
sell's companies  of  spies,  and  crossed  the  river.  The  cluster  of  wig- 
wams near  the  shore  was  set  on  fire.  The  smoke  arose  over  them, 
in  whose  volumes  they  advanced  upon  the  rear  of  the  thousand 
Creek  warriors,  who  were  sheltered  by  the  breastworks  from  the 
artillery  of  Gen.  Jackson's  main  army  on  the  north. 

As  soon  as  the  troops  of  the  main  army  heard  the  firing  and  saw 
the  smoke  rolling  up,  they  were  eager  to  storm  the  Indian  breast- 
works before  them,  as  they  knew  that  their  companions  had  crossed 
the  river.  They  were  held  steady  to  their  lines,  until  Gen.  Jackson 
had  sent  an  interpreter  to  remove  the  several  hundreds  of  women 
and  children  in  the  bend,  to  a  place  of  safety  beyond  the  river.  Im- 
mediately on  accomplishing  this  object,  the  order  was  given  to  storm 
the  breastworks.  With  a  shout  the  order  was  received.  Col. 
Williams  with  the  39th  Regiment,  and  Gen.  Doherty's  Brigade  of 
East  Tennesseeans,  with  loud  cries  dashed  to  the  onset.  A  sanguin- 
ary struggle  ensued.  Bayonet  met  bayonet,  muzzle  touched  muzzle 
at  the  port-holes.  The  first  man,  Major  Montgomery,  who  sprang 
upon  the  breastworks  received  a  ball  in  his  head,  and  was  hurled 


26  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

back.  On  the  extreme  right  of  the  3ist  Regiment,  about  the  same 
time,  ensign  Houston  scaled  the  breastworks,  and  called  to  his  brave 
fellow-soldiers  to  follow  him,  as  cutting  his  way  he  leaped  down 
among  the  Indians.  A  barbed  arrow  struck  deep  into  his  thigh 
while  he  was  scaling  the  breastworks  or  soon  after  he  reached  the 
ground.  He  maintained  his  position  till  his  lieutenant  and  men 
were  alongside  of  him,  and  the  Creeks  were  recoiling  under  the 
terrible  onset.  After  vainly  trying  to  extract  the  arrow  from  his 
side,  he  called  to  his  lieutenant  to  make  the  attempt.  The  officer 
failing  after  two  attempts,  Houston  still  holding  command  with 
sword  uplifted  over  his  head,  told  the  officer  to  try  again,  and  if  he 
failed,  he  would  smite  him  down.  A  desperate  effort  was  made,  .the 
arrow  was  drawn  forth,  and  a  stream  of  blood  rushed  from  the  torn 
flesh.  The  young  hero  crossed  the  breastworks  that  his  wounds 
might  be  dressed.  The  wound  was  bound  up  by  the  surgeon  and 
the  blood  stanched.  Gen.  Jackson  came  to  see  who  were  wounded, 
and  observing  the  young  ensign  among  the  number,  firmly  ordered 
him  not  to  return  to  the  contest.  He  begged  the  General  to  let  him 
return  to  his  men.  The  General  gave  him  positive  orders  not  to 
cross  the  breastworks  again.  Houston  was  determined  to  win  a 
hero's  name  in  that  battle,  or  die  in  the  contest.  He  had  enlisted  in 
the  recruiting  ranks,  and  marched  through  the  streets  of  the  village 
where  his  mother  and  friends  resided.  The  finger  of  scorn  had  been 
pointed  at  him.  To  his  scoffers  he  had  said,  "  And  what  have  your 
craven  souls  to  say  about  the  ranks  ?  Go  to  with  your  stuff  ;  I  would 
much  sooner  honor  the  ranks  than  disgrace  an  appointment.  You 
don't  know  me,  but  you  shall  hear  of  me."  His  mother  did  not 
desert  him  then,  but  handing  her  boy  the  musket,  had  said  to  him  : 
"  There,  my  son,  take  this  musket  and  never  disgrace  it ;  for  remem- 
ber, I  had  rather  all  my  sons  should  fill  one  honorable  grave,  than 
that  one  of  them  should  turn  his  back  to  save  his  life.  Go,  and  re- 
member, too,  that  while  the  door  of  my  cottage  is  open  to  brave 
men,  it  is  eternally  shut  to  cowards."  All  this  young  Sam  Houston 
remembered,  and  dashing  once  more  over  the  breastworks,  he  was 
soon  again  at  the  head  of  his  men. 

The  battle  raged  fiercely.  Over  two  thousand  were  contending 
hand-to-hand.  The  action  was  general.  The  yells  of  the  Indian 
savages,  and  the  groans  of  the  dying  rang  throughout  the  peninsula, 
while  arrows,  spears,  and  balls  flew,  and  swords  and  tomahawks 
gleamed  in  the  sun.  Some  months  before,  all  the  villages  of  the 
Creek  Indians  had  been  visited  by  a  brother  of  Tecumseh  ;  he  had 
stirred  up  the  passions  of  these  thousand  chosen  Creek  warriors  for 
blood  and  revenge,  and  had  announced  to  the  Indian  prophets,  that 
the  Great  Spirit  had  commanded  him  to  go  on  this  occasion  ;  to  as- 


Battle  of  Horseshoe  Bend.  27 

semble  the  "  braves  "  of  their  nation  in  battle  array  against  the  "  pale- 
faces," and  make  one  final  struggle  for  the  destruction  of  their  foes. 
The  mystery  of  this  strange  mission  served  to  arouse  the  superstition 
and  inflame  the  malignity  of  the  nation.  Although  warriors  by 
hundreds  were  falling,  they  still  believed  their  prophets  ;  who  assured 
them  that  they  would  win  the  day  and  gain  a  victory  over  the  pale- 
faces. With  a  storm  of  wrath,  they  believed  that  the  Great  Spirit 
would  sweep  away  their  enemies,  and  that  a  cloud  from  heaven 
would  be  His  signal.  Even  when  the  struggle  was  decided,  while 
Gen.  Jackson  was  issuing  an  order  to  cease  from  the  carnage,  while 
an  interpreter  was  on  his  way  to  tell  the  Indians  that  their  lives 
would  be  spared  if  they  would  surrender,  a  cloud  suddenly  spread 
over  the  sky.  Believing  this  to  be  the  signal  promised  by  the 
prophets  for  their  redemption,  they  fired  upon  the  interpreter  who 
delivered  the  message,  and  again  began  the  action.  A  gentle  shower 
of  rain  fell  from  the  clouds,  but  deliverance  did  not  come  to  the 
trusting  brave  savages.  Tohopeka  was  covered  with  the  dead  and 
dying,  hundreds  fallen  weltered  in  their  gore  ;  multitudes  attempting 
to  swim  the  river,  were  shot  or  drowned.  Civilization  reckoned  the 
battle  to  be  over  ;  but  civilization  reckoned  in  vain.  The  old  prophets 
gazed  on  the  skies  and  stood  firm  ;  warriors,  assured  in  their  extrem- 
ity that  relief  would  at  length  come,  clustered  around  them.  When 
the  last  prophet  and  the  last  warrior  at  his  side  yielded  their  lives 
with  an  expiring  groan,  then  only  hope  expired  within  them.  Even 
then,  the  bloody  work  was  not  ended.  Another  work  of  slaughter 
and  the  victory  of  Andrew  Jackson  at  Tohopeka  would  be  complete. 
Constructed  over  a  ravine  in  the  form  of  the  roof,  a  house  pierced 
with  narrow  port-holes  was  a  part  of  the  breastworks  where  a  large 
party  of  Indians  had  secreted  themselves.  Hence,  a  murderous  fire 
could  be  directed  against  their  assailants  whenever  they  should  show 
themselves.  In  this  place  were  assembled  the  last  remnant  of  the 
Creek  warriors  of  the  Horseshoe  bend.  Cannon  could  not  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  place.  Only  a  bold  charge,  which  proba- 
bly would  cost  the  lives  of  the  courageous  men  who  should  make  it, 
could  dislodge  them  from  their  position.  These  brave,  desperate  In- 
dians had  sealed  their  fate  by  rejecting  with  contempt  the  offer  of1 
life,  on  condition  of  their  surrender.  Gen.  Jackson  called  for  volun- 
teers to  make  the  charge.  The  lines,  unmoved,  stood  silent.  No  order 
was  given.  No  officer  volunteered  to  lead  on  so  hopeless  a  task. 
Houston  waited  in  expectation  that  some  captain  would  lead  his 
company  forward,  but  he  waited  in  vain.  He  called  to  his  platoon 
to  follow  him,  as  he  rushed  down  the  steep  descent  toward  the  covered 
ravine.  His  men  hesitated.  He  seized  a  musket  from  one  of  them  and 
with  a  desperation  only  incident  to  such  occasions  he  led  the  way, 


28  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ordering  his  soldiers  to  follow  him.  To  charge  through  port-holes 
bristling  with  rifles  and  arrows  was  the  only  way  of  attack  which 
could  prevail.  A  rapid,  simultaneous  plunge  could  succeed.  Stop- 
ping to  rally  his  men,  and  levelling  his  musket  within  five  yards  of 
the  port-holes,  "  he  received  two  rifle  balls  in  his  right  shoulder,  and 
his  arm  fell  shattered  to  his  side."  Disabled  himself  totally,  turning 
he  called  once  more  to  his  men,  and  urged  them  to  make  the  charge. 
They  could  not  be  induced  to  advance.  There  he  stood  till  he  saw 
that  standing  there  in  his  own  blood  would  do  no  good.  Going 
then  beyond  the  range  of  the  bullets,  exhausted,  he  sank  to  the 
ground.  And  not  until  the  covered  ravine  was  set  on  fire  were  the 
Indians  dislodged  from  the  final  resort.  The  last  rays  of  the  setting 
sun  shone  on  the  ruins  of  the  Creek  nation.  Volumes  of  dense 
smoke  rose  heavily  over  the  bodies  of  painted  warriors  and  the  burn- 
ing ruins  of  their  log  fortifications.  Of  the  thousand  brave  warriors, 
the  flowers  of  Indian  chivalry,  there  were  none  to  scowl  on  death  and 
their  assailants  at  Tohopeka. 

Young  Houston,  then  about  twenty  years  old,  displayed  amid  the 
perils  of  this  hard-fought  engagement  such  heroism  as  excited  the 
admiration  of  the  entire  army.  The  wounds  which  he  received  re- 
mained unhealed  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was  carried  from  the 
field  of  the  dead  and  wounded,  and  placed  in  charge  of  the  surgeon. 
As  the  surgeon  said  that  he  could  not  survive  till  the  next  morning,  after 
extracting  one  ball,  he  made  no  effort  to  extract  the  other,  as  he 
thought  it  unnecessary  to  torture  the  suffering  young  hero.  He 
spent  a  night  of  wretchedness  with  few,  even,  of  the  comforts  of  a 
soldier's  knapsack.  Little  was  done  for  him  by  his  comrades,  as  they 
regarded  him  as  a  dying  man,  and  thought  that  all  they  could  do 
should  be  done  for  such  only  as  were  likely  to  live.  The  most  bril- 
liant day  of  his  life  was  succeeded  by  its  darkest  night.  Racked 
with  the  torturing  pains  of  his  many  wounds,  deserted  in  what  he 
believed  was  his  dying  hour,  stretched  on  the  damp  earth,  the  hours 
of  that  dreary  night  were  an  age  to  that  young  soldier.  But  these 
scenes  of  excitement  and  heroism  were  a  part  of  his  education.  He 
was  in  training  for  the  grand  destiny  which  his  young  life  presaged. 
He  was  under  tuition  for  the  leadership  of  that  brave  band  of 
pioneers  who  through  fierce  struggles  and  sufferings  triumphed  in 
the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  a  liberated  Republic.  The  eye  of  Andrew 
Jackson  was  upon  him,  and  the  courage  and  daring  exhibited  on  that 
bloody  day  at  Tohopeka  secured  the  life-long  regard  of  the  hero  of 
New  Orleans,  warmly  exhibited  in  the  earnest  sympathies  which 
attended  him  through  the  fortunes  of  his  life.  Thirty  years  there- 
after, about  to  pass  from  mortality  to  immortality,  in  the  last  months 
of  his  existence,  Gen.  Jackson,  the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  sent  for 


Houston  Heroic  and  Severely    Wounded.  29 

Gen.  Houston,  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto,  to  see  the  victor  at  New  Or- 
leans become  the  victor  over  man's  last  enemy. 

The  day  after  the  battle  of  Tohopeka  the  young  officer  was  placed 
on  a  litter  with  others  wounded,  and  started  for  Fort  William,  sixty 
or  seventy  miles  distant.  Neglected  and  exposed,  suspended  between 
life  and  death,  he  remained  here  for  a  considerable  time.  The  other 
regular  officers  were  all  removed  to  Fort  Jackson  or  the  Hickory 
Ground.  A  part  of  the  time  he  was  cared  for  by  Gen.  Johnson, 
father  of  Cave  Johnson,  Postmaster-General  under  President  Polk. 
Another  part  of  the  time  he  was  taken  care  of  by  Col.  Cheatham, 
and  at  length  he  was  taken  to  the  Ten  Islands.  Gen.  Dougherty, 
who  commanded  the  brigade  from  East  Tennessee,  conveyed  him 
from  the  Ten  Islands  through  the  Cherokee  Nation  to  his  mother's 
house  in  Blount  County,  Tennessee,  which  he  reached  in  the  lattei 
part  of  May,  nearly  two  months  after  the  battle  of  the  Horseshoe 
Bend.  This  long  journey  was  made  on  a  litter  borne  on  horses, 
while  helpless  and  enduring  excruciating  agony.  He  was  destitute  of 
medical  aid,  had  not  the  simplest  remedies  capable  of  alleviating  his 
sufferings,  and  subsisting  on  the  coarsest  diet.  Through  forests,  com* 
pelled  to  camp  out,  and  often  without  any  shelter,  his  toilsome  jour- 
ney was  made  to  his  mother's  home.  His  recovery  was  expected  by 
no  one.  So  much  like  a  skeleton  was  he  that  when  he  reached  his 
mother's  home  she  declared  that  she  would  not  have  recognized  him 
as  her  son,  except  for  his  eyes,  "which  retained  something  of  their 
wonted  expression."  Failing  to  recover  strength  at  home  with  his 
mother,  he  repaired  to  Marysville  for  medical  aid.  His  health  con- 
tinuing to  decline  at  Marysville,  he  went  to  Knoxville,  sixteen  miles 
eastward.  He  was  in  so  low  a  state  that  the  physician  to  whom  he 
applied  refused  to  take  charge  of  him,  saying  that  he  would  live  only  a 
few  days.  But  when,  after  a  few  days,  the  physician  observed  that 
he  not  only  survived,  but  was  somewhat  improving,  he  offered  his 
services.  From  this  time  he  began  slowly,  to  recover,  and  when 
strong  enough  to  ride  on  horseback  he  set  out  by  short  journeys  for 
the  city  of  Washington.  Shortly  after  the  burning  of  the  Capitol 
he  reached  the  seat  of  Government.  Indignant  because  of  the  ruin 
wrought  by  the  British  army,  he  experienced  bitter  pangs  of  regret 
that  his  right  arm  should  be  disabled  while  a  foe  was  prowling 
through  the  country.  Suffering  still  from  festering  wounds,  and  as 
the  winter  advanced,  he  travelled  to  Lexington,  Va.,  and  remained 
till  the  early  spring.  Having  sufficiently  recuperated  his  strength  to 
be  able  to  do  duty  in  some  situations,  he  prepared  again  to  cross  the 
mountains.  Reaching  Knoxville,  on  his  way  to  report  himself  for 
duty,  he  received  the  glorious  news  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 
Peace  was  soon  proclaimed;  he  was  placed  near  Knoxville  at  the  can- 


30  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

tonment  of  his  regiment.  After  the  army  was  reduced,  his  services 
as  lieutenant  were  retained  ;  and,  attached  to  the  first  regiment  of  in- 
fantry, he  was  stationed  at  New  Orleans.  His  voyage  to  New  Orleans 
was  commenced  in  a  skiff  on  the  Cumberland,  with  two  young  men, 
one  of  whom  afterward  was  distinguished  as  E.  D.  White,  Governor 
of  Louisiana.  Passing  down  the  Cumberland,  smoothly  gliding  over 
the  waters  of  the  Ohio,  they  floated  on  the  mighty  waters  of  the 
Mississippi  for  many  weary  miles  through  a  vast  solitude.  A  Bible, 
Houston's  mother's  gift,  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad,  the  same 
which  had  kept  him  company  in  his  wild  life  among  the  Indians, 
Shakespeare,  Akenside,  Robinson  Crusoe,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and 
the  Vicar  of  Wakefield  were  the  travelling  companions  of  that  skiff's 
company,  but  they  were  the  effective  stimuli  to  the  warm  fancy  of 
the  young  hero  and  his  companions  communing  with  those  sublime 
wilds  of  nature.  Turning  a  bend  of  the  Mississippi,  they  saw  what 
they  supposed  to  be  a  vessel  on  fire,  making  headway  on  the  stream 
without  sails,  and  emitting  heavy  columns  of  smoke.  It  proved  to  be 
the  first  steamer  which  ever  went  up  the  Mississippi  River.  The 
party  exchanged  their  narrow  quarters  on  the  skiff  for  the  steam- 
boat, and  eight  days  thereafter  Lieutenant  Houston,  reaching  New 
Orleans,  reported  for  duty.  Here  once  more  he  had  his  wounds 
operated  upon,  and  came  near  losing  his  life.  After  most  completely 
shattering  his  right  arm  just  below  its  juncture  with  the  shoulder, 
the  rifle-ball  had  passed  around  and  lodged  itself  near  the  shoulder- 
blade.  His  iron  constitution,  however,  sufficed  to  endure  an  amount 
of  suffering  which  few  could  have  survived.  Well-nigh  did  the  last 
surgical  operation  come  of  depriving  him  of  his  remaining  strength. 
But  the  indomitable  will  which  sustained  him  triumphantly  through- 
out all  the  struggles  of  a  stormy  life  prevailed  through  all  ills  physi- 
cal, mental,  spiritual,  and  political. 

In  April  of  the  following  year,  after  a  winter  of  great  suffering,  he 
sailed  for  New  York,  and  spent  there  several  weeks,  with  some  slight 
improvement  in  his  health.  Passing  through  Washington  city,  he 
visited  his  friends  in  Tennessee,  and  then  reported  for  duty  to  the 
Adjutant-General  of  the  Southern  Division,  at  Nashville,  and  was 
detailed  on  duty  in  the  Adjutant's  office,  stationed  at  Nashville  from 
the  first  of  January,  1819.  He  was  occupied  in  the  office  till  the  fol- 
lowing November,  when  he  was  detailed  on  extra  duty  as  a  sub-agent 
among  the  Cherokees,  to  carry  out  the  treaty  just  ratified  with  that 
nation.  Notwithstanding  his  feeble  health  made  it  perilous  for  him 
to  face  the  exposures  incident  to  such  an  agency,  still,  as  Gen.  Jack- 
son could  procure  no  other  person  in  whom  he  could  repose  such 
entire  confidence,  and  as  his  life-long  friend  considered  that  the  pub- 
lic service  required  that  he  should  make  the  effort,  Lieut.  Houston 


Houston  as  Sub- Agent  for  the  Cherokees.  31 

yielded  to  the  importunities  of  his  commander,  and  entered  upon  the 
new  duties  with  zeal,  and  performed  them  with  eminent  ability. 
Unfit  for  public  service  when  he  commenced  this  line  of  duties,  and 
offered  a  furlough  if  he  should  decline  the  agency,  he  was  successful 
beyond  his  own  expectations.  Conducting,  however,  a  delegation  of 
Indians  to  Washington  during  the  same  winter,  arrived  at  the  seat 
of  Government  he  learned  with  amazement  that  efforts  had  been  put 
forth  to  lower  him  in  the  estimation  of  the  Government  for  "  having 
prevented  African  negroes  from  being  smuggled  into  the  Western 
States  from  Florida,"  which  at  that  time  was  a  province  of  Spain. 
Friends  of  the  smugglers  then  in  Congress  had  circulated  these  re- 
ports. He  appeared  before  President  James  Monroe,  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  (Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun),  and  vindicated  himself,  prov- 
ing that  he  had  only  striven  to  secure  respect  for  the  laws  of  the 
country  in  all  that  he  had  done.  Occupied  most  laboriously  in  his 
new  and  difficult  mission,  discharging  its  duties  with  marked  ability, 
he  was  still  suffering  severely  from  the  painful  wounds  which  he  had 
received  in  the  service  of  his  country.  Gen.  Jackson  and  all  who 
understood  the  position  and  services  of  Houston  thought  that  he 
should  have  received  some  warmer  recognition  for  his  great  services 
and  sacrifices  for  the  State  than  the  full  and  complete  exculpation 
from  blame  which  was  freely  accorded  to  him.  Sensitive  under  a 
sense  of  slight,  he  resigned  his  first  lieutenancy  in  the  army  at  a 
period  when  his  precarious  health  made  it  extremely  doubtful  in 
what  way  he  was  thereafter  to  obtain  a  livelihood.  In  accordance 
with  the  convictions  of  his  life,  and  acting  on  the  principles  which 
always  had  governed  and  animated  him,  he  threw  up  his  commission 
in  the  army,  returned  with  the  delegation  to  the  agency  on  the  Hi- 
wassee,  and  then  resigned  his  commission  as  sub-agent  among  the 
Cherokee  Indians,  and  went  to  Nashville  to  commence  the  reading 
necessary  to  practice  law.  Few  young  men  had  ever  had  such  a  pre- 
paratory drill  in  the  hard  service  of  life,  beginning  as  Sam  Houston. 
Of  academies  and  colleges,  of  professors  and  libraries  he  had  small 
acquaintance,  but  with  wild  human  nature,  with  toil,  struggle,  weari- 
ness, hunger,  pain,  danger,  and  suffering  he  had  been  familiar  from 
his  early  erratic  boyhood  up  to  the  time  when  he  bade  farewell  to 
the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  determined  to  qualify  for  the 
honorable  duties  of  a  lawyer. 

MEMORANDUM    FOUND  AT  WAR    DEPARTMENT. 

"  Sam  Houston  entered  7th  infantry  as  a  Sergeant ;  became  ensign  in  39th  in- 
fantry 29th  July,  1813  ;  was  severely  wounded  in  battle  of  Horse  Bend  under  Maj. 
Gen.  Jackson  2/th  March;  made  Third  Lieut.  Dec.,  1813;  promoted  as  Second 
Lieut,  in  May,  1814;  retained  May  i$th  in  ist  infantry;  became  First  Lieut.  Mar. 
ist,  1818,  resigned  May  I7th." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

STUDIES  LAW— ADMITTED  TO  THE  BAR— LETTERS  OF  J.  V.  DRAKE  AND  F.  GOLLADAY— 
DISTRICT  ATTORNEY— MAJOR-GENERAL— MEMBER  OF  CONGRESS— GOVERNOR— FIRST 
MARRIAGE — REASONS  FOR  LEAVING  HIS  FIRST  WIFE — DEPARTURE  TO  THE  INDIANS. 

HE  began  his  legal  studies  in  June,  1818.  He  was  then  in  his 
twenty-fifth  year.  Experience  and  observation  had  enriched  his 
mind.  In  the  national  struggle  just  closed  he  had  gained  a  hero's 
name.  With  the  hardships  of  the  school  of  the  soldiers  he  had  become 
thoroughly  conversant.  Artificial  life  had  exhibited  to  him  its  chill 
and  deceit.  From  the  wild  sons  of  the  forest  he  had  received  lessons 
nowhere  else  imparted.  His  pay  in  the  army  had  been  inadequate 
to  meet  his  necessities  while  wandering  to  recover  his  health.  He 
began  the  study  of  law  burdened  by  a  load  of  debt,  to  liquidate 
which  he  sold  his  last  piece  of  property,  and  paid  its  avails  to  meet 
these  debts.  The  balance  of  debts  still  unpaid,  amounting  to  some 
hundreds  of  dollars,  he  soon  after  discharged.  Under  such  circum- 
stances Sam  Houston,  the  soldier  of  fortune,  the  child  of  destiny, 
commenced  his  studies. 

When  he  entered  the  office  of  his  law  preceptor,  Hon.  James 
Trimble,  at  Nashville,  he  was  informed  that  it  would  require 
eighteen  months  of  hard  study  to  secure  a  license  to  practice  at  the 
bar.  He  read  thoroughly  a  few  of  the  standard  works  prescribed  in 
a  course  of  legal  studies.  The  principles  of  the  science  were  grasped 
and  tenaciously  fixed  in  his  mind.  His  original  cast  of  mind  relied 
on  the  fundamental  principles  of  truth,  not  on  its  details.  Axioms 
not  requiring  proof,  causes  clearly  effective,  effects  undoubtedly 
linked  to  causes,  principles  clear  as  sunlight  took  possession  of  his 
great  mind,  and  were  more  effective  in  securing  his  conclusions  and 
inducing  conclusions  with  others  than  a  full  library  of  precedents 
and  authorities.  He  was  not,  therefore,  a  learned  student  in  the 
sense  of  taxing  his  memory  with  mere  legal  opinions,  but  he  was  a 
profound  thinker  on  law  principles. 

His  preceptor  had  prescribed  eighteen  months'  study.  He  was 
recommended  to  apply  for  a  license  to  practice  in  one-third  of  the 
time.  He  passed  a  searching  examination  most  honorably  to  him- 
self and  the  profession  of  the  law,  after  six  months'  study.  Purchas- 
ing a  small  library  on  credit,  he  opened  a  law  office  in  Lebanon, 
(32) 


Houston  Admitted  to  the  Bar.  33 

thirty  miles  east  of  Nashville,  and  began  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. Of  his  career  at  Lebanon,  the  following  extracts  furnish  inter- 
esting reminiscences  : 

"LEBANON,  Term.,  April  30,  1867. 

"  Lebanon,  where  I  am  now  stopping,  is  the  town  where  Gen.  Houston  first  put 
out  his  '  shingle '  as  an  attorney-at-law.  He  had  studied  law  either  three  or  six 
months  at  Nashville,  and  being  short  of  funds,  was  under  the  necessity  of  doing 
something.  He  came  up  here,  without  means,  a  stranger  among  strangers.  Mr. 
Isaac  Golladay,  a  merchant  of  this  place,  and  also  P.  M.,  furnished  Mr.  Houston 
an  office  at  one  dollar  per  month  ;  sold  him  clothes  on  credit ;  credited  him  for 
his  postage,  each  letter  being  then  charged  twenty-five  cents ;  and  recommended 
him  to  the  people.  This  was  about  the  year  1818-19.  How  long  Mr.  Houston 
remained  at  Lebanon  I  do  not  know,  but  long  enough  to  get  a  respectable  prac- 
tice, pay  out  of  debt,  gain  the  favorable  opinion  of  the  people,  and  to  show  them 
that  he  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  promise.  When  he  was  about  to  leave 
Lebanon  he  made  a  speech — a  sort  of  farewell  address — to  the  people,  on  some 
public  day,  nt  the  Court  House.  I  have  myself  heard  some  of  the  old  men  who 
were  present  speak  of  this  speech.  In  substance  he  said  :  '  Gentlemen, — The 
time  has  come  when  I  must  bid  you  farewell.  Although  duty  calls  me  away,  yet 
I  must  confess  that  it  is  with  feelings  of  sincere  regret  that  I  leave  you.  I  shall 
ever  remember  with  emotions  of  gratitude  the  kindness  which  I  have  received  at 
your  hands.  I  came  among  you  poor  and  a  stranger,  and  you  extended  the  hand 
of  welcome,  and  received  me  kindly.  I  was  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me ;  I  was 
hungry,  and  ye  fed  me ;  I  was  athirst,  and  ye  gave  me  drink,  etc.'  His  speech, 
continued  in  this  strain,  was  so  emphatically  true,  and  withal  delivered  in  so 
pathetic  a  style  that  its  effect  was  to  cause  many  of  the  people  to  shed  tears.  He 
carried  away  with  him  the  good-will  and  kind  wishes  of  the  people  of  Wilson 
County,  and  afterward,  when  he  had  begun  to  ascend  the  ladder  of  political  fame, 
the  people  of  Lebanon  and  Wilson  County  supported  him  for  Governor  with 
almost  unequaled  unanimity.  As.  regards  his  '  first  marriage,' the  version  you 
gave  me  at  Brenham  is  the  one  most  current  here,  and  is  doubtless  the  true  one 
Be  particular  to  notice  that  Sam  Houston  commenced  the  practice  of  law  at  Leba- 
non, Tenn.  He  is  not  the  only  man  who  has  gone  from  Lebanon  and  become 
famous ;  still  Lebanon  is  justly  proud  of  Sam  Houston,  and  would  not  have  this 
fact  omitted. 

"  Very  respectfully,  I.  V.  DRAKE." 

The  son  of  Isaac  Golladay.  alluded  to  in  Mr.  Drake's  letter  fui 
nished  that  gentleman  with  the  following  statement,  which  exhibits 
how  Gen.  Houston  remembered  the  friends  of  his  early  manhood  : 

"I  was  travelling  in  Texas  in  the  year  1853.  Arrived  at  the  town  of  Hunts- 
vine,  Walker  Co.,  on  Sunday,  about  1 1  o'clock.  The  good  people  of  the  town  and 
vicinity  were  passing  on  to  church  as  I  rode  up  to  the  hotel.  I  was  very  sick  ; 
had  a  high  fever  on  me  when  I  dismounted.  I  told  the  landlord  I  was  very  sick, 
and  wanted  a  room  ;  he  assigned  me  a  room,  and  was  very  kind  in  his  attentions 
I  took  a  bed  immediately,  and,  while  talking  to  him,  asked  him  in  what  part  of  the 
State  Sam.  Houston  lived.  He  replied,  '  He  lives  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from 
town,  and  his  family  and  he  have  just  passed,  going  to  church,  in  his  carriage.' 
3 


34  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

To  this  I  said :  'Please  keep  on  the  look-out,  and  when  he  returns  -from  church, 
let  him  know  that  a  Golladay,  of  Tennessee,  was  lying  sick  there.' .  After  the 
church  hour  was  over,  say  1 2  or  I  o'clock,  a  large,  portly,  elegant-looking  man, 
came  walking  into  my  room  and  to  my  bedside.  I  knew,  from  the  description 
which  I  had  had  of  him,  that  it  was  Gen.  Houston,  although  I  had  never  seen  him. 
I  called  him  by  name.  He  asked  me  if  I  was  a  son  of  his  old  friend,  Isaac  Golla- 
day, of  Lebanon,  Tennessee.  I  replied,  I  was.  He  then  asked,  which  one  ?  I 
told  him  I  was  Frederick,  He  said  that  he  knew  my  older  brothers,  but  he  had 
left  Lebanon  before  I  was  born,  but  added, '  If  you  are  the  son  of  Isaac  Golladay  I 
recognize  you  as  the  child  of  an  early  and  true  friend.  I  went  to  Lebanon,  where 
your  father,  Isaac  Golladay,  resided,  a  poor  young  man  ;  your  father  furnished  me 
an  office  for  the  practice  of  law;  credited  me  in  his  store  for  clothes;  let  me  have 
my  letters,  which  cost  then  25  cents  postage,  from  the  office  of  which  he  was  post- 
master; invited  me  to  his  house,  and  recommended  me  to  all  the  good  people  of 
his  large  general  acquaintance.'  He  then  said  :  '  You  must  go  out  to  my  house  ; 
I  will  come  in  my  carriage  for  you  in  the  evening.'  I  replied,  with  thanks,  that  I 
was  too  sick  to  go,  but  he  insisted  on  coming  for  me  the  next  morning,  to  which 
I  consented.  Early  the  next  morning  he  came  for  me  ;  being  better,  I  went  out  to 

his  house  with  him.     He  placed  me  in  a  room  in  his  yard,  saying  that  Mrs.  H 

was  confined  to  her  room  with  an  infant  at  the  time.  My  fever  rose  and  kept  me 
confined.  He  sent  for  a  physician.  I  was  sick  there  for  about  ten  days  or  two 
weeks.  He  made  a  servant-man  stay  and  sleep  in  the  office  with  me,  to  wait  on 
me  all  the  while,  but  often  would  come  to  see  me  and  spend  much  of  his  time  with 
me.  One  night,  especially,  while  I  was  sick,  the  doctor  had  left  orders  for  my 
medicine  to  be  given  through  the  night,  and  my  feet  bathed  in  warm  water ;  he 
staid  all  night  with  me.  He  had  the  vessel  of  warm  water  brought,  pulled  off  his 
coat,  rolled  up  his  sleeves,  to  wash  my  feet.  I  objected,  the  servant  being  present. 
He  replied,  '  My  Master  washed  His  disciples'  feet,  and  I  would  follow  His  glori- 
ous example,'  and  insisted  that  he  should  do  so.  During  the  time  which  he  spent 
with  me  in  my  sick-room  he  gave  me  much  of  his  early  history.  He  gave  me  an 
account  of  the  affecting  scene  when,  in  a  brief  address,  he  took  leave  of  his  friends 
in  Lebanon,  to  which  Mr.  Drake  alludes,  and  in  recounting  which  many  old  citi- 
zens say  that  the  emotions  of  his  audience  were  so  excited  that  there  was  not  a 
dry  eye  in  the  whole  assembly.  He  was  very  much  beloved  by  all  while  he  resided 
in  Lebanon.  FREDERICK  GOLLADAY." 

Young  Sam.  Houston,  with  characteristic  earnestness,  pursued  his 
legal  studies  at  Lebanon  ;  practiced  his  profession  so  faithfully,  that 
he  rose  rapidly  at  the  bar ;  and  in  October  of  the  same  year  in  which 
he  commenced  to  practice  he  was  elected  District  Attorney  of  the 
Davidson  District.  This  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  take  up  his 
residence  at  Nashville.  About  this  time  he  was  appointed  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  State,  with  the  rank  of  Colonel,  and  in  1821  he  was 
elected  Major-General  by  the  field  officers  of  the  division  which  com- 
prised two-thirds  of  the  State.  Removed  to  Nashville  from  Lebanon, 
he  was  confronted  by  the  legal  mind  of  one  of  the  ablest  bars  in  the 
Western  States.  He  was  about  twenty-six  years  old.  There  were 
veteran  lawyers  with  whom  he  was  obliged  to  come  into  collision, 


Commended  ly  Jackson  to  Jefferson.  35 

who  tried  severely  his  remarkable  powers.  The  path  of  prosecuting 
attorney  was  new  to  him,  but  it  is  said  that  he  rarely  failed  in  his 
prosecutions.  If  twitted  upon  the  suddenness  of  his  legal  promo- 
tion, or  berated  for  want  of  experience  in  the  practice,  his  retorts 
were  so  well  turned  and  applied  that  he  was  neither  twitted  for  his 
freshness,  nor  berattd  for  his  inexperience  again.  His  practical  sense 
and  keen  insight  into  human  genius  made  ample  amends  for  want  of 
legal  reading  and  long  experience.  He  labored  unceasingly  in  the 
duties  of  District  Attorney.  At  the  end  of  twelve  months  he  was 
compelled  to  resign,  as  the  fees  of  the  office  were  too  inconsiderable 
for  his  support.  Resuming  the  regular  practice,  business  crowded 
upon  him,  and  rapidly  promoted  him  to  high  distinction.  Only 
powers  of  the  highest  order  could  have  advanced  a  young  man  so 
rapidly  at  the  capital  of  Tennessee,  and  in  the  presence  of  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  the  Union.  Had  he  confined  himself 
to  the  bar  he  would  have  placed  his  name  and  fame  among  the  first 
jurists  of  the  world.  But  political  life  had  its  attractions  for  him, 
and  in  1823,  when  thirty  years  of  age,  his  friends  urged  him  to  sub- 
mit his  name  to  the  voters  of  his  district  as  a  candidate  for  the  U.  S. 
House  of  Representatives.  Every  station,  so  far,  in  life,  had  been 
worthily  filled,  and  had  inspired  his  fellow-citizens  with  the  highest 
respect.  His  career  as  a  lawyer  displayed  true  native  genius.  Self- 
made  as  to  education,  of  commanding  address  and  imposing  per- 
sonal figure,  a  favorite  of  the  Old  Chieftain  of  the  Hermitage,  he  was 
elected  to  Congress  without  opposition. 

The  following  letter  is  rare  for  its  writer,  its  object,  and  the  person 
to  whom  it  is  addressed  : 

"  HERMITAGE,  Oct.  4th,  1823. 
"  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Esq., 

"  Monticello,  near  Charlottesville,  Virginia. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — This  will  be  handed  to  you  by  Gen.  Sam.  Houston,  a  represent- 
ative to  Congress  from  this  State,  and  a  particular  friend  of  mine,  to  whom  I  beg 
leave  to  introduce  you.  I  have  known  General  Houston  many  years,  and,  enter- 
taining for  him  the  highest  feelings  of  regard  and  confidence,  recommend  him  to 
you  with  great  safety.  He  has  attained  his  present  standing  without  the  extrinsic 
advantages  of  fortune  or  education,  and  has  sustained,  in  his  various  promotions 
from  the  common  soldier  to  the  Major-General,  the  character  of  the  high-minded 
and  honorable  man.  As  such  I  present  him  to  you,  and  shall  regard  the  civilities 
which  you  may  render  him  as  a  great  favor. 

"  With  a  sincere  wish  that  good  health  and  happy  days  are  still  yours, 
"  I   remain, 

"  Your  friend,  and  very  obliged  servant, 

"  ANDREW  JACKSON." 

Some  of  the  most  eminent  men  who  have  ever  held  a  seat  in  the 
National  Councils  were  members  of  Congress  at  this  time.  Henry 


86  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Clay  was  Speaker,  and  orators  and  statesmen,  completed  or  nascent, 
were  the  law-makers  of  the  memorable  period  of  the  candidacy  for 
the  Presidency  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  Andrew  Jackson,  Henry  Clay, 
and  Wm.  Henry  Crawford. 

The  first  term  of  Sam.  Houston  in  Congress  was  amid  exciting 
events,  but  his  course  was  so  faultless,  so  acceptable  to  his  constit- 
uents, that  they  showed  the  warmth  of  their  approval  by  returning 
him  a  second  time  by  a  nearly  unanimous  vote.  His  second  term 
raised  him  still  higher  in  the  esteem  of  the  people  of  Tennessee. 
Their  confidence  knew  no  bounds.  Few  men  have  risen  so  rapidly 
in  popularity.  In  1827  he  was  elected  Governor  of  the  State  by  a 
majority  of  over  12,000.  His  career  as  Governor  was  popular.  The 
duties  of  the  office  were  discharged  with  stern  fidelity  to  the  Consti- 
tution, and  in  earnest  sympathy  with  the  people  and  their  interests. 
But  an  event  occurred  in  the  zenith  of  his  popularity,  when  no  man 
except  General  Jackson  exercised  greater  influence  over  the  popular 
sentiment  and  affections,  which  suddenly  threw  a  shadow  over  his 
character,  and  terminated  his  political  career  in  Tennessee. 

In  January,  1829,  he  was  married  to  a  young  lady  of  reputable  con- 
nections and  gentle  character.  Her  kindred  were  personal  and  polit- 
ical friends  of  Gen.  Houston,  and  had  zealously  supported  him  in 
his  political  canvasses.  The  whole  country  was  taken  by  surprise 
when,  about  three  months  after  the  marriage,  a  separation  took 
place.  No  publication,  either  from  Gen.  Houston  or  the  lady,  has  ever 
furnished  the  reason  for  this  remarkable  proceeding.  Unfounded 
reports,  born  of  bitter  malignity,  were  scattered  through  Tennes- 
see, and  the  popular  feeling  was  so  completely  inflamed  that,  in  this 
strange  excitement,  the  State  was  divided  into  two  hostile  parties. 
His  name  was  denounced  ;  impertinent  disturbers  of  the  peace,  curi- 
osity-hunting busybodies,  whom  human  laws  rarely  reach,  yet  crimi- 
nals against  the  peace  and  dignity  of  society,  and  the  laws  of  God 
and  man,  did  not  hesitate  to  charge  him  with  every  species  of  crime 
ever  committed  by  man.  He  offered  no  denial  of  these  allegations, 
and  to  his  dying  day  ever  spoke  of  the  young  lady  in  terms  of  un- 
qualified respect  and  great  kindness.  He  never  authorized  any  ex- 
planation of  this  singular  event,  but  was  wont  to  say,  as  a  reply  to 
all  inquiry,  as  has  been  published,  "  This  is  a  painful,  but  it  is  a 
private  affair.  I  do  not  recognize  the  right  of  the  public  to  interfere 
in  it,  and  I  shall  treat  the  public  as  though  it  had  never  happened. 
And  remember,  that  whatever  may  be  said  by  the  lady  or  her  friends 
it  is  no  part  of  the  conduct  of  a  gallant  or  generous  man  to  take  up 
arms  against  a  woman.  If  my  character  can  not  stand  the  shock,  let 
me  lose  it.  The  storm  will  soon  sweep  by,  and  time  will  be  my  vin- 
dicator." Over  fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  this  strange  event  oc- 


Houston }s  first  Marriage  when  Governor.          37 

curred,  and,  possibly,  it  can  not  do  any  party  to  this  strange  affair 
aught  of  injustice  to  make  the  only  statement  known  to  have  been 
made  by  him  to  another.  It  is  well  known  that  between  the  second 
Mrs.  Houston  and  General  Houston  there  was  the  most  perfect  sym- 
pathy, a  devotion  of  the  one  to  the  other,  a  chivalric  respect  for  each 
other's  feelings  and  peculiarities,  a  Christian  regard  for  all  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  the  marital  relation,  which  made  their  union  a 
blessed  one,  over  which  no  breath  of  suspicion  ever  floated.  Nearly 
two  years  after  his  death,  and  about  two  years  before  her  own  death, 
the  second  Mrs.  Houston,  whose  history  will  form  a  chapter  in  this 
volume,  gave  the  writer  the  only  clue  to  his  separation  from  his  first 
wife  which  ever  escaped  his  lips.  It  can  be  summed  up  in  a  few 
words,  and  then  dismissed  to  the  shades  of  oblivion.  The  first  Mrs. 
Houston,  three  months  after  their  marriage,  in  a  conversation  with 
General  Houston,  admitted  that  at  their  marriage  he  had  not  won 
her  heart,  and  that  he  did  not  possess  it  then.  There  was  no  admis- 
sion of  infidelity  on  her  part,  and  no  charge  of  the  same  on  his  part. 
She  plainly  intimated  that,  although  married  to  him,  her  affections 
had  never  been  transferred  from  another  to  him.  To  a  man  of 
grand  physique,  attractive  manners,  heroic  nature,  poetical  tempera- 
ment, rare  conversational  powers,  and  a  natural  speaker;  a  man  who 
had  rapidly  ascended  the  ladder  of  fame,  and  was  the  idol  of  the 
multitude;  a  man  of  fervid  impulses,  and  knightly  attachment  to 
woman's  virtues — to  such  a  man,  such  an  admission  was  overwhelm- 
ing. The  moral  courage  which  had  faced  poverty,  the  heroism  which 
had  dared  death  on  the  battle-field,  the  fortitude  which  had  endured 
the  excruciating  pains  of  unhealed  wounds,  were  all  insufficient  for 
such  an  ordeal,  and  he  succumbed. 

Almost  by  acclamation  he  had  been  elected  Major-General,  Dis- 
trict Attorney,  Member  of  Congress,  and  Governor  of  a  great  State, 
but  he  determined  to  surrender  all  his  brilliant  prospects  of  future 
distinction  in  Tennessee,  and  immediately  resign  the  office  of  Gov- 
ernor. His  decision  was  that  indicated  by  the  reasonings  of  a  philo- 
sophic mind,  and  not  the  suggestions  of  a  guilty  nature.  Odium 
was  cast  upon  him,  the  journals  o£  the  day  denounced  him,  malignity 
untiring  vented  its  spleen  upon  him,  and  threats  of  violence  were 
made  against  him.  Amid  all,  he  exhibited  no  craven  spirit,  nor 
sought  for  the  world's  sympathy.  He  defied  human  malice  and  vio- 
lence. Although  enemies  were  vehement  and  threatening,  his  friends 
gathered  around  him,  and  were  his  shield  of  defence.  Bloody  scenes 
would  have  forever  disgraced  Nashville,  had  any  of  the  threats  of 
personal  violence  been  executed,  and,  to  this  hour,  there  are  none 
more  willing  to  vindicate  Sam  Houston  than  the  survivors  of  that 
period  and  the  children  of  his  early  friends  in  Nashville.  He  re- 


38  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

solved  upon  exile.  On  that  resolution  hung  a  future  which  has  filled 
up  with  some  of  the  most  memorable  events  of  modern  times.  Had 
that  first  marriage  resulted  happily,  the  history  of  the  Indian  nations 
in  the  Southwest,  and  of  Texas,  would  have  had  other  events,  and 
even  the  map  of  the  United  States  might  have  been  different.  For 
one  to  throw  away  the  robes  of  office  just  as  the  wreath  of  glory  was 
twining  around  his  brow,  to  exchange  the  fascinations  of  political 
leadership  in  civilized  life  for  the  obscurity  of  the  wilderness,  was  an 
uncommon  event  rarely  witnessed.  Voluntarily,  after  the  wrath  of 
his  enemies  had  diminished  and  his  real  strength  appeared  greater 
than  ever,  to  drown  the  reflections  which  harrowed  his  heart  he 
exiled  himself.  It  was  the  leading  of  Divine  Providence,  mysteri- 
ously shaping  his  future  life,  and  leading  him  by  strange  forest  paths 
to  be  the  founder  of  a  new  empire,  ultimately  to  become  one  of  our 
grand  cordon  of  American  States.  Agencies  and  instruments  are 
needed  for  great  occasions,  for  a  great  work.  Human  sagacity  does 
not  descry  the  future,  nor  apprehend  how  these  agencies  and  instru- 
ments are  to  be  provided.  An  erratic  boyhood,  a  wild  life  among 
uncivilized  men,  a  soldier's  hard  fare,  and  a  hero's  fate,  contest  with 
enmity,  trial  in  station  under  difficulties',  constitute  the  ordeal 
through  which  one  remarkable  agent  was  called  to  pass.  That 
agent  was  Sam  Houston,  a  name  which  forms  no  common  part 
of  American  history. 


CHAPTER    V. 

LIFE  AMONG  THE  INDIANS— WRONGS  DONE  THEM— His  CONDEMNATION  OF  SUCH  WROIS^ 
THE   DIFFICULTY  WITH  HON.    MR.    STANSBERRY,    OF   OHIO— THE   CANING — TRIAL 
BY  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  AND  COURTS  OF  THE  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. 

WHILE  a  runaway  boy  among  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  the  Hi- 
Wassee  Country,  Sam  Houston  was  adopted  as  his  son  by  Oo- 
looteka,  the  chief,  who  gave  him  shelter  and  protection.  In  the 
course  of  events  this  Cherokee  chief  had  removed  to  Arkansas  and 
had  become  principal  chief  of  his  tribe,  resident  there.  Tokens  of 
fond  recollection  passed  between  this  chief  and  the  subject  of  this 
memoir.  Eleven  eventful  years  had  passed,  but  their  attachment 
knew  no  abatement.  Resigning  the  gubernatorial  chair  of  Tennessee  he 
determined  to  wend  his  way  to  the  wigwam  of  the  old  Cherokee  chief. 
That  chief  was  his  adopted  father,  and  he  was  assured  that  he  would 
greet  and  welcome  him  with  a  hearty  blessing.  Embarking  on  a  ste?  tri- 
er on  the  Cumberland  River,  he  separated  from  his  devoted  friends 
amid  evidences  of  warm  affection,  presenting  a  scene  of  touching  ten- 
derness. The  chief  honors  of  the  State  had  crowned  him.  He  had 
filled  its  highest  stations.  In  the  strength  and  vigor  of  early  man- 
hood, he  stood  forth  in  his  thirty-fifth  year,  a  man  of  the  people,  to- 
ward whose  future  promotion  all  his  friends  had  looked  with  eager 
anticipations  of  a  brilliant  career.  Nor  were  they  to  be  disappointed, 
for  that  career,  although  it  did  not  culminate  among  the  mountains 
and  plains  of  Tennessee,  still  it  reached  the  acme  of  its  glory  amid 
the  grandeur  of  Texan  scenery. 

From  Nashville  he  went,  by  steamer,  to  Little  Rock,  Arkansas, 
thence  four  hundred  miles  to  the  north-west,  to  the  falls  of  the  Ar- 
kansas. He  travelled  alternately  by  land  and  water.  Near  the  mouth 
of  the  Illinois,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Arkansas,  the  old  Chief  Qoloo- 
teka  had  built  his  wigwam.  Above  Fort  Smith,  on  both  sides  of  the 
river,  the  Cherokees  were  settled.  The  falls  were  two  miles  distant 
from  the  chief's  dwelling.  It  was  night  when  the  steamboat  reached 
the  landing.  A  message  was  sent  to  the  old  man  as  the  boat  passed 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  that  Coloneh  (the  Rover,  the  Indian  name 
given  Sam  Houston  on  his  adoption,)  was  on  board.  Bringing  with 
him  all  his  family,  he  came  to  meet  his  adopted  son.  Throwing  his 
arms  around  him  and  embracing  him  with  great  affection  :  "  My 


40  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

son,"  said  he,  "  eleven  winters  have  passed  since  we  met.  My  heart 
has  wondered  often  where  you  were,  and  I  heard  you  were  a  great 
chief  among  your  people.  Since  we  parted  by  the  falls  as  you  went 
up  the  river,  I  have  heard  that  a  dark  cloud  had  fallen  on  the  white 
path  you  were  walking,  and  when  it  fell  in  your  way  you  turned  your 
thoughts  to  my  wigwam.  I  am  glad  of  it ;  it  was  done  by  the  Great 
Spirit.  There  are  many  wise  men  among  your  people  and  they  have 
many  councillors  in  your  section.  We  are  in  trouble,  and  the  Great 
Spirit  has  sent  you  to  us  to  give  us  counsel  and  take  trouble  a1  way 
from  us.  I  know  you  will  be  our  friend,  for  our  hearts  are  near  to 
you,  and  you  will  tell  our  sorrows  to  the  great  father,  General 
Jackson.  My  wigwam  is  yours  ;  my  home  is  yours  ;  my  people  are 
yours  ;  rest  with  us."  Such  a  greeting  took  largely  from  his  breast 
the  bitter  gloom  and  sorrow  of  the  past  few  weeks.  He  was  at  home  ; 
the  wanderer  had  rest.  The  chief  possessed  a  large  plantation,  ten 
or  twelve  servants,  and  not  less  than  five  or  six  hundred  head  of  cat- 
tle. Living  like  a  patriarch,  simply,  abundantly,  his  wigwam  and 
bountiful  board  were  welcome  to  visitors,  and  he  always  entertained 
numerous  guests  with  princely  hospitality.  The  venerable  chief  was 
six  feet  high,  and  although  about  sixty-five  years  of  age,  his  e'ye- 
sight  did  not  fail  him,  nor  did  he  exhibit  the  feebleness  of  age. 
With  courtly  carriage  he  moved  among  the  people  of  his  race  and  at 
their  council  fires  presided  with  the  peerless  grace  of  a  king  upon  his 
throne.  With  him  Sam  Houston  remained  till  manifest  destiny  called 
him  to  Texas. 

The  Indians,  oppressed  and  outraged,  had  the  sympathy  of  Hous- 
ton. He  knew  their  wrongs,  and  his  untiring  and  magnanimous 
efforts  in  their  behalf  form  some  of  the  finest  pictures  of  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  forest  life.  Domiciled  among  them,  he  determined  to  care 
for  their  interests  and  protect  them  in  their  rights.  He  had  studied  the 
mysteries  of  nature  among  their  wigwams,  around  their  council  fires, 
and  in  the  silent  virgin  forests.  By  an  Indian  he  had  never  been  be- 
trayed or  deceived,  and  the  Indians  on  this  continent  never  had  a 
better  friend  than  Houston.  White  men  had  wronged  them,  intro- 
duced discord  at  their  council  fires,  robbed  them  of  their  forests  and 
game,  driven  them  from  the  graves  of  their  fathers,  and  enticed  them 
from  their  happy  hunting  grounds  by  deceitful  bribes  of  trinkets  and 
rifles.  White  men  had  introduced  among  them  their  vices  and  loath- 
some diseases.  For  their  peltry  they  gave  them  whiskey  and  cards  ; 
thus  by  these  accursed  agencies  they  had  degraded  their  powers, 
bowed  the  strength  of  their  aboriginal  nature,  and  humbled  their 
sublime  chivalry.  Stern  chieftains  had  become  idiotic  sots.  Tribes 
had  melted  away.  The  remnants  of  tribes  once  indomitable,  but  mag- 
nanimous, knew  no  other  sentiment  than  revenge  toward  those  who 


Houston  and  the  Indian  Agents.  41 

had  wronged  them  in  violation  of  every  treaty,  and  usurped  the  fair 
lands  over  which  their  forefathers  had  once  roamed,  undisputed 
monarchs,  chainless  and  free. 

Knowing  that  General  Jackson,  who  was  then  President,  and  who 
was  his  life-long  personal  friend,  would  sympathize  with  him  in  his 
efforts  to  benefit  the  Indians,  he  resolved  to  scrutinize  the  actions 
of  the  Indian  agents  and  sub-agents,  and  report  the  result  to  the 
President.  He  never  entered  the  councils  nor  joined  in  the  delibera- 
tions, although  he  was  at  all  times  invited  to  take  part  in  the  coun- 
cils of  the  Cherokees.  The  manifest  injustice  and  cruel  oppressions 
inflicted  upon  this  people  by  the  agents  charged  with  the  conduct  of 
their  affairs  on  their  migration  to  the  Indian  country,  were  matters 
of  history  detailed  to  him  by  the  old  chief.  One  instance  of  the  out- 
rageous wrong  done  them  may  suffice.  By  treaty,  they  were  to  re- 
ceive twenty-eight  dollars  per  capita  in  exchange  for  the  lands  which 
they  had  on  the  Lower  Arkansas.  This  aggregated  a  very  large  sum 
in  money.  Under  pretence  that  they  had  no  money,  the  agents 
issued  certificates.  The  Indians  received  these  certificates,  and  as 
they  had  always  considered  paper  worthless,  they  were  easily  per- 
suaded to  part  with  their  paper  to  the  merchants,  who  were  in  col- 
lusion with  the  agents,  and  who  purchased  the  certificates 
fraudulently,  for  a  trifling  sum,  inducing  the  Indians  to  believe 
that  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  Government  would  ever  be  able 
to  send  them  the  money.  For  the  sacred  obligations  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, made  under  the  sanctions  of  a  treaty,  these  deceived  ex- 
iles often  received  a  "  Mackinaw  blanket,  a  flask  of  powder,  or  a  bot- 
tle of  whiskey."  It  is  doubtful  whether  a  fifth  part  of  the  money 
secured  to  them  by  sacred"  treaty  ever  passed  into  their  hands,  and 
even  this  fifth  was  wrung  from  them  for  whiskey,  or  in  gambling. 
Preyed  upon  by  abandoned  speculators,  whole  tribes  were  robbed  of 
the  munificent  grants  of  Congress. 

General  Houston  had  for  more  than  a  year  a  trading  establish- 
ment between  the  Grand  River  and  the  Verdegris,  and  although  at 
that  time  far  from  being  a  practical  temperate  man  himself,  he  never 
permitted  traffic  in  destructive  drinks,  and  made  unceasing  efforts 
to  prevent  the  introduction  of  ardent  spirits  among  the  Indians.  Oc- 
casionally he  indulged  in  intoxicating  drinks  to  excess,  at  Fort  Gib- 
son and  other  white  settlements,  but  his  love  for  the  red  men  and  sense 
of  right,  forbade  that  he  should  ever  be  a  party  to  the  traffic  or  use 
of  poisonous  liquids  to  contribute  to  their  crimes  or  misfortunes. 

Holding  no  official  station  himself,  and  mingling  freely  with  them, 
with  no  selfish  aims,  a  voluntary  exile  to  their  wigwams,  a  witness  of 
intolerable  acts  of  outrage  on  the  rights  of  a  generous  people,  he  de- 
termined to  report  these  outrages  to  the  General  Government,  that 


42  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

their  perpetrators  might  be  immediately  removed.  Accordingly, 
early  in  1832  he  went  to  Washington  city  and  presented  such  a 
statement  as  resulted  in  an  investigation  of  the  conduct  of  no  less 
than  five  agents  and  sub-agents  and  their  prompt  removal.  These 
agents  and  sub-agents  had  powerful  friends  in  Congress.  Instiga- 
ted by  mortified  pride,  they  crowded  the  journals  of  Arkansas  with 
infamous  libels  upon  Houston's  character.  They  never  forgave  him 
the  crime  of  tearing  away  the  mask  from  a  band  of  leagued  land 
pirates,  and  they  lavishly  used  their  money  with  a  venal  press  to 
overwhelm  him  with  infamy.  A  hostile  majority  controlled  Congress 
at  that  time  and  used  the  most  strenuous  exertions  to  crush  Gen- 
eral Jackson;  but  the  heroic  old  man  smiled  on.  the  shafts  of  calumny 
which  were  hurled  harmlessly  at  him  ;  and  'midst  the  waves  of  malig- 
nity which  surged  around  him,  untouched,  unscathed,  he  calmly 
gazed  upon  the  futile  efforts  of  his  political  foes.  But  a  young  hero 
was  the  sworn  friend  of  the  President.  If  they  could  not  strike  Gen- 
eral Jackson  directly,  they  might  injure  him  through  his  personal 
friend.  All  the  foes  of  General  Jackson  were  successfully  rallied 
against  him.  He  had  proved  incontrovertibly  against  them  some 
startling  facts.  The  agents  had  been  contractors  for  furnishing  "In- 
dian rations.  To  multitudes  only  a  scanty  and  insufficient  supply  of 
food  had  been  supplied,  and  through  their  neglect  or  cupidity,  some  of 
the  Indians  had  actually  died  of  starvation.  As  there  was  but  one  point 
in  the  two  nations  (Creeks  and  Cherokees)  where  rations  were  issued, 
the  emigrants,  as  they  could  not  make  a  crop,  were  compelled  to 
locate  in  a  most  unhealthy  district  of  country,  where  only  their  ra- 
tions could  be  obtained.  The  exposure  of  this  grievous  wrong 
aroused  the  fiercest  malignity  of  the  desperate  men,  determined  on 
injuring  General  Jackson  and  crushing  General  Houston. 

The  truth  of  history  requires  that  names  shall  not  be  suppressed. 
Hon.  Wm.  Stansberry,  of  Ohio,  a  gentleman  remarkable  at  that  time 
for  his  personal  animosity  toward  General  Jackson,  was  selected  as 
the  file  leader  of  the  crusade  against  General  Houston.  He  had 
been  elected  as  a  friend  of  the  President,  but  was  induced  to  become 
the  instrument  of  wiser,  if  not  better  men,  to  make  the  onslaught.  In 
his  place,  as -representative  of  Ohio  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
he  boldly  charged  General  Houston  with  an  attempt  to  obtain  a 
contract  for  Indian  rations  fraudulent  in  character  and  design,  and 
as  boldly  insinuated  that  the  then  Secretary  of  War  and  even  Gen- 
eral Jackson  were  involved  in  the  attempt  to  defraud. 

All  sorts  of  calumny  had  been  heaped  upon  Houston.  He  had 
hitherto  borne  all  in  silence  ;  but  his  forbearance  now  forsook  him. 
That  the  integrity  of  his  best  personal  and  political  friend  should  be 
assailed  by  a  member  of  Congress,  without  shadow  of  evidence,  was 


-&£**''  ^-^c^f^A*^-    -^>t-^e*^-  <yt-*ts<^  r    iZttsJ    e^s£<-  £*,£*,<.&**&  fzr\ — 


^L 


i-t-*' 


&*^*ot~*-     4sc*4-    /rtL^sS  *4f-*^S%t**^5tf£^      S«*X  ^*!-_ 
J^t^t-     ^+-iot^f  f         tr  <i^r>*~4L**s<~-     S^*T*S~-    ~l£t4**^'*' 


Houston's  Encounter  with  Stansberry.  43 

too  much  for  endurance.  He  determined — and  we  do  not  pretend  to 
say  that  his  course  was  in  this  case  a  wise  one — to  chastise  the  member 
for  his  cowardly  insolence  to  the  President.  The  member  ascertained 
Houston's  purpose  and  avoided  him,  but  learning  one  evening  that 
Houston  was  unarmed,  he  crossed  to  the  side  of  Pennsylvania  Ave- 
nue where  Houston  was  walking,  to  make  an  attempt  upon  his  life,  as 
there  is  the  best  reason  to  suppose  ;  for  it  was  proved  in  the  trial  that 
Stansberry  was  armed  and  Houston  had  no  weapon  with  him  but  a 
hickory  cane.  Recognizing  his  antagonist  by  the  moonlight,  Hous- 
ton asked  him  if  he  were  Wm.  Stansberry,  of  Ohio.  No  sooner  had 
the  answer  escaped  Stansberry's  lips  than  Houston,  as  he  was  un- 
armed and  had  no  time  to  close,  levelled  him  to  the  ground,  shiver- 
ing his  hickory  cane  upon  his  head.  A  pistol,  held  to  the  breast  of 
Houston  by  the  member  from  Ohio,  had  snapped,  but  missed  fire,  or 
he  had  been  a  dead  man.  Houston  spared  the  forfeited  life,  speak- 
ing after  the  manner  of  "a  false  code  of  honor,"  and  the  humbled 
member  of  Congress  betook  himself  to  the  bed  which  he  kept  for 
some  days. 

Four  processes  were  commenced  against  Houston  by  the  chastised 
member.  He  expected  to  disgrace  and  crush  the  General  forever  by 
these  methods.  First :  The  House  of  Representatives  resolved  itself 
into  a  judicial  tribunal,  directed  the  Sergeant-at-Arms  to  arrest  Gen. 
Houston,  and  bring  him  to  its  bar,  to  be  tried  on  the  "  charge  of  vio- 
lation of  the  rights  of  one  of  its  members,  whom  Houston  had  held 
responsible  for  words  uttered  in  debate."  For  nearly  thirty  days  the 
Court  sat,  and  to  condemn  the  accused  man  no  means  were  spared. 
His  friends  argued  with  great  ability  that  the  House  had  no  juris- 
diction in  the  case;  that  Congress,  by  the  Constitution,  had  been 
made  a  Legislative  Assembly  ;  that  it  possessed  no  judicial  powers 
over  American  citizens.  In  this  view,  some  of  the  political  oppo- 
nents of  Gen.  Jackson  concurred.  Houston  spoke  in  his  own  defence 
on  the  trial,  at  great  length,  with  consummate  ability  and  eloquence. 
But  as  the  matter  dragged  wearily  for  a  month,  his  foes  became  tired 
of  the  prosecution,  and  the  people  were  becoming  indignant  that  the 
business  of  the  country  should  be  abandoned  by  the  Congress,  to 
prosecute  a  soldier  who  had  bled  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and 
who  was  unfortunately  self-exiled.  He  had  been  four  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  body  before  which  he  was  arraigned  ;  he  had  been  Gov- 
ernor of  Tennessee  ;  he  bore  in  his  body  unhealed  wounds  received 
in  fighting  for  the  flag  which  then  floated  over  the  Capitol.  Popular 
feeling  turned  in  his  favor  ;  as  it  was  understood  that  he  had  only  re- 
pelled the  attack  of  an  armed  coward,  and  chastised  one  who  had 
boldly  charged  the  President  of  the  United  States  with -fraud  be- 
cause he  thought  he  would  be  protected  by  his  privilege  as  a  member 
of  the  House  in  s*o  doing.  Houston  became  dear  to  the  people  as 


44  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

they  learned  that  his  torture  was  the  consequence  of  earnest  and  de 
voted  love  for  Gen.  Jackson,  the  then  President  of  the  Union.  The 
trial  closed  with  a  party  vote,  instructing  the  Speaker,  Hon.  Andrew 
Stevenson,  of  Virginia,  to  reprimand  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  of  the 
House.  The  reprimand  was  delivered  so  delicately  and  courteously, 
that  all  over  the  Union  it  was  regarded  as  a  signal  triumph,  and  car- 
ried more  the  tone  of  approval  than  of  reprimand. 

The  second  method  was  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  investi- 
gate the  charge  which  the  member  from  Ohio  had  made,  that 
Houston  was  guilty  of  fraud,  in  an  attempt  to  procure  a  contract  for 
furnishing  Indian  rations.  Houston,  in  conscious  innocence,  advo- 
cated this  measure.  The  committee  was  appointed, — Stansberry,  of 
Ohio,  was  appointed  its  chairman.  Thus  armed,  he  conducted  a 
tedious  and  thorough  investigation.  But  after  examining  every  cir- 
cumstance which  could  be  adduced,  the  committee  was  compelled, 
finally,  to  report  that  they  had  not  found  the  slightest  evidence  with 
which  to  support  the  charge. 

The  M/Vvf  method  was  by  resolution  for  ever  to  exclude  him  from  the 
lobby  of  the  House,  where  as  an  Ex-Member  of  Congress  and  Ex- 
Governor  of  a  State,  he  was  privileged  to  go.  The  resolution  was 
not  adopted. 

The  fourth  method  was  indictment  by  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia.  He  was  held  to  bail  in  a  criminal  process  of 
$20,000.  He  stood  the  bail,  which  resulted  in  a  fine  of  §500  and 
costs,  but  no  attempt  to  enforce  the  sentence  of  the  Court  was  ever 
made,  and  the  last  act  but  one  of  Gen.  Jackson's  administration  was 
to  remit  the  fine.  Houston  was  triumphant  over  all  his  foes. 
Seldom  has  so  malignant  a  persecution  ever  been  waged  against  a 
man  in  public  life.  He  had  invited  scrutiny.  He  showed  no  coward- 
ice. His  foes  retired  from  the  contest  loaded  with  chagrin  and  con- 
tempt. He  returned  to  his  voluntary  exile — a  home  in  the  distant 
wigwam  of  the  old  Indian  chief.  For  a  year  he  had  endured  the 
persecution  of  men  of  pretended  civilization,  and  now,  wherever  he 
went,  especially  in  Tennessee,  he  was  received  with  enthusiastic 
demonstrations  of  regard.  State  pride  asserted  itself  among  Ten- 
nesseeans,  to  protect  and  honor  a  citizen  who  had  passed  through 
such  cruel  and  undeserving  persecutions.  Though  posts  of  honor  of- 
fered, no  emoluments  tendered  by  his  friends,  or  by  Gen.  Jackson 
particularly,  could  persuade  him  from  once  more  returning  to  the 
forest.  He  resided,  in  all,  nearly  three  years  among  the  Cherokees. 
Of  the  manner  in  which  the  Indians  were  wronged,  Gen.  Houston 
once  said  :  "  During  the  period  of  my  residence  among  the  Indians 
in  the  Arkansas  region,  I  had  every  facility  for  gaining  a  complete 
knowledge  of  the  flagrant  outrages  practiced  upon  the  poor  red 
men,  by  the  agents  of  the  Government.  I  saw  every  year  vast  sums 


The  Indians  Defrauded  and  Debauched.  45 

squandered  and  consumed  without  the  Indians  deriving  the  least 
benefit,  and  the  Government,  in  very  many  instances,  utterly  igno- 
rant of  the  wrongs  that  were  perpetrated.  Had  one-third  of  the  money 
advanced  by  the  Government  been  usefully  and  wisely  applied,  all 
those  tribes  might  have  been  now  in  possession  of  the  arts  and  en- 
joyments of  civilization.  I  care  not  what  dreamers  and  politicians 
and  travellers  and  writers  may  say  to  the  contrary.  I  know  the  In- 
dian character,  and  I  confidently  avow,  that  if  one-third  of  the 
many  millions  of  dollars  our  Government  has  appropriated  within 
the  last  twenty-five  years,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indian  population, 
had  been  honestly  and  judiciously  applied,  there  would  not  at  this 
time  be  a  single  tribe  within  the  limits  of  our  States  and  Territories, 
but  would  have  been  in  the  complete  enjoyment  of  all  the  arts  and 
all  the  comforts  of  civilized  life.  But  there  is  not  a  tribe  that  has 
not  been  outraged  and  defrauded  ;  and  nearly  all  the  wars  we  have 
prosecuted  against  the  Indians,  have  grown  out  of  the  bold  frauds, 
and  the  cruel  injustice,  played  off  upon  them  by  our  Indian  agents 
and  their  accomplices.  But  the  purposes  for  which  these  vast  annui- 
ties and  enormous  contingent  advances  were  made,  have  only  led  to 
the  destruction  of  the  constitutions  of  thousands,  and  the  increase 
of  immorality  among  the  Indians.  We  can  not  measure  the  desolat- 
ing effects  of  intoxicating  liquors,  among  the  Indians,  by  any  analogy 
drawn  from  civilized  life.  With  the  red  man  the  consequences  are 
a  thousand  times  more  frightful."  Were  Gen.  Houston  now  living, 
he  could  have  added  to  this  statement  from  the  London  Examiner  : 

"  When  Captain  John  Smith,  and  his  swash-bucklering  cavaliers  landed  in  the 
'  Empire  of  Virginia,'  the  aborigines  of  the  United  States,  judging  from  the 
traces  which  they  have  left  behind,  could  not  have  been  less  than  four  or  five  mil- 
lions in  number.  We  question  if,  at  the  present  moment,  they  number  five  hun- 
dred thousand.  Driven  from  bank  to  wall,  and  from  wall  to  ditch,  they  have 
contested  every  foot-breadth  of  the  weary  road  over  which  they  have  had  to  re- 
treat, to  make  way  for  the  Anglo-Saxon  flood.  Disease,  whiskey,  misery  untold, 
and  villainous  saltpetre  have  civilized  them  off  of  the  face  of  the  earth,  once 
their  own.  Once,  all  the  region  east  of  the  Mississippi,  from  Maine  to  Louisiana, 
was  thickly  peopled  with  the  prosperous  villages  of  those  whom  the  old  travellers 
called  '  the  savages.'  No  part  of  America  now  shows  so  thickly  populated  a  coun- 
try, or  so  joyous  a  savage  race  as  those  who  there  hunted  in  the  woods,  and 
paddled  their  birch  canoes,  or  Mandan  coracles.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  all 
but  civilized  fragments  of  tribes  in  one  or  two  of  the  States,  there  is  not  now  one 
single  Indian  who  owns  to  the  name,  in  all  that  wide  region.  A  swarthy,  keen- 
eyed  lawyer,  pleading  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York,  or  a  very  dark-haired 
gentleman  who  sits  next  to  you  in  a  general's  uniform  at  a  State  dinner  in  the 
White  House,  are,  to  the  keenest  ethnological  eye,  about  the  only  signs  of  the  now 
thickly  peopled  States,  covered  with  cities  and  towns,  having  been  once  inhabited 
only  by  dwellers  in  wigwams,  who  fished  the  salmon,  and  hunted  the  bear  and  the 
deer,  with  no  man  to  make  them  afraid." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

TEXAS— STRUGGLING— HOUSTON'S  FIRST  VISIT  TO  TEXAS— LETTER  TO  GEN.  JACKSON- 
LETTER  OF  JOHN  VAN  FOSSEN  TO  HOUSTON— CONVENTION  AT  SAN  FELIPE  DE  AUSTIN 
—EFFORTS  TO  FORM  TEXAS  INTO  A  CONSTITUTIONAL  STATE  OF  MEXICO— HOUSTON  IN 
THE  CONVENTION— AUSTIN  AS  MESSENGER  TO  MEXICO— His  ILL-SUCCESS. 

A  FTER  three  years  of  forest  life  among  the  Indians  in  Arkansas, 
li  Gen.  Houston  conceived  the  idea  of  becoming  a  herdsman.  He 
was  in  the  morning  of  life,  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  powers.  The 
history  of  American  struggles  for  occupancy  of  Texan  soil  had  been 
studied  by  him,  and  stirred  his  interest  in  the  cause  of  his  suffering 
fellow-citizens.  Gen.  Jackson  had  requested  him  to  confer  with  the 
Comanche  Indians,  and  induce  them  to  send  a  delegation  to  Fort 
Gibson,  on  the  Arkansas,  with  the  purpose  of  afterward  visiting 
Washington  city.  The  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  and  Creeks  dreaded 
the  Comanches.  Their  power  and  hostile  disposition  prevented  the 
emigration  of  other  tribes,  and  it  was  thought  that  if  a  treaty  of 
peace  could  be  secured,  that  emigration,  with  peaceful  results,  would 
ensue. 

A  short  distance  from  the  junction  of  the  Grand  River  and  the 
Arkansas,  and  on  the  margin  of  a  prairie  between  the  Verdigris  and 
Grand  River,  was  the  wigwam  of  Gen.  Houston.  On  the  ist  of  Decem- 
ber, 1832,  with  a  few  companions,  he  set  out  on  a  journey  through 
the  wilderness  to  Fort  Towson.  He  reported  himself  soon  there- 
after to  the  authorities  at  Nacogdoches,  Texas,  thence  went  on,  after 
a  few  days,  to  San  Felipe  de  Austin,  then  the  seat  of  government  of 
Austin  Colony.  Governed  by  the  request  of  Gen.  Jackson,  he  con- 
tinued his  journey  to  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  where  he  had  an 
interview  with  a  delegation  of  Comanche  Indians.  The  objects 
contemplated  by  his  secret  mission,  it  is  supposed,  were  accomplished 
at  San  Antonio  de  Bexar.  Having  fulfilled  his  mission  to  the  In- 
dians, with  two  companions  he  returned  to  San  Felipe  de  Austin. 
The  following  letter  is  a  key  to  the  most  important  events  in  the  sub- 
sequent history  of  Texas  : 

"NATCHITOCHES,  LA.,  Febrttary  13,  1833. 
"  GEN.  JACKSON  : 

"  Dear  Sir : — Having  been  so  far  as  Bexar,  in  the  province  of  Texas,  where  I 
had  an  interview  wfth  the  Comanche  Indians,  I  am  in  possession  of  some  informa- 
tion which  will  doubtless  be  interesting  to  you,  and  may  be  calculated  to  forward 
(46) 


Houston  on  Annexation  of  Texas.  47 

your  views,  if  you  should  entertain  any,  touching  the  acquisition  of  Texas  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States.  That  such  a  measure  is  desired  by  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  population  of  the  province,  I  can  not  doubt.  They  are  now 
without  laws  to  govern  or  protect  them.  Mexico  is  involved  in  civil  war.  The 
Federal  Constitution  has  never  been  in  operation.  The  Government  is  essentially 
despotic,  and  must  be  so  for  years  to  come.  The  rulers  have  not  honesty,  and  the 
people  have  not  intelligence.  The  people  of  Texas  are  determined  to  form  a  State 
Government,  and  separate  from  Cohahuila,  and  unless  Mexico  is  soon  restored  to 
order,  and  the  Constitution  revived  and  re-enacted,  the  Province  of  Texas  will 
remain  separate  from  the  Confederacy  of  Mexico.  She  has  already  beaten  and 
repelled  all  the  troops  of  Mexico  from  her  soil,  nor  will  she  permit  them  to  return  ; 
she  can  defend  herself  against  the  whole  power  of  Mexico,  for  really  Mexico  is 
powerless  and  penniless  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  Her  want  of  money  taken  in 
connection  with  the  course  which  Texas  must  and  will  adopt,  will  render  a  trans- 
fer of  Texas  to  some  power  inevitable,  and  if  the  United  States  does  not  press  for 
it,  England  will,  most  assuredly,  obtain  it  by  some  means.  Now  is  a  very  impor- 
tant crisis  for  Texas.  As  relates  to  her  future  prosperity  and  safety,  as  well  as  the 
relations  which  it  is  to  bear  to  the  United  States,  it  is  now  in  the  most  favorable 
attitude,  perhaps,  that  it  can  be,  to  obtain  it  on  fair  terms.  England  is  pressing 
her  suit  for  it,  but  its  citizens  will  resist,  if  any  transfer  should  be  made  of  them 
to  any  power  but  the  United  States.  I  have  travelled  nearly  five  hundred  miles 
across  Texas,  and  am  now  enabled  to  judge  pretty  correctly  of  the  soil  and  re- 
sources of  the  country,  and  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  pronouncing  it  the  finest  coun- 
try, for  its  extent,  upon  the  globe ;  for  the  greater  portion  of  it  is  richer  and  more 
healthy  than  West  Tennessee.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  country  east  of 
the  river  Grand,  of  the  North,  would  sustain  a  population  of  ten  millions  of  souls. 
My  opinion  is  that  Texas,  by  her  members  in  Convention,  will,  by  ist  of  April, 
declare  all  that  country  as  Texas  proper,  and  form  a  State  Constitution.  I  expect 
to  be  present  at  the  Convention,  and  will  apprise  you  of  the  course  adopted,  as 
soon  as  its  members  have  taken  a  final  action.  It  is  probable  that  I  may  make 
Texas  my  abiding-place.  In  adopting  this  course  /  will  never  forget  the  country 
of  my  birth.  I  will  notify  from  this  point  the  Commissioners  of  the  Indians  at 
Fort  Gibson  of  my  success,  which  will  reach  you  through  the  War  Department. 
I  have,  with  much  pride  and  inexpressible  satisfaction,  seen  your  message  and 
proclamation, — touching  the  nullifiers  of  the  South,  and  their '  peaceable  remedies.' 
God  grant  that  you  may  save  the  Union  !  It  does  seem  to  me  that  it  is  reserved 
for  you,  and  you  alone,  to  render  to  millions  so  great  a  blessing.  I  hear  all  voices 
commend  your  course,  even  in  Texas ;  where  is  felt  the  liveliest  interest  for  the 
preservation  of  the  Republic.  Permit  me  to  tender  you  my  sincere  thanks,  felici- 
tations, and  most  earnest  solicitude  for  your  health  and  happiness,  and  your  future 
glory,  connected  with  the  prosperity  of  the  Union. 

"  Your  friend  and  obedient  servant, 

"SAM  HOUSTON." 

This  letter  is  invaluable  as  connected  with  the  history  of  annexa- 
tion, and  the  estimate  and  important  part  which  Gen.  Houston  bore 
in  its  development  and  accomplishment.  Standing*  upon  the  banks 
of  the  Red  River  in  1833,  in  imagination  he  saw  a  line  drawn  from 


48  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  great  northern  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  which  separated  civ- 
ilized, cultivated,  and  enlightened  man  from  savages,  or  from  no  less 
unfortunate  people,  those  who  were  devoted  soul  and  body  to  civil 
and  religious  despotism.  He  saw  the  flood  of  emigration  reducing 
the  wilderness,  and  planting  civilization,  the -arts  and  letters  where 
desolation  had  reigned  for  ages.  His  imagination  caught  fire  with  the 
prospect  of  making  a  double  conquest  of  Texas.  "  Coming  events 
cast  their  shadows  before  them."  He  then  feared,  as  he  all  along 
feared,  British  influence,  and  his  fears  and  jealousy  of  that  power 
were  founded  upon  an  enlarged  comprehension  of  British  politics. 
The  views  and  policy  which  ever  governed  Gen.  Houston  in  all  his 
relations  to  the  question  of  annexation  are  sagaciously  unfolded, 
That  Texas  would  be  free,  would  be  peopled  by  sons  and  daughters  of 
freedom  and  that  civilization  and  intelligence  would  career  westward 
on  this  continent,  and  only  stop  with  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  were 
matters  encompassed  by  the  vast  energies  of  Gen.  Houston's  mind. 
American  soldiers  coming  in  collision  with  Mexicans  breathed  new 
life  into  the  dead  body  of  Mexican  politics,  and  departing  left  behind 
a  spirit  of  freedom  that  tore  down  the  altars  of  anarchy  and  bigotry. 
A  letter  of  an  earlier  date  will  show  what  influences  in  the  United 
States  were  stimulating  Houston's  mind  in  his  plans  for  Texas 
The  writer  of  this  letter  was  a  U.  S.  postmaster. 

"  LIVONIA,  Livingston  Co.,  N.  Y.,  Aug.  3,  1832. 

"  DEAR  GEN.  :— I  reached  home  on  the  30th  ult.,  and  found  all  well ;  but  have 
been  so  much  engaged  since  my  return  that  I  have  not  found  a  moment  to  devote, 
to  your  service  till  to-day.  Before  this  reaches  you  Major  Flowers  will  have  in- 
formed you  of  the  fate  of  my  application  to  Congress  on  behalf  of  the  witnesses  in 
the  Stansberry  inquiry.  The  committee  reported  favorably,  but  it  was  so  late  in 
the  session  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  the  House  to  consider  it.  Matters  re- 
mained at  Washington  much  as  when  you  left,  except  that  it  was  nearly  cleared  of 
its  transient  as  well  as  resident  population.  I  was  informed  by  Col.  Shote,  with 
whom  I  parted  at  Baltimore  on  my  way  home,  that  there  was  reason  to  fear  that 
your  friends  in  New  York  would  fail  of  their  engagement  to  furnish  the  means  of 
prosecuting  your  Texas  enterprise.  I  hope  it  will  not  prove  true,  for  I  had  in- 
dulged the  expectation  of  hearing  of,  if  I  could  not  witness  and  participate  in,  the 
most  splendid  results  from  this  undertaking.  I  do  not  believe  that  that  portion  of 
country  will  long  continue  its  allegiance  to  the  Mexican  Government,  and  I  would 
much  rather  see  it  detached  through  your  agency,  as  the  consequences  could  not 
fail  to  be  highly  favorable  to  your  interest,  than  to  learn  that  the  object  had  been 
effected  through  any  other  means,  or  even  to  learn  that  it  had  become  the  prop- 
erty of  the  United  States  on  the  most  favorable  terms  of  purchase.  I  shall  feel 
uneasy  until  I  learn  from  you  how  the  matter  has  resulted.  I  have  a  large  and 
dependent  family  to  provide  for  and  protect,  and  a  cold  and  heartless  world  to 
grapple  with  under  circumstances  that  at  present  are  rather  unpropitious,  and  next 
to  my  own  deliverance  from  the  embarrassments  which  surround  me,  it  would 
give  me  pleasure  to  know  that  the  clouds  which  have  hung  over  and  dimmed  your 


Houston  and  the  State  Constitution  of  Texas.         49 

horizon  have  been  dissipated,  and  that  your  sun  again  shines  forth  in  all  its  wonted 
grandeur.  It  has  been  your  fortune  to  engross  more  of  public  attention  than  any 
other  private  individual  in  this  nation,  and  I  am  asked  daily  a  hundred  questions 
about  that  extraordinary  man,  Gen.  Houston  ;  and  I  most  ardently  hope  that  I  may 
ere  long  be  able  to  say  that  you  have  triumphed  over  every  obstacle  that  in- 
terposed against  the  accomplishment  of  your  wishes,  not  doubting  but  that  I  shall 
be  able  to  add  with  honest  and  commendable  pride  that  those  wishes  have  shown 
themselves  worthy  of  a  high-minded  and  honorable  American. 

"  I  am  negotiating  for  a  contract  to  furnish  several  thousand  stands  of  arms  for 
the  Government.  If  successful,  I  think,  with  the  advantages  I  have  of  water- 
power  and  machinery,  I  can  not  fail  to  make  it  profitable.  If  I  get  the  contract  I 
will  content  myself  with  endeavoring  to  manage  it  to  the  best  advantage.  Our 
Anti-Masons  and  Nationals  have  leagued  together  to  defeat  Van  Buren  and  the 
Regency  in  this  State.  It  is  a  contest  in  which  I  can  not  participate.  I  think  the 
result  doubtful.  Pennsylvania  will  go  for  the  old  General,  veto  and  all,  though 
I  think  it  equally  certain  that  she  will  not  give  Van  Buren  a  vote.  The  General 
will  be  re-elected,  and  I  think  P.  I.  Barbour  will  be  the  Vice-President,  which  is 
all  I  ask  for.  As  I  feel  a  deep  interest  in  your  movements,  let  me  enjoin  it  on  you 
to  write  to  me  particularly  and  as  often  as  you  have  leisure  and  can  find  amuse- 
ment in  so  doing.  Several  copies  of  your  letter  to  me  of  the  7th  June  last  have 
been  sent  to  Ohio,  Michigan,  etc.,  and  if  any  apology  offers  I  intend  to  publish  the 
whole  correspondence.  I  have  no  doubt  that  letter  will  be  published  in  Ohio  for 
the  benefit  of  Stansberry.  May  the  smiles  of  Heaven  attend  your  undertaking  and 
cheer  you,  wherever  your  lot  may  be  cast. 

"  Yours,  JOHN  VAN  FOSSEN. 

"To  GEN.  SAM  HOUSTON,  Cantonment  Gibson,  Arkansas  Territory." 

In  1832  the  people  of  Texas,  in  the  vicinity  of  Nacogdoches, 
openly  and  generally  expressed  themselves  in  favor  of  inviting  either 
Gen.  Sam  Houston  or  Gen.  Wm.  Carroll  to  come  among  them,  and 
take  the  lead  of  any  revolutionary  movement  which  might  be  deter- 
mined upon.  While,  therefore,  Gen.  Houston  was  passing  through 
Nacogdoches  on  his  way  to  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  he  was  warmly 
importuned  by  the  people  of  the  former  place  to  take  up  his  resi- 
dence among  them,  and  to  permit  them  to  use  his  name  as  a  candi- 
date for  election  to  the  convention  which  was  called  to  meet  in  the 
April  following.  The  people  appeared  at  once  to  recognize  the  great 
qualities  of  civil  and  military  leader  which  his  history  and  character 
shadowed  forth.  On  his  return  from  San  Antonio  de  Bexar  to  Nacog- 
doches he  learned  that  by  an  unanimous  vote  he  had  been  elected  a 
member  of  the  convention.  After  so  generous  and  cordial  a  greet- 
ing he  took  up  his  residence  among  his  new  constituents.  The  con- 
vention met  in  a  rude,  narrow  apartment  at  San  Felipe  de  Austin, 
April  ist,  1833.  Wm.  H.  Wharton  was  chosen  president.  The  as- 
sembly, composed  of  over  fifty  members,  entered  immediately  upon 
the  object  of  their  meeting,  and  as  each  delegate  had  to  pay  his  own 
expenses,  the  business  of  the  convention  was  completed  in  thirteen 
4 


50  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

days.  A  State  Constitution  was  framed, — a  model  of  its  kind.  A 
memorial  was  also  adopted  by  the  convention,  and  each  document 
was  signed  by  all  the  members  present.  The  memorial  was  ad- 
dressed to  the  Supreme  Government  of  Texas,  and  set  forth  reasons 
why  Texas  should  become  one  of  the  States  of  Mexico.  It  was  urged 
that  Texas,  as  a  State  of  the  Confederacy,  could  establish  her  rights 
to  land  promised  previously  by  the  General  Government,  and  also 
negotiate  treaties  with  the  hostile  Indian  tribes.  On  the  Indian 
territory  encroachments  had  been  made.  And  subsequently  to  these 
wrongs  against  the  Indians,  the  Mexican  soldiers  stationed  at  Nacog- 
doches,  Velasco,  and  Anahuse  had  come  to  an  open  rupture  with  the 
colonists  in  the  summer  of  1832,  caused  by  the  difference  between 
Bustamente  and  Santa  Anna.  Bustamente  undertook  to  subvert 
the  Constitution  of  1824,  in  which  he  was  supported  by  the  military 
stationed  throughout  Texas.  Santa  Anna  announced  himself  as  the 
friend  and  supporter  of  the  Constitution.  In  the  civil  revolution 
which  began  in  Mexico  and  spread  into  Texas,  the  colonists  sided 
with  Santa  Anna,  and  expelled  the  military  despotism  to  whose 
usurpations,  without  murmuring,  up  to  that  time  they  had  submit- 
ted. The  colonists  did  not  doubt  that  their  Constitution  would  be 
received  with  favor,  and  ratified  by  the  Federal  authorities.  Ste- 
phen F.  Austin,  Wm.  H.  Wharton,  president  of  the  convention, 
and  James  B.  Miller  were  appointed  commissioners  to  bear  the  Con- 
stitution and  memorial  to  the  Federal  authorities  of  Mexico. 

Stephen  F.  Austin  went  alone  to  the  City  of  Mexico.  Very  little 
encouragement  was  given  to  his  mission,  although  he  was  received 
with  some  formality.  The  only  reason  which  could  have  been  urged 
against  ratifying  the  Constitution  was  that  Santa  Anna  also  had 
resolved  on  establishing  a  military  despotism. 

Great  pains  had  been  taken  to  construct  a  Constitution  acceptable 
to  the  Federal  Government.  Under  the  Constitution  of  1824,  in 
organizing  States  the  provinces  of  Texas  and  Cohahuila  were  formed 
into  one  State,  reserving  the  right  to  Texas  to  constitute  herself  a 
separate  State  whenever  her  population  was  sufficient  to  justify  the 
measure.  The  policy  pursued  toward  Texas,  both  by  Cohahuila  and 
the  Federal  Government,  made  it  necessary  for  her  to  become  a  dis- 
tinct State  as  soon  as  possible.  Her  territory  had  been  given  away 
in  large  tracts,  under  the  pretext  of  raising  funds  to  aid  Mexico  in 
defending  her  frontiers  from  the  Indians.  Not  a  dollar  had  evei 
been  appropriated  to  that  object.  Whenever  troops  were  stationed 
in  Texas  they  were  sent  to  towns  near  the  seaboard,  where  there  was 
slight  danger  of  hostile  attacks  from  the  savages.  But  another  point 
could  be  gained:  the  support  of  the  Government,  otherwise  not  likely 
to  be  given,  might  be  extorted  in  the  face  of  a  military. force  overawing 


Houston  and  Stephen  F.  Austin.  51 

the  citizens  of  the  place.  Fifteen  or  twenty  tribes  of  hostile  Indians 
made  incursions  at  will,  and  the  colonists  were  compelled  either  to 
go  without  protection  or  protect  themselves  with  any  means  in  their 
power. 

In  the  new  Constitution  it  was  proposed  by  Branch  T.  Archer,  a 
distinguished  son  of  Virginia,  that  there  should  be  a  clause  author- 
izing the  State  of  Texas  to  create  a  bank,  or  banks.  Mexico  had  no 
banks.  The  principal  men  of  the  convention  supported  Archer's 
proposition  to  place  a  clause  in  the  Constitution  authorizing 
banks.  Houston  opposed  it.  He  was  in  principle  opposed  to  any 
system  of  banks,  except  such  a  system  as  brought  its  power  within 
very  narrow  limits.  In  the  infancy  of  the  State  he  could  not  hop** 
for  a  sound  banking  system,  as  human  cupidity  and  stringent  times 
would  be  stronger  than  constitutional  provisions.  Policy  also,  in 
Houston's  opinion,  forbade  the  institution  of  banks.  Their  creation, 
or  the  power  to  create  them,  would  be  an  innovation  upon  the  legis- 
lation of  the  General  Government.  If  Texas  wished  or  hoped  for 
success  as  a  distinct  State  she  must  defer  to  the  prejudices  and  in- 
stitutions of  Mexico.  Jealousies  and  suspicions  should  be  avoided. 
Mexico  would  find  in  the  bank  clause  of  the  Constitution  a  valid 
reason  for  the  rejection  of  the  Constitution.  Thus  reasoned  Hous- 
ton with  great  eloquence  and  ability.  He  succeeded  not  only  in 
causing  the  article  in  dispute  to  be  stricken  out,  but  another  clause 
inserted,  forbidding  the  establishment  of  all  banks  and  banking  cor- 
porations for  a  period  of  ninety-nine  years,  which  clause  was  adopted 
by  a  large  majority  in  the  convention.  Gen.  Houston's  policy,  in 
these  early  struggles  of  Texas  to  obtain  the  full  prerogatives  of  an 
American  Commonwealth,  was  profoundly  wise.  He  was  cool,  calm, 
and  deliberative  in  every  emergency;  even  in  the  strangest  events  of 
his  life,  an  imperturbable  discretion  did  not  desert  him.  Upon  all 
the  questions  of  State  or  National  policy  Houston's  sagacity  saw  the 
end  from  the  beginning,  and  placed  him  on  the  side  which  ultimately 
won  success.  The  influence  which  chiefly  moulded  the  action  of  the 
convention,  and  toned  the  political  feelings  and  events  which  suc- 
ceeded, was  the  result  of  the  wise  counsels  and  shrewd  speeches  of 
Gen.  Houston.  It  is  supposed  by  some  of  the  ablest  patriots  of 
Texas  that  had  Houston's  wise  counsels  always  governed  the  Repub- 
lic or  the  State,  the  independence  of  Texas  would  have  been  secured 
with  slight  loss  of  life  or  treasure.  If  all  Houston's  associates  had 
been  as  truly  noble  in  purpose  and  spirit  as  Stephen  F.  Austin, 
whose  share  in  the  great  work  of  freeing  Texas  from  tyranny  and  es- 
tablishing it  as  a  State  was  hardly  inferior  to  Houston's,  much  sacri- 
fice and  suffering  would  have  been  spared  to  the  people.  Austin, 
failing  to  secure  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  determined  to 


52  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

return  to  Texas.  But  while  -on  his  way  home  he  was  pursued  by  order 
of  the  Government,  carried  back  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  there 
thrown  into  a  dungeon,  where  he  passed  many  months  of  gloom  and 
suffering.  A  purer  patriot  never  trod  Texan  soil.  Amiable,  en- 
lightened, excellent,  he  was  respected  and  beloved  by  the  colonists, 
and  ever  will  his  incorruptible  virtues  and  unsullied  fame  be  treas- 
ured by  the  people  of  Texas.  The  stories  of  his  sufferings  in  his 
long  imprisonment  reached  Texas,  and  a  deep  sensation  was  pro- 
duced everywhere.  The  only  press  in  Texas,  then  located  at  Bra- 
zoria,  gave  utterance  to  the  indignation  of  the  colonists  ;  which  was 
roused  to  the  rage  of  a  single  man.  The  population  of  Texas  did 
not  at  that  time  exceed  20,000  souls  ;  and  yet  indiscreetly  they  spoke 
of  the  wrongs  which  they  endured,  and  the  rights  secured  to  them 
under  the  Constitution  of  1824.  These  unrestrained  ebullitions  of 
feeling  were  likely  to  plunge  Texas  into  a  sanguinary  struggle  with 
Mexico  before  she  was  prepared  for  such  a  struggle.  Houston,  as 
eager  as  any  man  for  the  political  redemption  of  Texas,  discouraged 
these  unwise  developments  of  feeling.  Without  the  form  of  a  trial, 
with  no  definite  accusation  brought  against  him,  Austin  had  been 
thrown  into  a  prison.  Santa  Anna  had  great  confidence  in  Austin. 
On  all  occasions  Austin  had  been  loyal  to  recognized  principles,  and 
was  the  friend  of  order  under  all  circumstances  in  Texas.  Carrying 
out  the  design  of  his  father,  Moses  Austin,  who  died  in  the  incipiency 
of  the  colony,  he  had  migrated  with  300  families,  colonists,  and  was 
the  first  to  introduce  the  materials  of  the  magnificent  political  struct- 
ure which  presented  subsequently  such  form  and  beauty.  Liberated 
at  length  by  Santa  Anna,  and  permitted  to  return  home,  he  found 
public  indignation  aroused  and  expressed  freely  in  municipal  meet- 
ings. But  when  few,  if  any,  orderly  meetings  were  meditating  ex- 
treme measures,  and  public  feeling  against  him  was  subsiding,  Santa 
Anna  proved  manifestly  that  he  could  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short 
of  absolute  power. 


CHAPTER    VI  I. 

TEXAS  TRIUMPHING — STRUGGLES  UNDER  AUSTIN  AND  HOUSTON — CONSULTATIONS — COLLI- 
SIONS IN  COUNCIL— HOUSTON  APPOINTED  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF—COMMISSION  REVOKED— 
GRANT'S  EFFORT  TO  CAPTURE  MATAMORAS — TROUBLES  CONNECTED  WITH  GOVERNOR 
HENRY  SMITH'S  ADMINISTRATION— SIEGE  AND  CAPTURE  OF  SAN  ANTONIO  BY  GENERAL 
EDWARD  BURLESON— DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE— HOUSTON  AGAIN  APPOINTED 
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. 

nPAXATION  had  become  oppressive.  Commerce  was  placed  under 
1  the  most  oppressive  restrictions.  The  administration  of  the  cus- 
toms was  committed  to  the  worst  men.  All  attempts  to  secure  jus- 
tice had  been  baffled.  The  people  had  improved  their  lands.  Their 
titles  were  guaranteed  by  the  Mexican  Government,  and  still  large 
sums  of  money  had  been  extorted  from  them  in  obtaining  titles. 
The  disapprobation  of  the  Mexican  Government  evidently  had 
settled  upon  the  colonists,  and  yet  they  were  ruled  by  Mexican  laws, 
and  were  governed  by  beings  who  blindly  carried  out  Mexican  edicts. 
Alarmed,  the  colonists  undertook  precautionary  measures.  But  when 
an  edict  of  Santa  Anna  commanded  the  people  to  surrender  their  pri- 
vate arms — thus  exposing  their  wives  and  children  to  the  rage  of 
savage  Indians,  as  well  as  to  the  horrors  of  starvation,  for  many 
families  depended  on  wild  game  for'their  daily  food — the  final  stroke 
of  tyranny  which  rends  the  will  of  the  subject  from  the  will  of  the 
despot,  had  been  delivered  ;  and  no  other  thought  occupied  Texan 
minds  but  freedom  from  Mexican  despotism  and  misrule.  On  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  Guadaloupe,  about  seventy  miles  from  San  An- 
tonio de  Bexar,  is  situated  Gonzales,  which  was  originally  the  capital 
of  De  Witt's  colony.  Almost  weekly  incursions  of  the  Indians  had 
made  it  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  place,  that  it  should  have  a 
piece  of  artillery.  Santa  Anna  commanded  Ugartchea,  a  Colonel 
commanding  several  dragoons  in  the  Mexican  army,  to  march  from 
San  Antonio  de  Bexar  to  Gonzales,  to  carry  off  this  four-pounder. 
Inconsiderable  skirmishing  took  place,  as  the  people  flocked  to  the 
place  to  hold  possession  of  the  little  field-piece.  A  great  point  was, 
however,  gained  :  the  Mexican  army  had  fired  the  first  shot.  Swords 
drawn  from  their  scabbards  that  day  were  no  more  to  be  sheathed, 
until  every  link  of  Mexican  fetters,  then  encircling  the  youthful  form 
of  Texan  liberty,  should  be  burst  asunder,  and  Texas  stand  free  and 
unfettered  by  despotism  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

(53) 


54  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Stephen  F.  Austin  repaired  to  Gonzales  and  was  chosen  command- 
er of  the  forces.  The  little  army,  animated  by  his  leadership,  res- 
cued their  four-pounder,  and  resolved  to  pursue  the  foe  to  San  An- 
tonio, and  drive  from  the  soil  the  miserable  tools  of  the  tyrant,  Santa 
Anna.  Texas  rose  everywhere,  like  one  man.  As  far  as  the  eastern 
boundary,  where  the  people — believing  that  rumors  were  exaggerated 
— were  disposed  to  be  tranquil  the  tocsin  of  war  was  sounded  and 
the  torch  of  war  was  lighted. 

A  partial  organization  of  militia  was  effected  and  committees  of 
vigilance  and  safety  constituted  in  the  municipalities  of  Nacogdoches 
and  San  Augustine.  At  the  same  time,  Sam  Houston  was"  chosen  Gen- 
eral of  Texas,  east  of  the  Trinity  River.  The  people  of  Brazoria, 
well  satisfied  that  there  was  little  to  hope  for  from  Santa  Anna,  the 
despot  of  Mexico,  invited  the  other  municipalities  to  co-operate  with 
them  in  electing  delegates  to  meet  for  a  general  consultation,  for  the 
purpose  of  providing  means  of  safety  in  case  of  imminent  danger. 
General  Austin  with  the  forces  under  his  command  advanced  to 
San  Antonio  de  Bexar  and  invested  the  place.  Eight  hundred 
armed  men  from  all  parts  of  the  province  flocked  to  his  stand- 
ard. These  occurrences  took  place  in  October,  1835  ;  early  in 
which  month,  fifty-six  delegates  met  in  consultation  at  Washing- 
ton. After  a  brief  conference  on  their  first  meeting,  they  changed 
their  place  of  deliberation  to  San  Felipe  de  Austin ;  at  which 
place  they  were  invited  by  General  Austin  to  meet  him  at  San  An- 
tonio, assuring  them,  that  on  their  compliance,  he  would  reduce  the 
place  in  three  days.  Citizens,  residing  near  Victoria  and  Matagorda, 
after  his  advance  upon  San  Antonio  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Collinsworth,  formed  a  company,  advanced  on  Goliad,  reduced  and 
obtained  possession  of  the  town.  On  the  first  meeting  of  the  delegates 
in  consultation,  General  Austin  sent  a  message  to  General  Houston  to 
send  forward  his  division  of  troops.  General  Houston,  immediately 
on  receipt  of  the  message,  took  the  only  five  dollars  he  possessed, 
gave  it  to  a  good  rider  with  dispatches  to  his  division,  which,  as  soon 
as  received,  caused  the  East  Texans  to  march  to  the  scene  of  war. 
Houston,  with  the  major  party  of  the  consultation,  immediately  after 
receiving  General  Austin's  invitation,  proceeded,  without  delay,  to 
General  Austin's  camp,  at  the  Salada,  within  three  miles  of  San 
Antonio. 

Gen.  Austin,  soon  after  the  union  of  the  two  divisions,  proposed  to 
surrender  his  command  to  Gen.  Houston.  All  personal  considerations 
weighed  nothing  in  the  mind  of  Austin,  when  balanced  with  love  of 
country.  Houston  declined  the  offer.  He  had  good  reasons  for  de- 
clining. Diffidence,  not  want  of  bravery  nor  patriotism,  had  influ- 
enced Austin.  But  the  troops  then  in  the  field  had  marched  to  the 


Gen.  Houston  in  Indian  Costume.  55 

camp  in  obedience  to  his  requisition  ;  they  had  elected  him  their 
commander.  General  Houston  rightly  thought  that  a  change  of 
commanders  at  that  time  would  afford  a. pretext  to  the  seditious  and 
disaffected  to  abandon  the  service,  and  thus  defeat  the  objects  of  the 
campaign  ;  but  he  cordially  offered  to  aid  General  Austin  in  any  way 
in  his  power,  in  organizing  and  drilling  the  command.' 

A  council  of  war  was  held ;  the  principal  officers  and  members  of 
the  consultation  were  present.  Should  a  Provisional  Government  be 
formed  ?  If  so,  ought  not  the  delegates  to  the  consultation  to  be  re- 
assembled at  San 'Felipe  de  Austin?  How  were  these  questions 
which  were  started  to  be  answered  ?  To  answer  them  the  council  of 
\var  determined  to  refer  them  to  the  army.  Accordingly,  on  the  day 
after  the  council  of  war,  the  troops  were  drawn  up  and  their  vote 
taken.  The  army  unanimously  decided  that  the  consultation  should 
reassemble  and  form  a  Provisional  Government,  to  adopt  measures  to 
give  to  Texas  credit  beyond  her  limits,  and  to  provide-  means  to 
maintain  the  army  then  in  the  field. 

The  army  was  conducted  by  General  Austin  to  the  Mission  of 
Espada,  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  distant,  and  the  members  of  the  con- 
sultation reassembled  at  San  Felipe,  reorganized  and  renewed  their 
deliberations.  A  provisional  declaration,  establishing  an  organic  law 
for  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Province  of  Texas,  organizing 
a  temporary  administration,  and  exhorting  all  Mexicans  to  unite  in 
maintaining  the  Constitution  of  1824,  and  to  pledge  their  lives,  prop- 
erty, and  sacred  honor  in  support  of  its  principles,  was  enacted. 

General  Houston  served  on  the  committee  to  frame  the  provisional 
declaration.  Some  of  the  committee  advocated  a  declaration  of  ab- 
solute independence,  and  succeeded  at  first  in  adopting  a  resolution 
to  this  effect.  Houston  regarded  a  declaration  of  absolute  independ- 
ence at  that  time  as  ill-judged  and  ill-timed,  and  prevailed  on  one  of 
the  majority  to  move  a  reconsideration  of  the  vote.  The  reconsider- 
ation was  carried.  A  considerable  majority,  influenced  by  one  of  the 
ablest  efforts  of  Houston's  life,  voted  in  favor  of  a  provisional  decla- 
ration. 

The  deliberations  which  issued  in  forming  the  first  government  of 
Anglo-Saxon  pattern  on  the  soil  of  Texas,  were  held  in  a  small 
framed  house  of  one  room,  without  ceiling  or  plaster.  The  costume 
of  the  members  of  that  political  conference  was  rude  and  unsightly, 
yet  they  were  dressed  as  well  as  their  means  and  misfortunes  allowed. 
Houston  had  worn  the  costume  of  the  Indian  race,  among  whom  he 
took  up  his  abode,  ever  since  he  had  entered  upon  his  exile.  In  dress, 
he  was  then  an  Indian.  His  friend,  Andrew  Jackson,  commenting 
upon  his  strange  freak  of  dress,  said  he  "  thanked  God  that  there 
was  one  man  in  Texas  who  was  made  by  the  Almighty  and  not  by 


56  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  tailor."  Appearances  are  not  always  decisive.  Dress  indicates 
either  strength  or  weakness  of  human  character.  So  reasoned  Sam 
Houston  at  that  time,  while  he,  adopted  as  a  son  by  the  chief  of  an 
Indian  tribe,  continued  to  cherish  a  free  and  courageous  spirit  under 
cover  of  an  Indian  blanket.  In  the  elections  by  this  primitive  con- 
vention, he  refused  to  accept  any  civil  office.  A  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor  were  appointed.  One  member  chosen  by  each  mu- 
nicipality, made  up  the  council,  which  was  to  continue  in  session  till 
superseded  by  officers  elected  by  the  people.  Other  officers  requisite 
for  the  administration  of  such  a  government  we're  chosen.  Henry 
Smith  was  chosen  Provisional  Governor,  and  J.  W.  Robinson  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor ;  but  the  event  which  certainly  decided  the  destiny 
of  Texas  was  the  election  of  Sam  Houston,  by  a  vote  among  fifty 
members  lacking  only  one  of  unanimity,  to  be  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 
OF  THE  ARMIES  OF  TEXAS.  He  was  born  to  command.  He  possessed 
the  great  qualities  with  which  gifted  leaders  are  usually  invested. 
The  appointment  was  accepted  ;  for,  having  promised  to  do  whatever 
was  possible  for  him  to  do,  he  had  no  alternative.  He  immediately 
proceeded  to  appoint  his  staff.  All  the  necessary  measures  were 
taken  for  raising  and  organizing  a  regular  army,  as  well  as  originat- 
ing a  competent  militia  system. 

Texas  was  without  money,  and  there  were  few  men  then  living 
who  properly  considered  the  importance  of  the  early  movements  for 
its  redemption  from  Mexican  misrule,  or  forecasted  the  wonderful 
changes  fifty  years  would  witness.  Stephen  F.  Austin,  W.  H.  Whar- 
ton,  and  B.  F.  Archer  were  appointed  commissioners  to  visit  the 
United  States  to  procure  a  loan  wherewith  to  sustain  the  colonists 
under  the  strong  pressure  of  their  bold  undertaking.  Houston,  look- 
ing upon  Texas  as  dependent  upon  her  own  resources,  based  on  her 
intrinsic  values  and  the  individual  generosity  of  her  citizens  and  their 
sympathizers,  issued  a  proclamation  inviting  five  thousand  volunteers 
to  join  in  maintaining  the  cause  of  Texas.  In  the  interval  between 
the  departure  of  Gen.  Austin  to  the  United  States  as  a  commissioner 
and  the  assumption  of  command  by  General  Houston,  the  army  was 
under  the  command  of  General  Edward  Burleson,  an  early  settler  of 
Texas,  a  worthy  man  and  an  estimable  civilian.  Some  military  events 
transpired,  irregular  in  their  character,  yet  indicative  of  great  personal 
heroism  on  the  part  of  the  volunteers.  Before  Austin  left  the  army, 
Cols.  Fannin  and  Bowie  sustained  with  about  one  hundred  Americans 
a  gallant  action  with  five  hundred  Mexicans  at  the  Mission  Concep- 
tion. Leaving  some  dead  on  the  field  and  carrying  away  with  them 
many  wounded,  the  Mexicans  retreated  and  the  Americans  in  tri- 
umph marched  to  the  vicinity  of  San  Antonio  and  posted  themselves 
above  the  place.  About  two  hundred  Americans  acceded  to  the 


Dr.  Grants  Misrepresentation.  57 

proposition  of  Colonel  Benjamin  R.  Milam,  then  without  command 
in  the  army,  to  enter  and  storm  the  place.  Milam  was  a  gallant  and 
chivalric  soldier,  inspiring  confidence  in  those  under  his  lead.  With 
his  brave  followers  he  entered  the  town  at  night,  obtained  possession 
of  certain  buildings,  and  forced  his  way  from  house  to  house  through 
the  walls  by  means  of  crowbars.  Milam,  after  performing  many  acts  of 
great  bravery  for  several  days,  fell  in  the  heart  of  the  place,  pierced  by 
a  rifle-ball.  The  troops,  shortly  after  their  leader's  fall,  obtained  entire 
possession  of  the  town,  and  compelled  the  enemy's  fortress  (the  Alamo) 
to  capitulate.  Not  often  has  such  a  scene  been  witnessed  or  was  pre- 
sented the  morning  after  the  capitulation.  A  little  band  of  less  than 
two  hundred  Texans  was  drawn  up  in  martial  array,  and  not  less  than 
eleven  hundred  Mexican  soldiers  passed  before  them  and  laid  down 
their  arms.  On  their  parole  of  honor,  they  were  released;  and,  led  by 
Gen.  Cos,  marched  to  Mexico.  Cos  violated  his  faith,  and  the  next  year 
appeared  in  arms  at  San  Jacinto.  The  main  body  of  forces,  consist- 
ing chiefly  of  colonists,  was  now  discharged,  and  marched  home  to 
the  pursuits  of  ordinary  life.  The  gallant  company  mainly  instru- 
mental in  reducing  the  Alamo,  was  alone  detained.  It  should  here 
be  noted  that  during  the  siege  of  San  Antonio,  volunteers  from  the 
United  States  arrived  ;  a  company  called  the  New  Orleans  Grays, 
under  Captain  Morris,  and  another  company  from  Mobile,  under 
Captain  Breeze;  who  bore  a  gallant  part  in  the  memorable  siege  and 
reduction  of  San  Antonio  in  1835. 

Events  now  transpired  which  did  not  harmonize  with  Gen.  Hous- 
ton's views.  A  plan  was  conceived  of  capturing  Matamoras  ;  but 
it  was  more  out  of  hatred  to  Mexicans  than  in  earnest  sympathy 
with  the  best  interests  of  Texas.  A  Scotchman,  Dr.  Grant,  who  had 
been  engaged  with  an  English  mining  company  at  Parras,  fell  under 
the  displeasure  of  the  Mexican  Government,  and  was  compelled  to  fly. 
He  possessed  more  than  ordinary  capacity,  but  not  the  usual  shrewd- 
ness of  the  Scotch  people.  After  General  Burleson  had  retired  with 
most  of  the  army,  he  claimed,  as  one  of  the  aids  of  General  Austin, 
the  command  of  the  remaining  troops.  Under  this  assumed  authori 
ty  he  induced  the  New  Orleans  Grays  and  Captain  Breeze's  compa- 
ny from  Mobile,  to  take  up  their  march  for  Matamoras,  by  way  of 
Goliad.  There  were  men  in  the  General  Council,  utterly  destitute  of 
moral  principle,  then  occupied  in  machinations  which  terminated 
most  disastrously  for  Texas.  With  these  malcontents,  Dr.  Grant 
opened  a  correspondence,  and  induced  the  Military  Committee  of  the 
General  Council  to  coincide  with  him  in  his  plan  for  an  attack  upon 
Matamoras.  They  desired  to  supersede  General  Houston;  and  know- 
ing that  he  was  opposed  to  Grant's  plan,  they  thought  that  Mata- 
moras should  be  captured  to  destroy  Houston's  influence.  General 


58  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Houston  had  appointed  J.  W.  Fannin,  Jr.,  Inspector-General  on  his 
staff ;  and  he  had  commanded  at  the  battle  of  the  Mission  of  Concep- 
tion. When  this  soldier  came  to  the  Council  of  San  Felipe,  Houston 
caused  him  to  be  appointed  Colonel  of  the  regiment  of  artillery,  a 
position  next  in  rank  to  himself.  The  Council  seems  to  have  had 
strange  ideas  of  military  affairs.  While  they  were  holding  their  ses- 
sions at  San  Felipe  de  Austin,  they  established  the  headquarters  of 
the  army,  with  General  Houston  as  its  chief,  fifty  miles  distant  from 
their  own  position.  Obedient  to  orders,  Houston  repaired  to  Wash- 
ington, the  headquarters,  and  engaged  earnestly  in  his  arduous  duties. 
Recruiting  stations  were  established  ;  and  officers  assigned  to  them 
were  ordered  to  make  such  reports  as  would  at  any  time  put  him  in  pos- 
session of  the  number  and  condition  of  the  regular  force.  The  prin- 
cipal recruiting  rendezvous  was  at  Brazoria,  to  which  place  Colonel 
Fannin  was  ordered.  General  Houston's  dispatches  to  Fannin  were 
disregarded  and  his  authority  set  at  naught;  and  letters  were  written 
and  circulated  generally,  aimed  to  arouse  the  suspicion  that,  under 
the  sanction  of  the  General  Council,  by  raising  five  thousand  volun- 
teers he  aimed  to  establish  a  military  government.  Gov.  Smith  de- 
tected the  secret  intrigues  of  the  Council  with  Grant,  Fannin  and  oth- 
ers, while  General  Houston  was  at  the  headquarters  of  the  army  at 
Washington;  and,  about  the  ist  of  January,  1836,  he  ordered  General 
Houston  to  repair  to  San  Felipe  de  Austin.  General  Houston  had 
with  his  usual  sagacity,  issued  orders  for  all  troops  arriving  in  the 
country  to  report  to  Governor  Smith  as  nominal  commander-in-chief 
and  to  himself  on  their  arrival  as  commander  of  the  army.  Volun- 
teers from  Alabama  and  Col.  Ward's  command  from  Georgia  arrived 
about  this  time  at  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos.  Being  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  United  States  volunteers  when  they  landed,  Col.  Fannin, 
paying  no  attention  to  General  Houston's  orders,  abandoned  his  po- 
sition as  an  officer  in  the  regular  amy,  and  became  a  candidate  for  the 
colonelcy  of  the  regiment  proposed  to  be  formed  by  the  union  of  the 
Alabama  and  Georgia  troops.  By  the  influence  of  the  Council  he 
was  elected  Colonel,  and  Col.  Ward,  Lieutenant-Colonel.  The  regi- 
ment then  sailed,  according  to  orders,  from  Velasco  to  Copano  ; 
marched  thence  to  Refugio  Mission,  a  place  twenty  miles  distant 
from  the  first  landing ;  where  the  command  of  Grant  was  to  unite 
with  them  on  the  way  to  Matamoras. 

A  crisis  had  now  arrived  in  the  affairs  of  Texas,  and  disaster  befell 
all  involved  in  precipitating  this  crisis  upon  Texas.  The  ill-starred 
plan  to  seize  on  Matamoras,  the  fall  of  the  Alamo,  and  the  massacre 
at  Goliad,  all  contributed  in  a  way,  not  designed  by  the  martyrs  nor 
approved  by  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto,  to  the  consummation  of  Texan 
independence.  Truth  in  history  requires  that  events  shall  be  stated 


Go v.  Smith  and  the  Council.  59 

as  they  transpired.  In  directing  the  campaign  on  Matamoras,  the 
only  object  of  the  Council  was  to  control  the  revenues  of  the  place. 
Matamoras  possessed  by  an  enemy,  cut  off  from  all  intercourse 
with  the  interior,  and  communication  with  the  sea  prevented,  could 
afford  no  revenue  to  the  captors.  If  seven  hundred  men  could  reach 
Matamoras  without  opposition,  they  could  not  keep  it  a  single  week. 
With  no  means  of  transportation,  with  not  three  days  of  bread- 
stuffs,  with  men  unprovided  in  every  respect  for  a  campaign,  with 
an  area  of  several  hundred  miles  to  cross,  it  was  not  likely  that  they 
could  ever  reach  the  walls  of  Matamoras.  Discovering  the  absurd- 
ity of  such  a  plan,  Houston  remonstrated  with  the  officers  in  a 
friendly  way,  pointing  out  the  futility  of  the  project,  the  great  diffi- 
culties to  be  encountered,  and  the  disasters  inevitably  attendant  upon 
a  failure.  Governor  Smith  highly  disapproved  of  the  plans  of  the 
Council,  and  on  that  account  incurred  their  hottest  displeasure. 
Gen.  Houston  obeyed  the  Governor's  orders,  and  reported  to  him  at 
San  Felipe.  Receiving  orders  to  repair  to  Refugio,  where  a  junction 
of  the  troops  of  Grant  and  Fannin  was  to  be  effected,  after  he  had 
returned  to  Washington,  and  arranged  pressing  matters  at  head- 
quarters, he  proceeded  to  Goliad,  about  the  middle  of  January,  1836, 
and  made  known  to  the  troops  his  orders,  and  enjoined  obedience  on 
his  authority.  Grant  and  his  troops  were  on  the  eve  of  marching  to 
Refugio.  They  refused  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  Governor 
submitted  to  them  by  Gen.  Houston,  Commander  of  the  Regular 
Army.  He,  unable  to  account  for  their  extraordinary  conduct,  ig- 
norant of  the  counsels  and  plans  of  the  Council,  knowing  that  the 
troops  at  San  Antonio  de  Bexar  would  be  unable  to  maintain  the 
place  against  the  advancing  army  of  Santa  Anna,  sent  Colonels 
Bowie  and  Bonham  with  an  escort,  to  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  on  the 
i5th  of  January,  with  orders  to  Col.  W.  B.  Travis  to  blow  up  the  Alamo 
and  fall  back  to  Gonzales,  on  the  Guadaloupe  River,  at  which  place  he 
intended  to  establish  his  line  of  defence.  Notwithstanding  the 
refusal  of  Grant  and  Morris  to  obey  orders,  Gen.  Houston  marched 
twenty-five  miles  with  them  to  Refugio,  leaving  a  few  regulars  at 
Goliad  to  maintain  the  post,  with  nothing  but  the  cattle  of  the  coun- 
try for  subsistence.  When  the  troops  reached  Refugio,  they  received 
no  intelligence  of  the  landing  of  Fannin  at  Copano,  whence  he 
was  to  march  to  Refugio.  Unable  to  influence  the  leaders  by  regu- 
lar authority,  or  by  friendly  remonstrance,  and  unwilling  to  excite 
sedition  among  troops,  reluctant  to  bow  to  the  command  of  any 
other  general,  accompanied  by  a  few  of  his  staff,  Gen.  Houston  set 
out  at  night,  from  Refugio,  to  return  to  San  Felipe  de  Austin.  On 
the  road  he  received  startling  intelligence.  Under  the  organic  law, 
a  certain  number  constituted  a  quorum  in  the  Council  to  transact 


60  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

business.  When  that  number  was  not  present  it  was  not  a  lawful 
body.  The  measures  and  counsels  of  the  stormy  spirits  induced  the 
more  patriotic  and  conservative  members  to  withdraw,  thus  leaving 
the  Council  a  number  incompetent,  legally,  to  transact  business. 
The  remaining  members,  acting  independently,  proceeded  to  extreme 
measures.  First:  Not  finding  Governor  Henry  Smith  a  suitable 
agent  for  their  designs,  they  deposed  him.  Second:  Equally  disap- 
proving the  views  and  plans  of  Gen.  Sam  Houston,  they  superseded 
him,  and  chose  another  as  commander  of  the  army.  Besides  these 
facts,  published  letters  of  Col.  Fannin,  indicating  his  reliance  on  the 
Council,  and  disregard  of  the  authority  of  Gov.  Smith  and  Gen. 
Houston,  met  his  eye.  The  true  situation  of  the  country  was  dis- 
closed to  him.  After  having  embarked  in  the  enterprise  of  freeing  a 
struggling  province  from  Mexican  tyranny,  having  exchanged  tran- 
quillity among  friendly  Indians  in  their  forest  homes  for  war  and 
danger,  having  greeted  with  joy  the  first  dawning  of  Anglo-Saxon 
liberty  in  the  fair  province  of  New  Estramadura,  that  he  should  still 
be  followed  by  persecution,  and  hunted  down  by  ambitious  rivals, 
could  not  fail,  for  a  moment,  to  becloud  his  hopes  and  cause  his  great 
heart  to  be  cast  down  with  sadness.  Troubled  by  the  most  painful 
suspense,  he  journeyed  on  to  San  Felipe.  Two  trains  of  reflection 
passed  through  his  mind,  as  he  rode  most  of  the  day  in  silence,  un- 
disturbed in  his  reveries  by  the  conversation  of  his  companions.  One 
moment  his  mind  wandered  away  to  the  deep  solitudes  of  nature  ; 
to  a  life  of  communion  with  the  Great  Spirit  and  His  sublime  crea- 
tions, as  in  the  days  of  his  boyhood  and  exile,  where  the  world's 
treachery  and  persecution  would  not  reach  him.  At  another  moment 
he  had  boldly  marked  out  a  new  track  for  himself,  and  saw  himself 
trampling  down  all  opposition,  and  leading  a  new  people  to  liberty 
and  independence.  Toward  evening  he  reached  San  Felipe.  His 
sagacious  mind  had  discovered  that  unless  something  was  speedily 
done  to  repair  present  foreshadowed  evils,  all  would  be  lost  for 
which  a  struggling  people  had  been  contending  in  Texas.  His  pur- 
pose was  fixed  and  nothing  could  change  it.  He  addressed  the 
people  of  San  Felipe  at  the  close  of  that  remarkable  day  in  his 
history.  He  made  his  official  report  to  the  Governor,  and  then  in 
pursuance  of  instructions  received  from  the  consultation,  proceeded 
with  Major  Hockley  to  the  Cherokee  nation,  to  form  treaties  with 
them  and  other  tribes.  He  met  the  Indians  in  the  Council  and  ac- 
complished his  mission. 

In  the  short  course  of  two  months,  events  stranger  than  fiction  had 
occurred,  and  in  two  months  more  events  among  the  most  striking 
in  the  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  were  to  occur.  Between  the 
first  of  January,  1836,  and  the  first  of  May,  1836,  Texan  struggles 


The  Texan  Declaration  of  Independence.  61 

culminated,  Texan  martyrs  won  immortality,  Texan  liberty  was  won, 
and  Texan  independence  was  secured. 

The  Convention  which  made  the  declaration,  met  March  i,  1836. 
Gen.  Houston  having  been  returned  as  a  delegate  to  this  Convention, 
arrived  at  Washington  on  the  last  day  of  February.  The  Conven- 
tion assembled,  composed  of  true  men  ;  men  tried  by  every  standard 
of  character  :  great,  heroic,  and  patriotic  ;  men  not  inferior  in  many 
elements  of  character  to  any  others  of  any  similar  assembly.  The 
day  after  the  organization,  the  second  of  March,  1836,  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  adopted  unanimously  and  signed.  Public  feeling 
was  mature.  Events  had  precipitated  the  adoption  of  this  measure; 
but  the  people  of  Texas  hailed  it  with  joy  and  acclamation.  The 
people  of  the  United  States,  who  were  conversant  with  the  issues 
made  in  the  struggle  and  with  the  great  magnitude  of  the  results  to 
follow,  received  the  news  with  equal  joy;  and  nowhere  was  the  intel- 
ligence more  welcome  than  at  "  the  White  House,"  where  Andrew 
Jackson  was  filling  the  Presidential  chair  for  the  last  year  of  his 
term.  The  spirit  of  the  hero  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
coming  hero  of  San  Jacinto,  were  in  full  sympathy. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE  ALAMO— GOLIAD— THE  FALL  OF  ONE— THE  MASSACRE  AT  THE  OTHER— MOVEMENTS 
OF  GEN.  HOUSTON  BEFORE  AND  AFTER  THESE  MEMORABLE  EVENTS— MOVEMENTS 
PREPARATORY  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  SAN  JACINTO. 

THE  declaration  of  Texan  independence  was  denounced  as  an 
act  of  high-handed  robbery,  perpetrated  by  a  band  of  bold 
outlaws,  by  a  thousand  newspapers  in  the  United  States  ;  and  a 
feeling  of  hostility  was  excited  against  the  infant  republic,  with- 
out a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  world.  But  a  wise  Providence 
willed  the  declaration,  and  that  it  should  be  triumphantly  sustained. 
The  Convention  which  passed  it,  terminated  the  existence  of  the 
Provisional  Government,  with  its  offices  of  Governor,  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  Council,  and  Major-General.  This  last  office,  although 
he  had  been  superseded  by  a  hostile  council,  Gen.  Houston  held. 
But  the  emergency  required  that  there  should  be  a  commander-in- 
chief.  The  Convention  went  into  an  election,  and  out  of  fifty-six 
votes,  Houston,  who  was  not  present,  received  all  but  one  vote. 
Gloom  hung  over  the  public  mind.  Texas  had  no  organized  forces. 
The  few  Georgians  and  Alabamians  were  detached  beyond  the 
Southern  settlements,  commanded  by  an  officer  who  had  contemptu- 
ously disobeyed  the  orders  of  the  commander-in-chief.  It  was 
feared  that  Gen.  Houston  would  decline  the  office  tendered  be- 
cause of  the  treatment  which  he  had  received  from  the  Council. 
The  conviction  was  almost'  universal  that,  unless  he  would  accept 
the  command  of  the  army,  the  cause  of  Texan  Independence  was 
lost.  Apprehension  and  alarm  agitated  every  mind.  Stirred  by 
the  heroic  spirit  which  ever  animated  him,  sympathizing  with  the 
general  feeling,  Gen.  Houston  resolved  to  hazard  everything  and 
peril  life  itself  upon  the  issue,  and  accepted  the  command.  Letters 
had  been  received,  a  few  days  before  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence had  been  adopted,  from  Col.  W.  B.  Travis,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  Alamo  at  San  Antonio  de  Bexar,  informing  the  people 
of  Texas — for  general  anarchy  at  that  time  reigned — that  he  was 
invested  by  a  numerous  force,  and  calling  earnestly  for  aid.  This 
result  had  been,  as  it  will  be  remembered,  anticipated  by  Gen. 
Houston.  The  commanding  officer  had  been  ordered  to  abandon 
and  blow  up  the  Alamo.  The  orders  were  disobeyed  by  the  officer, 
(02) 


Houston  and  the  Fall  of  the  Alamo.  63 

and  treated  with  contempt  by  the  General  Council;  who,  promising 
to  reinforce  him,  commanded  the  officer  to  defend  the  place  to  the 
last.  The  entire  reinforcement  sent  to  Travis'  aid  was  only  thirty 
men,  making  his  whole  effective  force  not  more  than  one  hundred 
and  eighty-five  men,  without  a  month's  provisions,  seventy  miles 
distant  from  all  Texan  settlements,  and  the  whole  intervening 
territory  swept  by  Mexican  cavalry.  Some  excuse  may  be  offered 
for  this  disobedience  and  contempt  of  orders,  from  the  fact  that 
less  than  one  year  before,  the  Alamo  had  surrendered  and  San  An- 
tonio had  been  reduced,  by  the  efforts  of  a  Texan  force  under 
Milam,  with  less  than  two  hundred  men  opposed  to  nearly  twelve 
hundred  men  under  Gen.  Cos.  But  it  was  Santa  Anna,  now  with 
seven  times  as  many  troops  as  Cos  had,  and  no  greater  number  of 
troops  commanded  by  Travis,  than  Milam  commanded.  The  result 
was  foreseen  by  Gen.  Houston  ;  but  the  martyrdom  that  ensued  was 
no  less  conspicuous,  and  the  costly  sacrifice  which  immortalized 
the  victims,  Travis,  Crockett,  Bowie,  and  their  heroic  comrades, 
was  no  less  needed  as  a  necessary  factor  in  the  final  and  grand 
consummation  of  Texan  liberty  and  independence. 

The  last  express  that  ever  left  the  Alamo  brought  a  letter  to 
Washington  on  Sunday,  March  6th,  to  the  President  of  the  Con- 
vention. No  sooner  was  its  intelligence  made  known,  than  terroi 
pervaded  the  community.  There  was  a  general  rush  to  the  hall  ol 
the  Convention.  Without  summons  or  signal,  the  members  took 
their  seats,  and  the  President  his  chair.  The  President  arose.  He 
announced  the  reception  of  a  document,  "  of  the  most  important 
character  ever  received  by  any  assembly  of  men."  He  then  read  a 
letter  from  Col.  W.  B.  Travis  most  thrilling  in  its  character. 
Breathing  the  language  of  despair,  it  was  written  in  the  fervor  of 
lofty  patriotism  and  devoted  courage.  The  excitement  ensuing 
was  so  great  that  even  calm  men  could  hardly  command  them- 
selves, or  say  what  the  emergency  required.  Robert  Potter,  re- 
markable as  a  Member  of  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  as  a 
Cabinet  officer  of  the  Texan  Republic  for  sad  vices  and  a  terrible 
end,  moved  that  "the  Convention  do  immediately  adjourn,  arm, 
and  march  to  the  relief  of  the  Alamo."  A  proposition  for  fifty-six 
men,  to  march  to  the  aid  of  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  men, 
against  an  investing  force  of  over  eight  thousand  !  As  he  rose 
from  his  seat,  all  eyes  were  turned  upon  Gen.  Houston.  There 
was  a  death-like  stillness.  Feeling  that  the  fate  of  Texas  hung  on 
the  next  movement  of  the  Convention,  he  had  resolved  upon  his 
own  course,  and  what  ought  to  be  done  by  the  Convention.  He 
opposed  the  motion  of  Robert  Potter  as  madness,  and  worse  than 
treason  to  the  people.  He  held  that  a  declaration  of  independence, 


64  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

without  an  organization  fo  sustain  it,  was  null  and  void.  A  Gov- 
ernment with  organic  forms  must  be  inaugurated  at  once.  Without 
it,  they  could  not  command  the  respect  or  sympathy  of  mankind, 
and  would  be  regarded  in  no  other  light  than  outlaws.  He  spoke 
for  an  hour  with  great  eloquence  and  effect,  begged  the  Conven- 
tion to  sit  quietly  and  pursue  their  deliberations,  and  assured  the 
members  that  he  would  instantly  start  for  Gonzales,  where  he  un- 
derstood that  a  small  corps  of  militia  had  rallied.  He  promised 
that,  while  they  continued  to  sit  in  Convention,  the  Mexicans 
should  never  approach  them,  and  if  human  aid  could  save  the 
brave  men  then  in  the  Alamo,  that  aid  should  be  extended  to  them. 
Walking  out  of  the  Convention,  in  less  than  an  hour  he  mounted 
his  battle  horse,  and  was  on  his  way  to  the  Alamo,  accompanied 
by  three  or  four  companions.  His  action  must  have  been  regard- 
ed as  desperate,  else  many  others  would  have  followed  him.  Col. 
Travis  had  stated  in  his  letter  that,  so  long  as  the  Alamo  could 
hold  out  against  the  invaders,  signal  guns  would  be  fired  at  sun* 
rise.  For  many  days  these  signal  guns  were  heard  at  a  distance 
of  over  a  hundred  miles  across  the  prairie.  Late  at  night  of  the 
first  day  Houston  reached  a  point  where  the  expected  signal  could 
be  heard,  if  made  at  all.  At  sunrise  the  coming  day,  putting  his 
ear  to  the  ground,  he  listened  with  an  acuteness  of  sense  not  under- 
stood except  by  dwellers  of  the  forest  or  by  one  "awaiting  a  signal 
of  life  or  death  from  brave  men."  Not  a  murmur,  even  the  faintest, 
came  across  the  morning  air.  In  vain  he  listened.  The  Alamo  had 
fallen.  And  he  learned  afterward,  that  the  Alamo  had  fired  its  last 
gun  on  the  morning  on  which  he  left  Washington,  and  indeed  that 
the  heroes  of  the  Alamo  were  meeting  their  fate  at  the  very  hour 
he  was  speaking  in  the  Convention.  Assured  of  this  terrible  fact, 
he  sought  his  companions,  who  were  preparing  to  continue  their 
march,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Convention  urging  members  to 
adopt  a  resolution  declaring  Texas  as  a  part  of  Louisiana  under  the 
treaty  of  1803.  The  suggestion  was  not  adopted.  Had  it  been 
adopted,  Mexico  would  at  once  have  discontinued  the  conflict,  as 
Texas  would  be  a  portion  of  an  integral  part  of  the  United  States. 
The  question  of  recognition  or  annexation  would  not  have  been 
raised.  The  sympathies  of  nations,  of  peoples,  and  of  legislatures 
would  have  been  with  Texas.  Why  Mexico  made  war  upon  Texas 
after  her  recognition  as  an  independent  republic  by  the  Great 
Powers  of  the  world,  and  why  war  was  also  waged  with  the  United 
States  after  the  annexation  of  Texas,  may  be  known  readily  when  the 
persistent,  long-continued,  and  desperate  hostility  of  thousands  of 
persons  of  influence,  and  of  a  thousand  newspapers,  to  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas  are  calmly  considered.  These  journals  and  their 


Houston  True  to  his  Principles.  65 

supporters  sympathized  with  Santa  Anna,  Bravo,  Bustamente, 
Almonte,  Herrera,  and  Paredes.  The  enemies  of  Texas  in  Mexico 
believed  that  they  had  the  cordial  sympathy  of  the  enemies  of  Texas 
in  the  United  States,  and  they  hoped  for  success,  because  they 
believed  their  sympathizers  in  the  United  States  all-powerful. 
Trustworthy  and  confidential  agents  with  money  to  expend,  were 
stationed  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York.  Here  these 
agents  of  bold  and  impudent  tyrants  fought  battles  and  won  vic- 
tories for  Mexican  despotism.  It  was  strange  and  sad  to  behold 
the  descendants  of  the  heroes  of  1776  frowning  scornfully  upon  the 
youthful  form  of  Texan  liberty.  The  braggart  threats  of  Paredas 
were  made  without  apprehension  of  any  danger  in  being  summoned 
to  battle.  What  a  change  came  over  these  Anglo-Saxon  opponents 
of  Texan  liberty  !  Twelve  years  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto, 
they  appropriate  ten  millions  of  dollars  and  fifty  thousand  volun- 
teers with  enthusiasm  to  enforce  the  decree  of  annexation.  With 
shouts  of  political  fervor,  they  make  the  hero  of  Palo  Alto,  Resaca 
de  la  Palma,  Monterey,  and  Buena  Vista  President  of  the  United 
States.  History  reveals  itself  strangely. 

Notwithstanding  all  opposition,  Gen.  Houston  was  ever  true  to 
his  purposes  and  principles.  Assured  that  the  Alamo  had  fallen 
and  its  brave  defenders  had  met  their  fate,  he  moved  on  to  Gon- 
zales,  although  not  a  man  joined  him  on  his  way.  When  he  set  out 
from  the  Convention  at  Washington,  he  dispatched  an  express  to 
Col.  Fannin  intending  to  secure  from  that  officer  a  junction  of  his 
forces  with  his  own  on  the  Cibolo,  a  small  river  between  Gonzales 
and  San  Antonio,  and  with  forces  united  march  to  the  relief  of  the 
Alamo.  Reaching  Gonzales  on  March  10,  1836,  he  found  three 
hundred  and  seventy-four  men,  without  suitable  apparel,  unarmed 
without  organization  or  supplies.  They  were  immediately  assem 
bled,  organized,  and  they  elected  their  own  officers.  The  scouts,  who 
arrived  about  the  time  of  Gen.  Houston's  arrival  from  the  vicinity 
of  San  Antonio,  were  under  the  impression  that  the  Alamo  had 
fallen.  This  was  confirmed  by  two  Mexicans  who  came  in  from 
San  Anton;o,  and  whose  families  had  resided  among  the  American 
colonists.  The  statement  was  written  down,  as  Gen.  Houston  be- 
lieved it  to  be  correct.  The  terrible  fact  was  evident  that,  on  the 
morning  of  the  6th  of  March,  the  Alamo  had  been  assailed,  and  all 
human  beings  in  it  put  to  death,  except  a  woman,  her  child,  and  a 
negro;  and  that  the  bodies  had  been  dragged  out,  heaped  with 
wood,  into  one  pile,  a  vast  hecatomb,  and  burned  to  ashes. 

The  fall  of  the  Alamo,  and  the  cool-blooded  barbarity  exhibited 
by  Santa  Anna  and  his  minions,  stirred  a  spirit  wherever  known, 
destined  to  culminate  in  the  overthrow  of  Mexican  despotism,  on 
5 


66  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  not  far  distant  day  of  San  Jacinto.  On  the  nth  of  March, 
Gen.  Houston  sent  another  express  to  Fannin,  informing  him  that 
the  Alamo  had  fallen,  "  ordering  him  to  evacuate  Goliad,  blow  up 
the  fortress,  and  fall  back  without  delay  upon  Victoria  and  the 
Guadaloupe."  It  was  Houston's  opinion  that  the  only  means  of 
saving  Texas  was  the  union  of  alt  the  forces  at  that  time  in  the 
field.  Fannin's  force  had  a  fine  supply  of  arms  brought  from  the 
United  States.  This  force,  numbering  over  five  hundred  men,  joined 
to  Gen.  Houston,  would  make  the  army  at  least  nine  hundred 
effective  men. 

Fannin  did  not  attempt  a  retreat  until  he  had  been  surrounded 
by  the  Mexicans  several  days.  He  held  a  council  of  war,  and  sent 
an  express  to  the  commander-in-chief,  informing  him  that  he  had 
named  the  place  Fort  Defiance,  had  determined  to  defend  it,  and 
was  willing  to  meet  the  consequences  of  disobeying  orders.  Fan- 
nin's fatal  mistake,  as  the  result  proved,  evinced  the  prophetic 
sagacity  of  Houston.  About  the  23d  of  March,  in  the  midst  of 
gloom  and  suspense,  the  terrible  news  reached  the  little  army  that 
Col.  Fannin's  regiment  had  all  been  massacred.  Peter  Kerr,  a 
Mexican,  brought  the  intelligence.  A  fearful  panic  took  possession 
of  the  little  army,  which  the  fall  of  the  Alamo  had  nearly  dispersed. 
The  consternation  was  redoubled  when  the  terrible  news  came  that 
five  hundred  courageous  companions  in  a  noble  cause,  men  fully 
armed  and  equipped  for  the  struggle,  had  all  been  massacred.  The 
slaughtering  army  seemed  to  have  swept  away  the  last  barrier  in 
their  way.  The  courage  of  Houston's  men  was  sadly  unnerved. 
The  commander  of  a  forlorn  hope  had  a  difficult  task  to  perform 
immediately.  This  he  did  with  marvellous  sagacity.  Calling  for 
the  sergeant  of  the  guard,  he  declared  that  Kerr  was  an  incendiary, 
sent  as  a  spy  into  his  camp  to  produce  distraction,  and,  denouncing 
him,  declared,  in  an  apparently  furious  storm  of  anger,  that  he 
should  be  shot  at  9  o'clock  the  next  morning.  Kerr  was  at  once 
arrested  and  put  under  a  strong  guard.  Addressing  the  soldiery, 
Houston  gave  numerous  reasons  to  prove  that  the  supposed  spy's 
news  could  not  be  true.  The  excitement,  which  had  reached  a  fear- 
ful height,  was  appeased  by  his  apparent  disbelief.  Not  until  the 
soldiers  in  camp  had  retired  to  rest,  would  Houston  see  Kerr.  He 
then  repaired  to  the  guard  fire  and  heard  the  recital  of  that  awful 
story,  which  proved  that  his  worst  forebodings  were  now  veritable 
history.  Orders  were  given  to  have  the  prisoner  treated  kindly, 
and  he  forgot  the  next  morning  to  have  him  executed.  With  the 
dreams  of  the  soldiers  the  excitement  passed  away.  But  as  Hous- 
ton would  have  subjected  himself  to  the  charge  of  collusion  with 
the  enemy,  in  turning  loose  a  supposed  spy  sent  by  the  people  most 


Houston's  Vigilance  before  Battle.  67 

odious  to  the  army,  he  did  not  immediately  release  Kerr.  How- 
ever, on  the  eve  of  that  day  he  struck  his  camp  and  marched  toward 
the  Brazos  River.  The  next  night  the  army  reached  San  Felipe, 
marching  about  twenty-eight  miles  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours. 
The  following  brief  extract  from  a  dispatch  develops  the  perplex- 
ities which  crowded  on  the  mind  of  the  commander  of  the  little 
army  : 

"CAMP  WEST  OF  BRAZOS,  March  31,  1836. 

"  My  intention  was  to  have  attacked  the  enemy  on  the  second  night  after  the 

day  Fannin's  destruction  was  reported  by  Kerr Send  me  daily  expresses, 

and  let  me  know  what  to  rely  on.  I  must  let  the  camp  know  something,  and  I 
want  everything  promised  to  be  realized  by  them,  and  I  can  keep  them  together. 
I  have  thus  far  succeeded  beyond  my  hopes.  I  will  do  the  best  I  can ;  but  be 
assured  that  the  fame  of  Andrew  Jackson  could  never  compensate  me  for  my 
anxiety  and  mental  pain.  Two  nights  since,  when  it  was  reported  that  the 
enemy  was  on  this  side  of  the  Colorado,  the  citizens  of  San  Felipe  reduced  it  to 
ashes.  There  was  no  order  from  me  for  it." 

On  the  29th  of  March  the  army  encamped  at  Mill  Creek,  and 
reached  their  destination,  opposite  Groces,  the  following  day.  The 
steamboat  Yellow  Stone,  lying  at  the  landing,  was  immediately 
pressed  into  service,  and  a  company  of  troops  placed  aboard  to  pre- 
vent the  engineers  from  running  the  boat  off.  Until  April  nth,  the 
army  remained  in  the  same  position.  While  the  spring  rains  kept 
the  river  in  a  swollen  condition,  it  camped  on  an  island  of  the 
Brazos,  secure  from  the  enemy.  To  maintain  communication  with 
the  enemy's  country,  a  narrow  bridge  was  constructed,  over  which 
Texan  scouts  could  pass,  to  gather  news  and  keep  an  eye  on  the 
plans  and  manoeuvres  of  the  Mexicans.  It  was  Gen.  Houston's  de 
sign,  before  the  waters  had  reached  their  greatest  height,  to  march 
with  all  his  force,  as  soon  as  the  Mexicans  should  approach  San 
Felipe,  and  supposing  that  their  confidence  in  their  numerical 
strength,  discipline,  and  success  would  throw  them  entirely  off 
their  guard,  and  to  surprise  them  at  night,  and  thus  make  them  an 
easy  victory  to  Texan  prowess.  The  freshet  in  the  Brazos  was, 
however,  at  its  height  when  Gen.  Houston  heard  of  the  arrival  of 
the  enemy  at  San  Felipe  ;  as,  therefore,  there  were  three  creeks  to 
ford  on  his  march,  the  plan  so  boldly  conceived  was  abandoned. 
The  bold  daring  and  sleepless  vigilance  of  the  heroic  man,  on 
which  hung  the  fate  of  the  young  Republic,  were  thus  displayed, 
although  no  fortunate  result  followed  his  designs.  The  first  cer- 
tainty of  the  approach  was  indicated  by  the  noise  of  their  cannon. 
The  company  left  to  guard  San  Felipe  had  retired  to  the  east  side 
of  the  river,  where  a  partial  fortification  of  timber  was  thrown  up, 
discovering  which,  the  enemy  immediately  opened  their  artillery  on 


68  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

their  breastworks.  A  company  of  eighty  men,  just  arrived  in  camp 
from  Eastern  Texas,  were  detached  with  another  body  to  give  aid 
to  Capt.  Baker,  while  the  commander-in-chief,  through  expresses, 
maintained  communication  with  the  troops  at  San  Felipe  and  Fort 
Bend.  The  main  body  of  the  army  at  Groces,  composing  his  entire 
force,  did  not  amount  to  more  than  five  hundred  and  twenty  men. 
Five  hundred  men  in  addition  had  been  expected  from  the  red 
lands.  They  were  already  in  the  field,  and  had  marched  as  far  as 
the  banks  of  the  Trinity  River.  Rumors  of  Indian  hostilities  were 
raised  by  men  more  willing  to  ruin  the  country  than  fail  in  Hous- 
ton's destruction,  and  thus  reinforcements  were  prevented  from 
joining  him.  A  fine  company,  composed  of  Southern  chivalry, 
under  command  of  Gen.  J.  A.  Quitman,  of  Natchez,  were  prevented 
in  this  way  from  participating  in  the  triumphs  of  San  Jacinto. 
Two  days  after  the  victory  they  arrived  in  camp.  As  Houston  re- 
treated and  Santa  Anna  advanced,  the  country  behind  Houston 
was  entirely  depopulated,  for  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto  never  fell 
back  until  interposing  the  army  between  the  enemy  and  the  help 
less,  he  secured  the  women  and  children  from  danger.  The  strength 
position,  and  designs  of  the  Mexicans  had  become  apparent  to  him 
In  three  divisions  they  were  advancing  on  him, — Santa  Anna,  lead 
ing  the  centre,  was  to  advance  from  San  Antonio  to  Gonzales, 
Beasons,  and  San  Felipe,  or  Washington  and  Robbin's  Ferry,  to 
Nacogdoches  ;  Gen.  Urrea  was  to  march  with  the  Second  Division 
from  Goliad,  by  way  of  Victoria,  to  Brazoria  and  Harrisburg  ;  the 
Third  Division  was  to  advance  by  Bastrop  to  Texoxtitlan,  on  the 
Brazos,  and  thence  to  the  Comanche,  crossing  the  Trinity  on  to 
Nacogdoches.  This  plan  of  campaign  displayed  Santa  Anna's  su- 
perior ability,  revealing  to  Houston  the  military  skill  of  his 
opponent.  This  entire  scheme  had  to  be  thwarted  within  thirty 
days  ;  if  not,  Texas  would  be  devastated,  and  the  last  hope  of  the 
Republic  blotted  out.  How  this  was  to  be  was  discovered  by  no 
one  but  Houston.  Suspense  painfully  possessed  the  little  army. 
To  their  bold  leader  all  eyes  were  anxiously  turned.  The  salvation 
of  Texas  depended,  under  God,  on  the  arm  of  Houston.  The 
policy  of  Houston  was  soon  mapped  out.  The  advancing  divisions 
were  so  much  detached  that  he  felt  assured  that  they  could  be 
managed  in  detail,  if  the  expected  succors  should  reach  him  in 
time.  The  best  position  had  been  selected  on  the  Brazos,  enabling 
the  commanding  General  to  cover  a  larger  extent  of  territory  than 
any  other  location  at  command,  and  afforded  good  access  to  sup- 
plies. While  encamped  at  this  place  he  was  constantly  sending 
expresses  to  Eastern  Texas,  in  which,  while  his  true  situation  was 
communicated  to  the  Committee  of  Vigilance  and  Safety,  at  Nacog- 


Santa  Annals  Advance  toward  Harrisburg.         69 

doches,  he  habitually  endorsed  the  envelopes  with  postscripts,  to 
show  to  all  that  his  force  did  not  exceed  twenty-five  hundred,  be- 
lieving that  success  would  fail  to  come  to  his  aid  if  his  real  situation 
were  known.  The  report  that  he  had  a  command  of  twenty-five 
hundred  men  had  no  other  origin. 

News  came  from  Fort  Bend,  about  the  nth  of  April,  that  Santa 
Anna,  with  the  centre  division  of  Mexicans,  had  already  crossed 
the  river  at  that  place.  The  vigilance  enjoined  was" not  maintained 
by  the  company  stationed  at  that  place,  consequently  a  negro  took 
the  ferry-boat  over  to  the  western  side  of  the  river,  which  enabled 
the  Mexicans  at  once  to  cross  the  river,  which,  as  it  was  at  high 
flood,  they  could  not  have  crossed  in  a  month.  A  month's  delay  in 
crossing  would  have  enabled  Houston  to  maintain  his  position 
until  his  army  was  reinforced,  from  the  confidence  inspired  by 
safety.  Circumstances  fortunately  conspired  in  favor  of  Houston 
and  the  Texans.  Gaono,  and  the  upper  division  of  the  Mexican 
army,  had  lost  their  way  on  the  march,  and  ascended  the  Colorado. 
High  waters  delayed  the  southern  division  under  Urrea,  and  the 
Brazos  was  not  passed  at  all.  That  Harrisburg  had  become  the 
seat  of  Government,  after  the  Convention  had  adjourned,  March 
1 7th,  was  known  to  Santa  Anna,  and  he  was  prepared  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  panic  which  the  flying  officers  of  the  Republic  had 
spread  over  the  country.  Such  was  the  consternation  with  which 
the  Convention  broke  up,  that  only  seven  of  its  members  found 
their  way  to  the  army  in  the  field.  The  disastrous  consequences 
of  terrible  panic  among  leading  men  were  only  thoroughly  con- 
ceived by  those  who  were  on  the  ground.  Owing  to  this  cause 
more  than  to  any  other,  Houston  received  no  more  reinforcements 
in  this  fearful  and  trying  crisis.  A  government  ad  interim  had  been 
created  by  a  constitutional  act  of  the  Convention.  A  President,* 
Vice-President,  Secretaries  of  War,  Navy,  and  the  Treasury,  with 
all  powers,  except  law-making,  incident  to  a  government,  had  been 
appointed,  ad  interim,  and  then  the  Convention  adjourned  to 
Harrisburg,  a  point  not  less  than  seventy  miles  from  the  scene  of 
war.  The  flight  of  the  wise  and  worthy  men  of  the  country  from 
danger,  tended  to  frighten  the  old,  young,  and  helpless,  furnish  ex- 
cuses to  the  timid,  and  "  sanction  the  course  of  the  cowardly."  The 
general  dismay  following  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention,  in- 
duced many  brave  men,  impelled  irresistibly  by  natural  impulses, 
to  go  to  their  abandoned,  fugitive  wives  and  children  to  render 
them  protection.  It  has  been  often  declared  by  Gen.  Houston  that 
of  all  the  circumstances  which  befell  him  in  the  struggle  for  Texas, 


*Hon.  David  G.  Burnet,  President ;  Hon.  L.  G.  Zavalla,  Vice-President. 


70  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

this  was  the  most  disheartening,  and  his  dispatches  confirm  the 
statement. 

It  was  undoubtedly  fortunate  for  him  that  Santa  Anna  had 
learned  that  the  seat  of  government  had  been  temporarily  removed 
to  Harrisburg.  It  caused  that  wily  chief  to  diverge  from  his  route 
to  Nacogdoches,  abandon  his  plan  of  general  invasion,  in  order  to 
capture  the  ad  interim  officers  of  the  new  Republic.  Assured  cer- 
tainly that  Santa  Anna  was  crossing  the  Brazos,  Gen.  Houston 
dispatched  orders  without  delay  for  all  his  troops  scattered  a  dis- 
tance of  more  than  eighty  miles,  from  Washington  to  Fort  Bend, 
up  and  down  the  river,  to  join  him  on  the  march  to  Harrisburg. 
The  newly-appointed  Secretary  of  War,  Gen.  Thomas  J.  Rusk, 
afterward  Houston's  colleague  in  the  United  States  Senate,  instead 
of  flying  from  the  scene  of  danger,  repaired  with  all  haste  to  the 
commander-in-chief,  on  the  Brazos.  On  all  matters  pertaining  to 
the  welfare  of  Texas  they  advised  cordially  together,  and  agreed 
together  entirely  as  to  the  means  necessary  to  be  adopted.  The 
steamboat  Yellow  Stone  was  put  in  motion,  and  the  entire  army, 
with  baggage  wagons  and  horses  were  transported  to  the  eastern 
side  of  the  Brazos  in  two  days.  The  first  artillery  which  had  been 
placed  under  Houston's  control  was  found  on  shore,  two  six-pound- 
ers— "  the  twin  sisters  " — a  present  from  some  patriotic  men  in 
Cincinnati.  They  were  mounted,  but  without  equipments  necessary 
for  use.  The  smith's-shop  and  gunsmiths  employed  in  repairing 
the  arms  of  the  troops  were  immediately  occupied  in  making  the 
guns  ready  for  effective  use.  All  the  old  iron  in  the  vicinity  was 
cut  into  slugs  and  formed  into  cartridges.  A  few  miles  from  the  ferry 
the  little  army  halted  and  encamped  for  the  night.  As  was  his 
custom,  Houston  personally  examined  the  state  of  the  camp,  and 
ascertaining  that  all  that  was  necessary  for  an  early  march  had 
been  done,  he  inquired  the  route  to  Harrisburg.  Never  before 
having  been  in  that  region,  to  prevent  the  liability  to  surprise  by  a 
superior  force,  he  acquainted  himself  perfectly  with  the  geography 
of  the  country.  Houston  knew  that  the  road  leading  to  Nacog- 
doches, which  crossed  the  Trinity  River  at  Robbin's  Ferry,  must 
have  been  the  one  which  Santa  Anna  had  taken  in  his  march  upon 
Harrisburg.  Putting  the  main  army,  composed  of  between  seven 
and  eight  hundred  men,  in  motion,  a  fatiguing  march  of  eighteen 
miles,  through  a  prairie,  was  made  i6th  of  April,  to  McArleys. 
Fourteen  baggage  wagons  and  two  pieces  of  artillery  composed 
the  train.  The  prairie  had  been  made  boggy  by  excessive  rains. 
The  wagons  had  to  be  unloaded  in  many  places,  and  the  dis- 
mounted field-pieces  carried  or  rolled  through  the  mud.  The  entire 
physical  strength  of  the  army  was  thus  brought  into  requisition. 


Houston's  Advance  to  Meet  Santa  Anna.          71 

Foreseeing  early  in  the  march  what  lay  before  his  men,  Houston> 
on  the  first  emergency,  dismounted,  stripped  off  his  coat,  and  set 
the  example  of  unloading  and  transporting  baggage  and  guns. 
He  continued  throughout  the  day  so  to  command  and  assist  the 
soldiers  with  his  personal  strength.  At  sunset  the  brave  and  toil- 
ing little  army  halted,  and  without  covering  laid  down  to  sleep  on 
the  open  field,  as  there  was  not  a  tent  in  the  camp.  A  cold  rain  set 
in  after  dark,  continuing  for  twenty-four  hours.  The  men  who 
were  working  out  the  emancipation  of  their  country  endured  hard- 
ships almost  unparalleled  in  the  world's  history.  Through  the 
second  day  (iyth  April)  these  men  pursued,  through  the  rain,  their 
exhausting  march  to  Burnett's  settlement,  a  twelve  miles  march  to 
a  deserted  place.  That  night  the  soldiers  slept  on  the  wet  ground, 
ready  in  a  moment  to  answer  the  summons.  The  only  instrument 
of  martial  music  in  the  camp  was  a  drum,  which,  strange  as  it  may 
appear,  was  only  touched  by  the  commanding  General,  when  he 
gave  three  taps  to  call  to  duty.  It  appears  that  a  fife  was  procured 
before  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  The  third  day's  march  (iSth) 
brought  the  army  eighteen  miles  through  the  prairie  to  Post  Oak 
Bayou,  where  for  the  night  they  encamped.  They  had  no  longer 
to  make  a  toilsome  march  through  the  prairie  ;  Harrisburg,  the  tem- 
porary capital,  was  only  six  or  eight  miles  distant.  The  Mexican 
chief  on  his  march  to  Washington  -had  anticipated  them,  and  re- 
duced the  town  to  ashes. 

Marching  up  within  two  miles  of  the  stream,  and  almost  in  sight 
of  the  ruins,  they  prepared  to  cross  Buffalo  Bayou,  which  was  be- 
tween them  and  the  scene  of  the  Mexican's  desolation.  Swimming 
across  the  stream  with  several  companions,  the  gallant  Karnes  and 
Deaf  Smith,  in  a  short  time  brought  back  across  the  Bayou  two 
couriers,  who  furnished  most  important  intelligence.  Dispatches 
from  Felisola  to  Santa  Anna  were  found  on  the  person  of  the 
courier — who  proved  to  be  a  Mexican  officer, — so  recently  written, 
that  the  party  reading  them  out  aloud  for  Gen.  Houston,  remarked, 
"  The  ink,  sir,  is  hardly  dry."  Assurance  most  positive  was  now 
forced  on  the  Texan  commander  that  Santa  Anna  had  the  com- 
mand in  person  of  the  advance  of  the  enemy.  The  second  express 
was  composed  of  mail  from  the  City  of  Mexico,  filled  with  letters 
of  congratulation  from  the  capitol,  acknowledging  Santa  Anna  as 
Emperor  of  Mexico. 

Gen.  Houston  and  Gen.  Rusk,  the  Secretary  of  War,  retired  im- 
mediately for  a  private  conference.  iThey  exchanged  but  few 
words  ;  serious  and  all-engrossing  facts  were  before  them.  There 
could  be  but  one  conclusion  :  "  We  need  not  talk,"  said  Houston  to 
Rusk,  "  you  think  we  ought  to  fight  and  I  think  so  too."  It  was 


72  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

decided  that  the  fate  of  Texas  should  be  settled  in  battle  as  soon 
as  the  enemy  could  be  found,  and  Gen.  Houston  was  informed  not 
long  after  this  conference,  by  Col.  Hockley,  that  he  had  overheard 
an  officer  in  command  of  a  regiment,  saying  to  the  soldiers  around 
him,  with  whom  he  supposed  that  he  possessed  great  influence, 
"  Boys,  Houston  don't  intend  to  fight ;  follow  me  and  you  shall  have 
enough  of  it."  Houston  said  at  once  to  Hockley,  "  I'll  cure  this 
mischief  directly."  The  two  Colonels  were  summoned  into  his 
presence.  "Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "have  you  rations  of  beef  in 
camp  for  three  days  ?"  "  Yes,  sir."  "You  will  then  see  that  each 
man  is  supplied  with  three  days'  cooked  rations,  and  hold  the  camp 
in  readiness  to  march.  We  will  see  if  we  can  find  Santa  Anna  ; 
good-morning,  gentlemen."  Houston  remarked,  as  he  turned  off 
with  Hockley,  "There  is  no  excuse  for  sedition  now  if  they  wish 
to  fight."  Orders  were  immediately  given  to  prepare  for  crossing 
Buffalo  Bayou,  so  that  the  march  upon  the  enemy  might  be  com- 
menced the  next  morning.  But  when  morning  came,  no  prepara- 
tions had  been  made  for  the  march.  No  attention  had  been  paid 
to  the  orders  of  the  commanding  General, — no  soldier  had  prepared 
his  rations.  No  time  was  to  be  lost.  Not  taking  his  usual  morning 
rest,  the  General  in  person  issued  his  orders  to  the  men,  and  soon 
the  signs  of  preparation  were  evident  throughout  the  camp.  It  was, 
however,  nine  o'clock  before  the  column  could  be  gotten  under 
arms.  Arriving  at  the  bayou,  two  miles  from  the  encampment,  the 
boat  was  found  to  be  nearly  filled  with  water.  Dismounting  at 
once,  Gen.  Houston  called  for  an  axe,  and  went  to  hewing  oars  out 
of  rails.  Difficult  and  perilous  as  was  the  passage,  yet  Houston 
was  resolved  that  it  should  be  made  that  morning.  The  stream 
was  about  fifty  yards  wide,  and  more  than  twenty  feet  deep.  An 
accident  occurred,  damaging  the  boat,  while  the  pioneers,  a  small 
company,  were  going  aboard.  The  General  at  once  leaped  aboard. 
His  faithful  horse,  left  pawing  on  the  bank,  plunged  in  after  him, 
and  swam  to  the  opposite  shore.  A  rope  of  horse-hair,  called  in 
Spanish  cabriestos,  was  soon  constructed  with  raw  twigs,  and  fast- 
ened to  both  banks  of  the  bayou,  enabling  the  boat  to  make  trips 
more  rapidly,  and  keep  it  from  floating  down  stream.  With  great 
rapidity  the  passage  was  now  made.  But  the  commander  and  his 
faithful  and  intelligent  councillor,  Gen.  Rusk,  Secretary  of  War, 
spent  an  hour  of  intense  anxiety.  On  opposite  banks  they  stood 
and  watched  the  dangerous  movement  of  their  little  army,  in  whose 
brave  hearts  were  now  gathered  all  the  hopes  of  Texas.  The  en- 
emy's column  might  appear  in  sight  at  any  moment,  and  coming  up 
while  the  deep  stream  divided  the  army  of  Texas,  the  hopes  of 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization  would  have  been  blasted  on  Texas  soil  for 


Houston  on  the  Eve  of  Battle.  73 

an  indefinite  period.  The  moment  of  deepest  peril  now  intervened. 
After  half  the  army  had  crossed,  the  boat  commenced  giving  away, 
occupying  four  strong  men  in  continually  bailing  out  the  water. 
The  cavalry  had  now  to  cross.  Goaded  to  plunge  into  the  deep 
stream,  they  immediately  disappeared,  and  rising  again  in  full 
strength  they  swam  to  the  steep,  opposite  bank,  and  made  a  suc- 
cessful passage.  The  last  passage  of  the  boat  carried  over  Gen 
Rusk.  These  two  brave  men  grasped  each  other's  hands,  and  in- 
voluntarily the  same  exclamation  escaped  from  each  other's  lips, 
"  Thank  God,  at  last  we  are  safely  over."  The  following  letter, 
written  in  pencil,  on  a  scrap  of  paper  drawn  from  the  General's 
pocket,  will  attest  the  animus  and  intention  of  the  hour  after  the 
passage  of  Buffalo  Bayou  : 

"CAMP  AT  HARRISBURG,  April  19,  1836. 
"To  COLONEL  RUSK,  in  the  field  : 

"  This  morning  we  are  in  preparation  to  meet  Santa  Anna.  It  is  the  only 
chance  of  saving  Texas.  From  time  to  time  I  have  looked  for  reinforcements 
in  vain.  The  Convention's  adjourning  to  Harrisburg  struck  terror  through  the 
country.  Texas  could  have  started  at  least  four  thousand  men.  We  will  be 
only  about  seven  hundred  to  march,  besides  the  camp  guard.  But  we  go  to 
conquest.  It  is  wisdom  growing  out  of  necessity  to  meet  and  fight  the  enemy 
now.  Every  consideration  enforces  it.  The  troops  are  in  fine  spirits,  and  now 
is  the  time  for  action.  We  will  use  our  best  efforts  to  fight  the  enemy  to  such 
advantage  as  will  insure  victory,  though  the  odds  are  greatly  against  us.  I  leave 
the  result  in  the  hands  of  an  all-wise  God,  and  I  rely  confidently  upon  His 
providence.  My  country  will  do  justice  to  those  who  serve  her.  The  right  for 
which  we  fight  will  be  secured,  and  Texas  shall  be  free. 

"  SAM  HOUSTON,  Commander-in-Chief." 

(Certified  copy  from  the  Department  of  War  of  the  Republic  of  Texas.) 

After  the  passage  of  Buffalo  Bayou  the  companies  of  the  army 
were  formed  into  line,  and  then  Gen.  Houston  rode  up  and  ad- 
dressed the  soldiers.  His  address  was  said  by  those  who  heard  it 
to  be  the  most  eloquent  and  impassioned  to  which  they  ever  lis- 
tened. He  gave  them  as  the  battle  cry,  Remember  the  Alamo.  The 
words  were  taken  up  by  every  man  in.  the  army,  and  one  unani- 
mous shout  pierced  the  sky,  "  Remember  the  Alamo  !  Remember 
the  Alamo  !  "  and  the  green  islands  of  prairie  trees  echoed  and 
repeated  that  shout,  "  Remember  the  Alamo."  Gen.  Rusk,  Secre- 
tary of  War,  also  spoke  in  the  most  stirring,  impassioned,  and  appro- 
priate language.  Inspired  with  the  spirit  of  chivalry,  the  men 
were  impatient  to  hear  the  order  to  "march."  The  column  soon 
received  the  order  to  march.  Under  a  brilliant  sun,  shining  full 
and  clear  after  a  long  cold  rain,  that  army  marched  without  bugle 


hr 


4  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 


blast,  floating,  banners,  thrilling  fife,  or  pealing  drum.*  Seven 
hundred  men,  resolute  on  freedom  without  pomp  or  circumstance 
of  glorious  war,  evinced  their  determined  purpose  by  heavy  tramp, 
strained  muscle,  and  compressed  lip.  To  avoid  being  seen  on  the 
open  prairie,  the  army  halted  till  sundown,  in  a  narrow  woodland 
not  far  from  the  stream.  Once  more  in  motion,  the  column  made 
a  forced  march  to  a  position  distant  not  more  than  four  or  five  miles 
from  the  ground  where  the  serious  and  main  struggle  was  expected 
to  be  made.  Off  from  the  line  of  march  the  weary  men  took  shelter 
under  the  covert  of  a  grove,  and  lying  down  on  their  rifles,  slept 
for  an  hour.  Gen.  Houston  rose  from  the  ground  at  daylight.  He 
had  rested  on  a  coil  of  rope  used  in  dragging  the  artillery,  and 
with  his  well-known  three  taps  of  the  drum  roused  the  camp. 
From  the  day  he  assumed  command  a  reveille  or  tattoo  had  never 
been  beaten.  In  every  direction  pickets  were  advanced.  The 
scouts  sent  out  returned  very  soon  with  information  which  assured 
Gen.  Houston  that  Santa  Anna  with  his  column  was  not  far  dis- 
tant. A  small  party  well  mounted  had  been  met  with,  and  although 
chase  was  given,  they  escaped.  The  army  halted  to  take  refresh- 
ment; when  the  scouting  party  returned,  rousing  fires  were  kindled 
to  cook  the  beeves  already  dressed.  About  seven  o'clock  that 
same  morning,  before  much  progress  had  been  made,  it  was  re- 
ported that  the  enemy  was  marching  up  from  New  Washington  to 
cross  the  San  Jacinto,  effecting  which,  Santa  Anna  would  have 
been  enabled  to  have  carried  desolation  to  the  Sabine.  The  order 
was  given  immediately  by  Gen.  Houston  to  take  up  the  line  of 
march  for  crossing  the  San  Jacinto  at  Lynchburg.  On  cutting  off 
Santa  Anna's  retreat  hinged  the  issue  of  the  entire  struggle,  and 
the  whole  army  at  once  saw  it.  With  alacrity  abandoning  their 
half-cooked  meat,  the  men  flew  to  their  arms  as  one  man,  and 
hitching  the  horses  to  the  artillery  as  soon  as  possible,  began  the 
march,  nor  did  they  halt  until  they  had  reached  the  ferry  at  the 
junction  of  Buffalo  Bayou  and  San  Jacinto,  where,  to  the  great  joy 
of  the  Texans,  they  learned  that  Santa  Anna  had  not  yet  come  up. 
Santa  Anna  had  forced  some  Americans  to  construct  a  new  boat ; 
of  this  Houston  took  possession,  and  caused  it  to  be  rowed  up  the 
stream  opposite  the  first  grove  on  the  bayou.  Arriving  first,  he 
had  the  opportunity  of  choosing  his  position.  In  a  beautiful  copse 
of  trees  growing  on  a  bend  in  the  stream,  semicircular  in  form  on 
the  margin  of  the  prairie,  he  posted  his  army.  On  the  bank  of  the 
river  his  forces  were  concealed  by  the  trees  and  their  undergrowth, 

*  There  was  one  drum  and  fife,  which  few  heard,  which  gave  the  air  of  "  Come 
to  the  Bower,"  the  only  air  of  the  struggling  Republic. 


Houston  Confident  of  Victory.  75 

and  his  artillery  was  planted  on  the  brow  of  the  copse.  The 
Texans  were  now  ready  for  battle  at  a  moment's  warning,  but  as 
Santa  Anna's  forces  had  not  yet  come  up,  they  relighted  their  fires 
to  complete  their  cooking  operations  which  had  been  so  suddenly 
broken  up  a  few  hours  before.  Their  arms  had  been  scarcely  laid 
aside  and  fires  kindled  before  the  scouts  of  Houston  came  flying 
into  camp  with  the  important  news  that  at  last  the  Mexicans  were 
in  sight — intelligence  soon  confirmed  by  Santa  Anna's  bugles, 
sounding  over  the  prairie  the  charge  of  the  Mexican  army.  Santa 
Anna  knew  perfectly  well,  whatever  had  been  said  to  the  contrary, 
the  position  of  the  Texan  General.  He  intended  to  surprise  the 
Texan  army  himself,  instead  of  being  surprised  by  a  discharge 
from  the  Texan  artillery.  Intending  to  sustain  his  artillery  by  his 
infantry  and  cavalry,  he  opened  his  "  brass  twelve-pounder  "  upon 
the  Texan  position.  The  Mexican  infantry  column  was  driven 
back  by  a  well-directed  fire  of  grape-shot  and  canister  from  Hous- 
ton's two  six-pounders,  and  within  rifle-shot  of  the  Texan  army 
took  shelter  in  a  piece  of  timber.  The  Mexican  field-piece  kept  up 
its  fire,  resulting  only  in  disabling  from  service  Col.  Neill,  the  gal- 
lant officer  of  the  artillery,  by  a  grape-shot  received  in  his  thigh. 
About  ten  o'clock  of  the  morning  of  the  2oth  of  April  these  events 
occurred.  Permission  was  given  Col.  Sydney  Sherman,  of  the  2d 
regiment,  at  his  own  request,  to  drive  with  a  detachment  the. 
infantry  from  their  covert.  Although  the  place  and  time  for  ac- 
tion had  been  decided  upon  by  Houston,  he  consented  to  Col. 
Sherman's  proposition,  enjoining  him  to  take  two  companies  of  his 
regiment  with  positive  orders  not  to  advance  beyond  the  piece  of 
timber,  or  endanger  the  safety  of  his  detachment.  The  charge  was 
made  on  horseback,  and  only  resulted  in  a  repulse  of  the  Texans. 

It  is  apparent  from  the  records  left  concerning  the  movements 
of  this  eventful  campaign,  that  Gen.  Houston  had  determined  to 
select  his  own  time  for  the  conflict,  and  by  superior  advantage  of 
position  and  military  skill  to  compensate  for  disparity  in  numbers. 
The  skirmishing  of  the  day  concluded  with  the  retirement  of  Santa 
Anna  and  his  army  to  a  swell  in  the  prairie,  with  timber  and  water 
in  his  rear.  About  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  Texan  camp, 
near  the  bank  of  the  Bay  of  San  Jacinto,  he  took  his  position,  and 
commenced  a  fortification.  The  Texan  commander  was  well 
satisfied  with  the  day's  work,  and  declared  to  a  confidential  officer 
that  evening  that  if  he  had  pursued  the  enemy  victory  would  have 
been  certain,  yet  it  would  have  been  attended  with  a  heavy  loss  of 
men.  "While  to-morrow,"  said  Gen.  Houston,  "I  will  conquer, 
slaughter,  and  put  to  flight  the  entire  Mexican  army,  and  it  shall 
not  cost  me  a  dozen  of  my  brave  men."  The  military  sagacity  of 


76  Life  of.  Sam  Houston. 

Gen.  Houston  displayed  itself  every  day  after  he  took  the  com- 
mand of  the  army  at  Gonzales.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  2oth  Col. 
Sherman  was  allowed  to  go  out  with  the  cavalry,  and  reconnoitre 
the  enemy's  position  and  forces,  the  artillery  and  infantry  battalion 
remaining  concealed  behind  an  island  of  timber,  to  be  in  readiness 
to  meet  and  check  the  advances  of  the  enemy  if  Sherman's  com- 
mand should  be  attacked.  Hardly  had  the  reconnoitering  party 
disappeared  before  the  sound  of  firing  was  heard  in  their  direction. 
Gen.  Houston  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  to  the  scene  of  action, 
and  met  the  cavalry  coming  in.  A  general  engagement  had  not, 
fortunately,  been  brought  on,  but  one  soldier  had  been  killed,  and 
another  wounded.  The  truth  of  history  demands  that  the  state 
ment  of  Gen.  H.  S.  Foote  (vol.  ii.,  p.  301)  should  be  placed  on 
record,  confirmed  by  the  endorsement  of  Gen.  Houston  himself. 
Gen.  Foote's  statement  is  that  the  last  action  of  the  2oth  "  was  a 
bold  and  well-conceived  ruse  to  delude  the  commander-in-chief 
.into  a  conflict  in  spite  of  the  monitions  of  his  cooler  judgment." 
Houston  was  satisfied  that  his  plan  of  giving  battle  the  next  day 
would  succeed,  and  he  was  reluctant  to  peril  unnecessarily  the  life 
of  a  single  man.  Retiring  to  their  camp  at  the  close  of  the  2oth, 
the  Texan  army  refreshed  themselves  for  the  first  time  in  two  days. 
The  position  of  the  Mexican  army  maintained  till  the  charge  made 
•upon  it  the  next  day,  may  be  learned  from  Gen.  Houston's  official 
report.  "  The  enemy  in  the  meantime  extended  the  right  flank  of 
their  infantry,  so  as  to  occupy  the  extreme  point  of  a  skirt  of  tim- 
ber on  the  bank  of  the  San  Jacinto,  and  secured  their  left  by  a  for- 
tification about  five  feet  high,  constructed  of  packs  and  baggage, 
leaving  an  opening  in  the  centre  of  their  breastwork,  in  which  their 
artillery  was  placed — the  cavalry  upon  the  left  wing." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  SAN  JACINTO — THE  HERO  CHIEFTAIN  AND  THE  HERO  SOLDIERS — 
GEN.  HOUSTON'S  REPORT — COL.  ROBISON'S  REPORT  OF  CAPTURE  OF  SANTA  ANNA— 
T.  HOUSTON'S  ADDRESS  AND  EXERCISES  AT  UNVEILING  OF  MEMORIAL  MONUMENT. 

THE  night  which  preceded  the  bloody  battle  of  San  Jacinto 
exhibited  one  man  over  whose  mind  there  passed  no  anxious 
vision.  Witnessing  the  first  meeting  of  the  hostile  armies,  he  had 
remained  on  horseback  as  a  target  exposed  to  artillery.  The  bit 
of  his  horse's  bridle  was  struck  by  shot,  and  cannon  balls  cut  down 
branches  over  his  head.  To  make  surprise  impossible  he  had 
doubled  the  vigilance  of  his  encampment.  Having  taken  little  rest 
and  eaten  scarcely  anything  for  several  days,  his  staff  urged  him 
to  take  some  rest.  While  his  men  were  hastily  eating  the  beef 
found  so  difficult  to  cook,  he  reclined  under  an  old  oak,  with  a  coil 
of  artillery  rope  for  a  pillow.  He  had  rested  but  little  from  the 
time  of  taking  the  command.  His  only  time  for  repose  was  after 
four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  he 
beat  three  taps  of  the  drum,  the  line  was  formed,  and  his  men  kept 
under  arms  till  daylight.  Laying  down,  he  then  rested  till  his 
men  had  taken  their  breakfast,  and  were  ready  to  march.  He  had 
waited  in  vain  for  expected  troops  and  supplies.  His  men  were 
dispirited,  and  desertions  had  been  caused  by  the  fall  of  the  Alamo 
and  the  massacre  of  Fannin's  command.  Consternation  filled  the 
country.  The  officers  of  Government  had  removed  from  the  scene 
of  danger  to  Galveston.  He  was  without  supplies  or  a  transport 
in  a  new  country.  Half-armed  and  half-clad  men  were  his 
soldiers.  A  powerful  and  cruel  enemy  was  in  his  neighborhood. 
The  picket  guards  of  his  opponent's  forces  exceeded  in  number  all 
the  men  in  his  camp.  He  had  difficulty  in  deciding  on  the  day  of 
battle,  and  he  could  hardly  imagine  its  scene.  But  notwithstand- 
ing the  terrors  of  suspense,  and  the  presence  of  the  enemy,  having 
posted  faithful  guards,  this  man  of  iron  will  slept  calmly  and 
soundly  through  the  night.  The  usual  three  taps  of  the  drum 
(always  beaten  heretofore  by  •  Gen.  Houston)  were  beaten  by 
a  stranger  as  the  morning  of  the  last  day  of  Texan  servitude 
dawned.  The  700  comrades  of  the  chieftain  springing  to  their 
feet,  engaged  in  union  in  preparation  for  battle.  The  chieftain 
hero  still  rested  quietly  and  calmly.  His  men  had  taken  the  final 

(77) 


78  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

meal  before  independence  was  won.  The  sun  shone  with  no  inter- 
vening cloud  in  the  face  of  the  hero,  and  waked  him  to  battle.  He 
surveyed  his  men  under  arms,  ready  for  battle,  "  the  sun  of  Aus- 
terlitz  has  risen  again."  No  shade  of  trouble  marred  the  dignified 
repose  of  his  calm  face.  Col.  John  Forbes,  his  Commissary  Gen- 
eral, was  ordered  to  provide  two  good  axes.  Sending  for  Deaf 
Smith,  and  taking  this  faithful  and  fearless  man  aside,  he  ordered 
him  to  conceal  the  axes  safely  in  some  place,  where  at  a  minute's 
warning  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon  them.  The  General  enjoined 
Smith  not  to  pass  the  lines  of  the  sentinels  that  day  without  spe- 
cific orders,  and  not  to  be  beyond  his  call. 

About  9  o'clock  a  powerful  force  which  had  come  to  join  the  Mexi- 
cans was  seen  to  be  moving  over  a  swell  of  the  prairie  in  the  direction 
of  Santa  Anna's  camp.  The  Texan  lines  were  not  a  little  excited 
by  the  spectacle.  Apprehending  the  effect  upon  his  men  of  the  ap- 
pearance of  this  reinforcement  of  the  enemy,  Houston  coolly  re- 
marked "  that  they  were  the  same  men  they  had  seen  the  day  be- 
fore— they  had  marched  round  the  swell  in  the  prairie,  and  returned 
in  sight  of  the  Texan  camp  to  alarm  their  foe — with  the  appear- 
ance of  an  immense  reinforcement,  for  it  was  very  evident  Santa 
Anna  did  not  wish  to  fight.  But  it  was  all  a  ruse  de  guerre  that 
could  be  easily  seen  through — a  mere  Mexican  trick."  Meantime, 
he  sent  Deaf  Smith  and  a  comrade  with  confidential  orders  to  re- 
connoitre in  the  rearward  of  this  force  and. report  to  him.  Soon 
the  spies  returned,  and  reported  publicly  "  that  the  General  was 
right — it  was  all  a  humbug."  Deaf  Smith  reported  a  different 
story  in  the  private  ear  of  the  commander  a  few  minutes  after- 
ward. Gen.  Cos,  with  540  men,  having  heard  Santa  Anna's  can- 
non on  the  Brazos  on  the  day  before,  had  come  by  forced  marches 
to  reinforce  him.  The  secret  was  not  revealed  until  it  did  no  harm 
to  divulge  it.  A  council  of  war,  comprising  six  field  officers,  at 
their  instance  was  called  at  this  apparently  critical  juncture. 
Seated  on  the  grass  beneath  a  post  oak  tree,  the  General-in-Chief 
submitted  alternative  propositions — whether  the  Texans  should 
attack  the  Mexicans  in  their  position,  or  whether  the  Texans  should 
wait  for  the  Mexicans  to  attack  the  Texan  forces  in  their  chosen 
position.  Two  junior  officers  favored  attack,  but  four  seniors  ob- 
jected that  it  was  an  unheard-of  thing  for  raw  soldiers,  with  only 
two  hundred  bayonets,  without  cover  of  artillery,  to  cross  an  open 
prairie  to  charge  a  disciplined  army.  The  council  was  dismissed. 
Ascertaining  with  certainty  that  the  men  were  favorable  to  an  at- 
tack, General  Houston  determined  on  his  own  responsibility  to 
give  battle.  It  was  proposed  to  construct  a  floating  bridge  across 
Buffalo  Bayou,  to  be  used  in  the  event  of  danger.  Inquiry  was  in- 


Deaf  Smith? s  Heroism.  79 

stituted  to  ascertain  if  the  requisite  materials  were  at  command. 
The  inquiring  officers  reported  that  they  could  construct  the 
bridge  if  allowed  to  tear  down  a  neighboring  house.  Gen.  Houston 
replied  to  the  report,  "  We  will  postpone  it  awhile,  at  all  events." 
Deaf  Smith  was  ordered  to  report  to  him,  with  a  companion; 
going  with  them  to  the  spot  where  the  axes  had  been  deposited 
that  morning.  Taking  and  examining  the  axes  carefully,  he  handed 
the  trusty  men  *  each  an  axe,  saying:  "Now,  my  friends,  take 
these  axes  ;  mount,  and  make  the  best  of  your  way  to  Vince's 
Bridge  ;  cut  it  down  and  burn  it  up,  and  come  back  like  eagles,  or 
you  will  be  too  late  for  the  day."  Both  armies  had  crossed  this 
bridge  in  their  march  to  the  battle-ground  of  San  Jacinto.  To  cut 
it  down  was  to  cut  off  all  chance  of  escape  for  the  vanquished. 
"  This,"  in  his  droll  way,  said  Deaf  Smith,  "  looks  a  good  deal  like 
fight,  General."  There  was  apparently  a  wide  difference  between 
the  calculations  of  some  of  Houston's  officers  and  himself  as  to 
the  results  of  the  day.  They,  thinking  of  probable  defeat,  thought 
of  building  a  new  bridge  to  facilitate  escape  ;  he,  determined  that 
his  army  should  come  off  victorious  that  day,  or  leave  their  bodies 
on  the  field,  ordered  the  only  bridge  in  the  neighborhood  to  be  cut 
down  and  burned  up. 

Houston  commenced  preparations  for  battle,  as  events  had  taken 
the  course  which  he  had  expected  and  desired.  It  was  3  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon  ;  the  Mexicans,  concealed  behind  their  breastworks, 
manifested  no  disposition  to  come  to  an  engagement.  The  plan 
of  kttack  may  be  best  understood  from  the  language  of  Gen. 
Houston's  official  report  after  the  battle  was  over :  "  The  ist 
Regiment,  under  the  command  of  Col.  Sydney  Sherman,  formed 
the  left  wing  of  the  army.  The  artillery,  under  the  special  com- 
mand of  Col.  George  W.  Hockley,  Inspector-General,  was  placed 
on  the  right  of  the  ist  Regiment,  and  four  companies  of  infantry, 
under  the  command  of  Lieut.-Col.  Henry  Millard,  sustained  the 
artillery  upon  the  right.  Our  cavalry,  sixty-one  in  number,  com- 
manded by  Col.  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar,  placed  on  our  extreme  right, 
completed  our  line.  Our  cavalry  was  first  dispatched  to  the  front  of  . 
the  enemy's  left,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  their  notice,  whilst 
an  extensive  island  of  timber  afforded  us  an  opportunity  of  con- 
centrating our  forces  and  displaying  from  that  point  agreeably  to 


*  We  choose  to  follow  Gen.  Houston's  own  statement  that  he  ordered  Deaf 
Smith  to  cut  the  bridge  down  and  then  burn,  it  up.  Although  another  statement 
avers  "  that  the  parties  burning  the  bridge  were  from  Karnes'  Cavalry  Company." 
They  were  Deaf  Smith,  D.  W.  Rives,  John  Coker,  G.  P.  Alsbury,  E.  R.  Rain- 
water  John  Garner,  and  Moses  Lapham. 


80  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  previous  design,  of  the  troops.  Every  evolution  was  performed 
with  alacrity,  the  whole  advancing  rapidly  in  line,  and  through  an 
open  prairie  without  any  protection  whatever  for  our  men.  The 
artillery  advanced,  and  took  station  within  two  hundred  yards  of 
the  enemy's  breastworks." 

No  adequate  description  of  the  action  could  be  written.  Par- 
ticipants in  the  contest  have  frequently  undertaken  to  give  the 
writer  some  idea  of  the  scene.  In  fifteen  minutes  the  victory  was 
won,  more  by  a  slaughter  than  a  battle.  Houston  and  Gen.  Rusk, 
the  Secretary  of  War,  were  agreed  as  to  the  plan  of  the  battle  ; 
the  former  led  the  centre,  the  latter  had  command  of  the  left  wing  ; 
seven  hundred  Texans  engaged  in  mortal  conflict  with  over 
eighteen  hundred  Mexicans.  The  sagacious,  soldierly  mind  of 
Houston,  and  the  lion  heart  of  Rusk,  were  assured  of  success. 
The  army  was  drawn  up  in  battle  array,  waiting  for  the  charge. 
The  two  six-pounders,  "The  Twin  Sisters,"  had  commenced  a 
steady  fire,  well  directed,  of  grape  and  canister,  which  shattered 
bones  and  baggage  wherever  they  struck.  The  moment  for  victory 
and  independence  had  come.  The  war-cry,  Remember  the  Alamo ! 
was  sounded  out  with  the  charge  ordered  by  Houston.  Every 
soldier  was  aroused  by  the  inspiring  battle  charge.  The  shout  of 
an  united  army  rent  the  air  with  the  wild  words,  The  Alamo  !  the 
Alamo!  Terror  thrilled  the  Mexican  host.  As  he  had  been  in- 
structed to  do,  at  that  supreme  moment  Deaf  Smith  rode  up  on  a 
horse  covered  with  mire  and  foam,  swinging  an  axe  over  his  head, 
dashing  along  the  Texan  lines,  and  exclaiming,  "  I  have  cut  down 
Vince's  Bridge — now  fight  for  your  lives,  and  remember  the  Alamo." 
Held  back  for  a  moment  at  this  announcement,  the  Texan  army 
in  solid  phalanx  rushed  forward  with  resistless  fury  upon  the 
breastworks  of  the  Mexicans.  At  the  head  of  the  centre  column 
Gen.  Houston  urged  his  horse  into  the  face  of  the  foe.  Ready  for 
the  attack,  the  Mexican  army,  although  in  great  surprise,  was 
drawn  up  in  perfect  order.  The  Texans  approached  within  sixty 
paces.  They  had  not  fired  a  rifle,  when  the  Mexican  lines  flashed 
with  a  storm  of  bullets.  Fired  too  high,  the  bullets  flew  over  the 
Texan  army.  Several  balls  struck  Gen.  Houston's  horse  in  the 
breast,  and  one  shattered  his  ankle.  The  noble  horse  for  a  mo- 
ment staggered,  but  was  spurred  on  by  his  heroic  rider.  Had  the 
Mexicans  directed  the  aim  of  their  first  discharge  aright,  the  Texan 
ranks  would  have  been  sadly  thinned.  The  Texan  soldiers  pressed 
on.  Each  man  reserved  his  fire  until  he  could  choose  some  partic- 
ular soldier,  and,  before  a  Mexican  could  reload,  into  his  breast  a 
Texan  would  discharge  his  rifle-ball.  Without  bayonets,  rifles 
were  converted  into  war  clubs,  and  deadly  aims  levelled  at  the 


The  Battle-cry  "Remember  the  Alamo"  81 

heads  of  Santa  Anna's  men.  A  desperate  struggle,  hand-to-hand, 
took  place  along  the  breastwork  when  the  fire  of  musket  and  rifle 
had  ceased.  When  the  Texans  had,  by  smashing  in  the  skulls  of 
their  enemies,  broken  off  their  rifles  at  the  breach,  they  flung  away 
the  remnants  in  their  hands  and  then  drew  their  pistols  ;  firing 
them  once,  and  having  no  time  to  reload,  they  threw  them  at  the 
heads  of  the  Mexicans  ;  then  drawing  out  their  bowie-knives,  fear- 
lessly they  carved  their  way  literally  through  "  dense  masses  of 
living  flesh." 

To  suppose  that  the  Mexicans-acted  the  coward  on  that  fatal 
day  would  be  a  serious  and  sad  misiake.  Where  they  stood  in  the 
ranks  when  the  battle  began  they  Were  slain  by  hundreds.  The 
vengeance  which  fired  Texan  breaps  was  fierce  and  resistless 
Striking  for  their  homes,  their  families,  their  dead  kindred,  and 
the  undying  rights  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  they  battled  as 
none  but  men  free-born,  and  determined  to  die  free,  can  ever  fight. 
For  a  brief  period,  the  Mexican  officers  and  men  maintained  a  firm 
stand.  As  fast  as  they  fell,  the  Texans  stamped  upon  them, 
trampling  on  the  dead,  and  rushing  over  the  groaning,  the  bleed- 
ing, the  dying,  or  the  dead,  to  plunge  their  weapons  into  the 
bosoms  of  those  in  the  rear.  When  the  Mexicans  perceived  that 
the  onslaught  of  their  Texan  foes  could  not  be  resisted,  some  at- 
tempted to  fly,  and  were  stabbed  in  their  backs.  Others,  falling 
on  their  knees,  plead  for  mercy.  Recalling  to  mind  the  sad  mas- 
sacre of  the  "  Alamo,"  and  the  Texan  war-cry,  "  Remember  the 
Alamo,"  they  cried  out,  "  Me  no  Alamo  ;  me  no  Alamo  ;  me  no 
Alamo."  A  merciless  Mexican  tyrant  had  made  them,  unfor 
tunately,  slaves  of  his  imperious  will,  unwilling  or  willing  wit- 
nesses of  the  brutal  massacre  of  brave  men  fighting  in  freedom's 
holy  cause.  No  other  claim  for  mercy  now  occurred  to  them  but  a 
disclaimer  of  complicity  in  the  massacre  of  the  Alamo.  The  ven 
geance  of  men  long  outraged,  and  pronounced  outlaws  and  pirates 
broke  forth,  which  recognized  no  boijnds  of  modern  warfare. 

The  right  and  left  wing  had  either  been  routed  or  slain  before 
the  centre  breastwork  had  been  carried.  Several  bold  charges 
were  made  by  the  Mexicans  upon  the  Texan  lines.  The  battalion 
of  Texan  infantry  were  gallantly  charged  by  a  Mexican  division  of 
infantry,  composed  of  more  than  five  hundred  men.  The  charging 
force  was  three  to  one  of  the  force  assailed.  The  Commander-in- 
Chief,  observing  the  peril,  dashed  between  the  Texan  and  Mexican 
infantry,  and  exclaimed,  "  Come  on,  my  brave  fellows,  your  Gen- 
eral leads  you."  Like  a  veteran  corps  the  battalion  halted  and 
wheeled  in  perfect  order.  The  order  to  fire  was  given  by  Gen. 
Houston,  and  had  the  guns  all  been  fired  by  machinery  they  could 
6 


82  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

not  have  fired  more  nearly  at  the  same  time.  A  single  discharge, 
a  rush  through  the  smoke,  cleaving  blows  of  rifles  uplifted  struck 
down  those  whom  the  bullets  had  not  slain.  Only  thirty-two  of 
the  five  hundred  Mexicans  survived  to  surrender  as  prisoners  of 
war.  Gen.  Houston's  wound  in  the  ankle,  meanwhile  was  bleeding 
profusely.  His  horse  was  dying,  and  with  difficulty  could  stagger 
over  the  slain.  Still  the  General-in-Chief  witnessed  every  move- 
ment of  his  army,  and  as  it  rolled  victoriously  over  the  field,  saw 
the  tide  of  battle  crowning  his  brave  soldiers  with  unparalleled  suc- 
cess. Rarely  in  human  history  has  there  been  such  a  scene.  The 
shock  of  the  Texan  advance  and  attack  was  resistless.  Everywhere 
the  Mexicans  staggered, — officers  and  men,  whether  in  regiments 
or  battalions,  cavalry  or  infantry,  were  thrown  together  without 
order,  each  bent  on  individually  signalizing  himself.  Driven  from 
their  position  they  fled  before  their  pursuers.  The  battle  was  won. 
Riding  over  the  field  Gen.  Houston  gave  orders  for  the  carnage  of 
the  wounded  to  cease.  But  he  had  given  the  Alamo  as  the  war-cry, 
and  his  men  could  not  forget  the  Alamo,  its  horrors  were  too  fresh 
in  their  memories.  The  blood  of  Travis,  Bowie,  and  Crockett  at 
the  Alamo,  and  Fannin  at  Goliad,  cried  out  for  vengeance,  and  the 
day  of  vengeance  had  come,  and  it  would  have  been  as  easy  to 
hurl  back  the  billows  of  an  inrolling  tide  of  the  sea.  In  the  report 
of  Gen.  Rusk,  who  minutely  observed  the  occurrences  of  the  day, 
appears  the  following  statement  : 

"  While  the  battle  was  in  progress,  the  celebrated  Deaf  Smith,  although  on 
horseback  fighting,  was  with  the  infantry.  When  they  got  pretty  near  the  en- 
emy Smith  galloped  on  ahead,  and  dashed  directly  up  to  the  Mexican  line.  Just 
as  he  reached  it  his  horse  stumbled  and  fell,  throwing  him  on  his  head  among 
the  enemy.  Having  dropped  his  sword  in  the  fall  he  drew  one  of  his  belt  pis- 
tols, presented  it  at  the  head  of  a  Mexican,  who  was  attempting  to  bayonet  him, 
and  it  missed  fire.  Smith  then  hurled  the  pistol  itself  at  the  head  of  a  Mexican, 
and  as  he  staggered  back  he  seized  his  gun,  and  began  his  work  of  destruction. 
A  young  man  by  the  name  of  Robbins  dropped  his  gun  in  the  confusion  of  the 
battle,  and  happening  to  run  directly  in  contact  with  a  Mexican  soldier,  who  had 
also  lost  his  musket,  the  Mexican  seized  Robbins,  and  both  being  stout  men, 
rolled  to  the  ground.  But  Robbins  drew  out  his  bowie-knife  and  ended  the  con- 
test by  cutting  the  Mexican's  throat.  On  starting  out  from  our  camp  to  enter 
upon  the  attack,  I  saw  an  old  man,  by  the  name  of  Curtis,  carrying  two  guns. 
I  asked  him  what  reason  he  had  for  carrying  more  than  one  gun.  He  answered, 

'  D the  Mexicans ;  they  killed  my  son  and  son-in-law  in  the  Alamo,  and  I 

intend  to  kill  two  of  them  for  it  or  be  killed  myself.'  I  saw  the  old  man  again 
during  the  fight,  and  he  told  me  that  he  had  killed  his  two  men,  and  if  he  could 

find  Santa  Anna  himself  he  would  cut  out  a  razor-strop  from  his  back 

When  the  Mexicans  were  first  driven  from  the  points  of  woods  where  we  en- 
countered them,  their  officers  tried  to  rally  them,  but  the  men  cried,  '  It's  no  use, 


Gen.  Rustfs  Description  of  the  Battle.  83 

it's  no  use,  there  are  a  thousand  Americans  in  the  woods.'  When  Santa  Anna 
saw  Almonte's  division  running  past  him,  he  called  a  drummer  and  ordered  him 
to  beat  his  drum.  The  drummer  held  up  his  hands  and  told  him  he  was  shot. 
He  called  then  to  a  trumpeter  near  him  to  sound  his  horn.  The  trumpeter  re- 
plied that  he  also  was  shot.  Just  at  this  instant  a  ball  from  one  of  our  cannon 
struck  a  man  who  was  standing  near  Santa  Anna,  taking  off  one  side  of  his 

head.     Santa  Anna  then  exclaimed,  '  D these  Americans,  I  believe  they  will 

shoot  us  all.'     He  immediately  mounted  his  horse  and  commenced  his  flight." 

The  Texans  chased  the  flying  Mexicans  far  over  the  prairie,  fol- 
lowing up  the  indiscriminate  slaughter,  and  leaving  on  the  ground 
where  the  battle  began,  a  larger  number  than  their  own,  living,  dy- 
ing, or  dead.  Attempting  to  escape  through  the  tall  grass,  multi- 
tudes were  overtaken  and  killed.  The  enemy's  cavalry  were  well 
mounted.  When  they  saw  that  further  resistance  was  fruitless, 
spurring  their  fast  horses,  they  directed  their  course  toward  Vince's 
Bridge.  The  victors  hotly  pursued  them.  When  they  came  to  the 
stream,  to  their  horror  they  saw  the  bridge  was  gone.  Appalled 
and  desperate,  some  of  the  flying  horsemen  spurred  their  horses 
down  the  steep  bank ;  some  dismounted  and  plunged  into  the 
stream ;  some  became  entangled  in  their  trappings,  and  were 
dragged  with  their  struggling  horses ;  others  sunk  to  the  bottom, 
and  those  who  succeeded  with  their  horses  in  reaching  the  opposite 
bank,  fell  backwards  into  the  river.  The  Texan  pursuers  as  they 
came  up,  poured  a  deadly  fire  upon  the  Mexicans  struggling  with 
the  flood.  Escape  was  impossible.  By  hundreds,  men  and  horses 
rolled  together.  Blood  discolored  the  stream ;  dying  gurgles 
mingled  with  the  plashing  of  waters. 

Never  before  has  history  recorded  an  event  in  such  words  :  "  The 
deep,  turbid  stream  was  literally  choked  with  the  dead."  In  the 
rear  of  the  battle-ground  near  the  Mexican  encampment,  on  the 
southern  verge  of  the  Island  of  Trees,  a  spectacle  of  equal  strange- 
ness and  horror  was  witnessed.  Many  had  rushed  to  this  spot  as 
their  last  hope.  The  escape  in  this  quarter  was  slight.  A  deep 
morass  exhibited  no  inconsiderable  barrier  to  passage.  Horses  and 
mules  with  their  riders  plunged  into  the  mire  only  to  be  complete- 
ly submerged.  Practiced  riflemen  prevented  the  escape  of  any  one 
likely  to  escape.  The  bodies  of  dead  mules,  horses,  and  men  made 
a  bridge  across  the  morass. 

Almonte,  with  two  hundred  and  fifty  cooler,  if  not  braver,  men 
prepared  on  the  Island  of  Trees  to  resist  or  surrender  rather  than  fly. 

Rallying  as  large  a  body  of  men  as  could  be  assembled,  Houston 
prepared  to  lead  his  men  to  a  charge,but  his  noble  horse,  that  had  gal- 
lantly borne  his  rider  throughout  the  battle,  staggered  and  fell  dead 
with  seven  balls  in  his  body.  In  dismounting,  Gen.  Houston  struck 


84  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

upon  his  wounded  leg  and  fell  to  the  earth.  For  the  first  time  it 
was  now  discovered  that  he  was  wounded.  Gen.  Houston  immedi- 
ately called  for  Gen.  Rusk,  and  gave  to  him  the  command.  The 
officers  of  the  staff  of  the  General-in-Chief  procured  another  horse 
and  assisted  him  to  remount.  Gen.  Rusk,  with  the  newly  formed 
company  advanced  upon  the  last  remnant  of  the  Mexican  army. 
Almonte,  its  commander,  saved  the  necessity  of  conflict,  and  came 
forward  and  promptly  surrendered  his  sword. 

The  battle-field  of  San  facinto  was  won. 

No  more  strife  was  required.  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  a  battle 
was  fought  and  a  victory  won,  which  in  the  meagreness  of  the 
hosts  engaged,  and  the  amazing  results  which  ensued  are  unparal- 
leled in  human  history. 

The  wounded  Houston  cast  a  glance  over  the  battle-field  and 
said  to  his  comrades  :  "  I  think  now,  gentlemen,  we  are  likely  to 
have  no  more  trouble  to-day,  and  I  believe  I  will  return  to  the 
camp." 

Resistance  to  the  arms  of  Texas  ceased.  The  hero  of  San  Jacinto 
with  his  party  slowly  rode  from  the  field  of  victory  to  the  oak  at 
whose  foot  the  deliverer  of  Texas  had  slept  the  previous  night.  A 
command  was  left  to  guard  the  spoils  taken  from  the  enemy.  Vic- 
torious soldiers  in  crowds  came  to  the  commander-in-chief,  as  he 
was  riding  across  the  field,  and  slapping  him  familiarly  and  rudely 
on  his  wounded  leg,  cried  out :  "  Now,  ain't  we  brave  fellows, 
General  ? "  "  Yes,  boys,  you  have  covered  yourselves  with  glory, 
and  I  decree  to  you  the  spoils  of  victory;  I  will  reward  valor;  I  only 
claim  to  share  the  honors  of  our  triumph  with  you." 

Before  dismounting,  while  giving  his  orders  after  reaching  the 
Texan  encampment,  Gen.  Rusk  appeared  and  presented  his  prison- 
er, Gen.  Almonte.  It  was  the  first  time  that  Houston  and  Almonte 
had  ever  met.  It  was  the  finishing  stroke  to  a  glorious  victory. 
Exhausted  from  fatigue  and  loss  of  blood,  Houston  now  fainted 
and  fell  from  his  second  horse,  but  was  caught  by  Col.  Hockley  in 
his  arms,  and  laid  down  at  the  foot  of  the  oak  where  he  had  biv- 
ouacked. 

The  bloody  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  ended.  In  the  annals  of  war,  it 
is  questionable  whether  it  has  a  parallel. 

Its  immediate  results  were  not  insignificant.  Its  promise  for 
the  future  was  a  symbol  of  almost  boundless  empire,  changed  geog- 
raphy and  a  perfection  of  civilization,  embracing  almost  a  whole 
hemisphere.  The  spoils  of  victory  were  indeed  valuable  to  men  who 
owned  nothing  in  the  morning  but  the  arms  which  they  carried, 
their  scant  and  coarse  clothing,  and  the  resistless  desire  to  be  free 
and  own  a  free  country.  "  About  900  English  muskets  (besides  a 


Results  of  the  Victory.  85 

very  large  number  lost  in  the  morass  and  bayou),  300  sabres,  and 
200  pistols  ;  300  valuable  mules,  100  fine  horses,  and  a  good  lot  of 
provisions,  clothing,  tents,  paraphernalia  for  officers  and  men,  and 
twelve  thousand  dollars  in  silver,  constituted  the  principal  spoils." 

But  the  moral  and  political  consequences  of  the  victory  far  tran- 
scended the  value  of  this  important  booty  to  needy  heroes. 

Texan  independence  was  won. 

History  furnishes  in  its  whole  range  no  spectacle  more  sublime 
than  this  struggle  for  freedom.  In  imitation  of  their  ancestors,  an 
outraged,  brave  people,  many  of  whom  tilled  the  soil  on  which  they 
fought  and  for  which  they  had  paid  in  money  or  labor,  not  striving 
for  empire  nor  the  glory  of  a  military  chieftain,  had  trusted 
their  cause  to  the  wager  of  battle.  Relying  on  the  God  of  battles, 
He  had  provided  for  the  issue. 

Abandoning  for  a  time  their  fugitive  wives,  hundreds  fought  for 
all  that  makes  life  worth  living  for,  or  dying  for,  or  gives  value  to 
its  possessions,  eternal  freedom  for  themselves  and  their  posterity. 

With  the  victory  of  San  Jacinto  a  new  era  dawned  upon  the 
Western  Continent. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  race  began  now  to  demonstrate  the  power  to 
rule  the  new  world.  France  ceased  to  hold  empire  in  America 
when  the  Canadas  surrendered  to  British  rule  in  1763.  Spain 
had  lost  control  of  any  portion  of  the  Western  Continent,  and 
now  her  descendants  had  yielded  the  sway  of  a  territory  grander  in 
extent  than  France,  thus  opening  a  way  for  a  subsequent  surren- 
der of  a  still  larger  territory  on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Invited  to  Texan  soil,  three  hundred  emigrants  undertook  to 
found  a  Mexican  State  coequal  with  the  other  United  States  of 
Mexico.  They  asked  only  that  the  Federal  Constitution  of  1824 
should  be  maintained  and  administered.  All  they  asked  for  Texas 
was  a  concession  of  the  same  rights  secured  to  the  Mexican  States 
by  that  Constitution.  The  superior  industry,  enterprise,  and  inven- 
tion of  the  new  colonists,  attributable  to  that  intelligent  love  of 
liberty  which  the  Mexican  mind  did  not  comprehend  and  dreaded 
far  more,  were  a  terror  to  the  Mexican  Dictators.  They  regretted 
that  they  had  invited  the  300  Americans  to  colonize  Texas  ;  they 
resolved  that  Texas  should  be  a  desert,  a  wide  waste,  without  a 
civilized  inhabitant ;  occupied,  if  occupied  at  all,  by  savages,  and 
thus  prevent  all  intercourse  between  Mexicans  and  the  United 
States  of  America;  thus  opposed  to  progress  and  enlightened  civil- 
ized life.  Stephen  F.  Austin,  mingling  in  his  grand  character  the 
lofty  character  of  the  cavalier  and  the  uncompromising  nature'of 
the  Puritan,  led  the  choice  band  of  spirits  who  sought  to  domicili- 
ate  themselves  in  the  beautiful  province  of  New  Estramadura. 


86  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Dauntless,  incorruptible,  the  young  nation  reposed  confidence  in 
him.  Framing  a  Constitution,  demanding  no  more  than  the  other 
Mexican  States  were  allowed,  Austin  was  deputed  to  convey  the  Con- 
stitution to  the  City  of  Mexico.  "  His  very  appearance  in  that  city 
with  the  prayer  of  his  colony,  that  the  Mexicans  would  abide  by 
their  own  Constitution,  under  whose  solemn  pledge  he  had  led  his 
people  to  their  new  home,  was  too  bitter  a  sarcasm  upon  the  cor- 
rupt tyrants  who  had  trampled  down  that  high  compact,  and  he 
was  plunged  into  a  foul  dungeon,  where  for  many  months  he  never 
saw  a  beam  of  sunshine,  nor  even  the  hand  that  fed  him." 

This  inhuman  act,  defiant  of  all  honor  or  justice,  served  only  to 
kindle  the  flame  which  was  destined  to  consume  Mexican  tyranny 
on  Texan  soil.  A  small  band  of  Texans  drove  four  times  their 
number,  in  1835,  from  San  Antonio.  The  Dictator,  Santa  Anna,  re- 
solved to  take  the  field  himself.  With  well-selected  and  finely  ap- 
pointed troops  he  advances  on  San  Antonio  and  retakes  it.  He  sum 
mons  Travis  and  his  immortal  band  to  surrender  the  Alamo.  With 
death  staring  them  in  the  face,  either  while  fighting  or  by  massacre, 
they  refuse  to  surrender,  and  die  martyrs  to  liberty,  immortal  he- 
roes, and  in  their  death  insuring  victory  at  San  Jacinto  and  liberty 
forever.  Animated  by  his  savage  purpose  of  extirpating  Anglo- 
Saxon  blood  from  Texan  soil,  the  despot  advances,  causing  Fan 
nin's  immortal  heroes  to  be  slaughtered  in  cold  blood  at  Goliad. 
Again  the  fires  of  liberty  are  kindled.  The  despot  divides  his  corps 
into  three  divisions,  and  leads  one  as  by  the  appointment  of  a 
superintending  Providence  to  the  destined  spot  where  all  hope  or 
possibility  of  retreat  being  cut  off,  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  is 
fought,  and  Mexican  rule  on  Texan  soil  forever  destroyed. 

The  moral  effect  of  that  battle  on  the  destiny  of  the  American 
Union  has  not  yet  been  fully  realized.  Already  it  has  changed  the 
geographical  boundaries  of  nearly  the  entire  North  American  con- 
tinent, and  has  altered  the  domestic  relations  of  the  Southern 
States,  indirectly  if  not  directly.  It  has  opened  the  highway  for 
the  iron  horse  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

Each  year,  since  April  21,  1836,  is  witnessing  new  developments 
of  history,  all  strangely  linked  with  the  events  which  gave  victory 
to  Houston  and  his  small  band  of  Texans  on  the  field  of  San 
Jacinto. 


Houston's  Official  Report  of  the  Battle.  87 

The  Battle  of  San  Jacinto. 

REPORT  OF  MAJOR-GENERAL  SAM  HOUSTON. 

"  HEADQUARTERS  6r  THE  ARMY,         • 

"SAN  JACINTO,  April 25,  1836.  \ 
"  To  His  Excellency  D.  G.  BURNET, 

"  President  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  : 

"  SIR  : — I  regret  extremely  that  my  situation  since  the  battle  of  the  2ist  has 
been  such  as  to  prevent  my  rendering  you  my  official  report  of  the  same  previous 
to  this  time. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  on  the  evening  of  the  eighteenth  instant, 
after  a  forced  march  of  fifty-five  miles,  which  was  effected  in  two  days  and 
a  half,  the  army  arrived  opposite  Harrisburg.  That  evening  a  courier  of  the 
enemy  was  taken,  from  whom  I  learned  that  General  Santa  Anna,  with  one  di- 
vision of  his  choice  troops,  had  marched  in  the  direction  of  Lynch's  Ferry,  on 
the  San  Jacinto,  burning  Harrisburg  as  he  passed  down.  The  army  was  ordered 
to  be  in  readiness  to  march  early  on  the  next  morning.  The  main  body  effected 
a  crossing  over  Buffalo  Bayou,  below  Harrisburg,  on  the  morning  of  the  I9th, 
having  left  the  baggage,  the  sick,  and  a  sufficient  camp  guard  in  the  rear.  We 
continued  the  march  throughout  the  night,  making  but  one  halt  in  the  prairie 
for  a  short  time,  and  without  refreshment.  At  daylight  we  resumed  the  line  of 
march,  and  in  a  short  distance  our  scouts  encountered  those,  of  the  enemy,  and 
we  received  information  that  General  Santa  Anna  was  at  New  Washington,  and 
would  that  day  take  up  the  line  of  march  for  Anahuac,  crossing  at  Lynch's 
Ferry.  The  Texan  army  halted  within  half  a  mile  of  the  ferry  in  some  timber, 
and  were  engaged  in  slaughtering  beeves,  when  the  army  of  Santa  Anna  was 
discovered  to  be  approaching  in  battle  array,  having  been  encamped  at  Clop- 
'per's  Point,  eight  miles  below.  Disposition  was  immediately  made  of  our 
forces,  and  preparation  for  his  reception.  He  took  a  position  with  his  infantry 
and  artillery  in  the  centre,  occupying  an  island  of  timber,  his  cavalry  covering 
the  left  flank.  The  artillery,  consisting  of  one  double  fortified  medium  brass 
twelve-pounder,  then  opened  on  our  encampment.  The  infantry,  in  column,  ad- 
vanced with  the  design  of  charging  our  lines,  but  were  repulsed  by  a  discharge 
of  grape  and  canister  from  our  artillery,  consisting  of  two  six-pounders.  The 
enemy  had  occupied  a  piece  of  timber  within  rifle-shot  of  the  left  wing  of  our 
army,  from  which  an  occasional  interchange  of  small  arms  took  place  between 
the  troops  until  the  enemy  withdrew  to  a  position  on  the  bank  of  the  San  Ja- 
cinto, about  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  our  encampment,  and  commenced  for- 
tification. A  short  time  before  sunset,  our  mounted  men,  about  eighty-five  in 
number,  under  the  special  command  of  Colonel  Sherman,  marched  out  for  the 
purpose  of  reconnoitering  the  enemy.  Whilst  advancing,  they  received  a  volley 
from  the  left  of  the  enemy's  infantry,  and  after  a  sharp  rencontre  with  their 
cavalry,  in  which  ours  acted  extremely  well,  and  performed  some  feats  of  daring 
chivalry,  they  retired  in  good  order,  having  had  two  men  severely  wounded  and 
several  horses  killed.  In  the  meantime  the  infantry,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Millard,  and  Colonel  Burleson's  regiment,  with  the  artillery, 
had  marched  out  for  the  purpose  of  covering  the  retreat  of  the  cavalry  if  neces- 


88  -  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

sary.  All  then  fell  back  in  good  order  to  our  encampment,  about  sunset,  ana 
remained  without  any  ostensible  action  until  the  2ist,  at  half-past  three  o'clock, 
taking  the  first  refreshment  which  they  had  enjoyed  for  two  days.  The  enemy, 
in  the  meantime,  extended  the  right  flank  of  their  infantry  so  as  to  occupy  the 
extreme  point  of  a  skirt  of  timber  on  the  bank  of  the  San  Jacinto,  and  secured 
their  left  by  a  fortification  about  five  feet  high,  constructed  of  packs  and  bag- 
gage, leaving  an  opening  in  the  centre  of  the  breastwork  in  which  their  artillery 
was  placed,  their  cavalry  upon  their  left  wing. 

"About  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  2ist,  the  enemy  were  reinforced 
by  500  choice  troops,  under  the  command  of  General  Cos,  increasing  their  ef- 
fective force  to  upwards  of  1,500  men,  whilst  our  aggregate  force  for  the  field 
numbered  783.  At  half-past  three  o'clock  in  the  evening,  I  ordered  the  officers 
of  the  Texan  army  to  parade  their  respective  commands,  having  in  the  mean- 
time ordered  the  bridge  on  the  only  road  communicating  with  the  Brazos,  distant 
eight  miles  from  our  encampment,  to  be  destroyed,  thus  cutting  off  all  possibility 
of  escape.  Our  troops  paraded  with  alacrity  and  spirit,  and  were  anxious  for 
the  contest.  Their  conscious  disparity  in  numbers  seemed  only  to  increase  their 
enthusiasm  and  confidence,  and  heightened  their  anxiety  for  the  conflict.  Our 
situation  afforded  me  an  opportunity  of  making  the  arrangements  preparatory  to 
the  attack,  without  exposing  our  designs  to  the  enemy,  The  ist  Regiment, 
commanded  by  Colonel  Burleson,  was  assigned  the  centre.  The  2d  Regiment, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  Sherman,  formed  the  left  wing  of  the  army.  The 
Artillery,  under  the  special  command  of  Colonel  Geo.  W.  Hockley,  Inspector- 
General,  was  placed  on  the  right  of  the  ist  Regiment ;  and  four  companies  of 
Infantry,  under  the  command  of  Lieut.-Col.  Henry  Millard,  sustained  the  Artil- 
lery upon  the  right.  Our  Cavalry,  61  in  number,  commanded  by  Col.  Mirabeau  B. 
Lamar  (whose  gallant  and  daring  conduct  on  the  previous  day  had  attracted  the 
admiration  of  his  comrades,  and  called  him  to  that  station),  placed  on  our  ex- 
treme right,  completed  our  line.  Our  Cavalry  was  first  despatched  to  the  front 
of  the  enemy's  left,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  their  notice,  whilst  an  extensive 
island  of  timber  afforded  us  an  opportunity  of  concentrating  our  forces  and  dis- 
playing from  that  point,  agreeably  to  the  previous  design  of  the  troops.  Every 
evolution  was  performed  with  alacrity,  the  whole  advancing  rapidly  in  line,  and 
through  an  open  prairie,  without  any  protection  whatever  for  our  men.  The 
Artillery  advanced  and  took  station  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  enemy's 
breastwork,  and  commenced  an  effective  fire  with  grape  and  canister. 

"  Colonel  Sherman,  with  his  regiment,  having  commenced  the  action  upon  our 
left  wing,  the  whole  line,  at  the  centre  and  on  the  right,  advancing  in  double- 
quick  time,  rung  the  war-cry,  'Remember  the  Alamo?  received  the  enemy's  fire, 
and  advanced  within  point-blank  shot  before  a  piece  was  discharged  from  our 
lines.  Our  line  advanced  without  a  halt,  until  they  were  in  possession  of  the 
woodland  and  the  enemy's  breastwork,  the  right  wing  of  Burleson's  and  the  left 
of  Millard's  taking  possession  of  the  breastwork  ;  our  Artillery  having  gallantly 
charged  up  within  seventy  yards  of  the  enemy's  cannon,  when  it  was  taken  by 
our  troops.  The  conflict  lasted  about  eighteen  minutes  from  the  time  of  close 
action  until  we  were  in  possession  of  the  enemy's  encampment,  taking  one  piece 
of  cannon  (loaded),  four  stand  of  colors,  all  their  camp  equipage,  stores,  and 
baggage.  Our  Cavalry  had  charged  and  routed  that  of  the  enemy  upon  the 
right,  and  given  pursuit  to  the  fugitives,  which  did  not  cease  until  they  arrived  at 


Houston's  Patriotic  and  Devout  Tribute.  89 

me  bridge  which  I  have  mentioned  before — Captain  Karnes,  always  among'  the 
foremost  in  danger,  commanding  the  pursuers.  The  conflict  in  the  breastwork 
lasted  but  a  few  moments  ;  many  of  the  troops  encountered  hand  to  hand,  and 
not  having  the  advantage  of  bayonets  on  our  side,  our  riflemen  used  their  pieces 
as  war-clubs,  breaking  many  of  them  off  at  the  breech.  The  rout  commenced 
at  half-past  four,  and  the  pursuit  by  the  main  army  continued  until  twilight.  A 
guard  was  then  left  in  charge  of  the  enemy's  encampment,  and  our  army  returned 
with  their  killed  and  wounded.  In  the  battle,  our  loss  was  2  killed,  and  23 
wounded,  6  of  whom  mortally.  The  enemy's  loss  was  630  killed  ;  among  whom 
were  I  General  officer,  4  Colonels,  2  Lieutenant-Colonels,  5  Captains,  12  Lieu- 
tenants. Wounded,  208  ;  of  which  were  5  Colonels,  3  Lieutenant-Colonels,  2 
Second  Lieutenant-Colonels,  7  Captains,  I  Cadet.  Prisoners,  730 ;  President 
General  Santa  Anna,  General  Cos,  4  Colonels  (Aids  to  General  Santa  Anna), 
and  the  Colonel  of  the  Guerrero  Battalion,  are  included  in  the  number.  General 
Santa  Anna  was  not  taken  until  the  22d,  and  General  Cos  on  yesterday  ;  very  few 
having  escaped.  About  600  muskets,  300  sabres,  and  200  pistols  have  been  col- 
lected since  the  action  ;  several  hundred  mules  and  horses  were  taken,  and  near 
twelve  thousand  dollars  in  specie.  For  several  days  previous  to  the  action,  our 
troops  were  engaged  in  forced  marches,  exposed  to  excessive  rains,  and  the  ad- 
ditional inconvenience  of  extremely  bad  roads,  illy  supplied  with  rations  and 
clothing  ;  yet,  amid  every  difficulty,  they  bore  up  with  cheerfulness  and  fortitude, 
and  performed  their  marches  with  spirit  and  alacrity.  There  was  no  mur- 
muring. 

"  Previous  to  and  during  the  action,  my  staff  evinced  every  disposition  to  be  use- 
ful, and  were  actively  engaged  in  their  duties.  In  the  conflict,  I  am  assured  that 
they  demeaned  themselves  in  such  a  manner  as  proved  them  worthy  members 
of  the  army  of  San  Jacinto.  Col.  T.  J.  Rusk,  Secretary  of  War,  was  on  the 
field.  For  weeks  his  services  had  been  highly  beneficial  to  the  army ;  in  battle 
he  was  on  the  left  wing,  where  Col.  Sherman's  command  first  encountered  and 
drove  the  enemy;  he  bore  himself  gallantly,  and  continued  his  efforts  and  activ- 
ity, remaining  with  the  pursuers  until  resistance  ceased. 

"  I  have  the  honor  of  transmitting  herewith  a  list  of  all  the  officers  and  men 
who  were  engaged  in  the  action,  which  I  respectfully  request  may  be  published, 
as  an  act  of  justice  to  the  individuals.  For  the  Commanding  General  to  attempt 
discrimination  as  to  the  conduct  of  those  who  commanded  in  the  action,  or 
those  who  were  commanded,  would  be  impossible.  Our  success  in  the  action  is 
conclusive  piroof  of  their  daring  intrepidity  and  courage ;  every  officer  and  man 
proved  himself  worthy  of  the  cause  in  which  he  battled,  while  the  triumph  re- 
ceived a  lustre  from  the  humanity  which  characterized  their  conduct  after  victory, 
and  richly  entitles  them  to  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  their  General.  Nor 
should  we  withhold  the  tribute  of  our  grateful  thanks  from  that  Being  who  rules 
the  destinies  of  nations,  and  has  in  the  time  of  greatest  need  enabled  us  to  ar- 
rest a  powerful  invader  whilst  devastating  our  country. 
"  I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

"  With  high  consideration, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

«SAM  HOUSTON, 

"  Commander-in-Chief" 


90  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

In  1836,  not  long  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  Hon.  Thomas 
H.  Benton  thus  spoke  of  Houston  in  his  place  in  the  United  States 
Senate  : 

"  Of  the  individuals  who  have  purchased  lasting  renown  in  this  young  war,  it 
would  be  impossible,  in  this  place,  to  speak  in  detail,  and  invidious  to  discrimi- 
nate. But  there  is  one  among  them,  whose  position  forms  an  exception  ;  and 
whose  early  association  with  myself,  justifies  and  claims  the  tribute  of  a  particu- 
lar notice.  I  speak  of  him  whose  romantic  victory  has  given  to  the  Jacinto* 
that  immortality  in  grave  and  serious  history,  which  the  diskos  of  Apollo  had 
given  to  it  in  the  fabulous  pages  of  the  heathen  Mythology.  General  Houston 
was  born  in  the  State  of  Virginia,  County  of  Rockbridge  ;  he  was  appointed  an 
ensign  in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  during  the  late  -war  with  Great  Britain, 
and  served  in  the  Creek  campaign  under  the  banners  of  Jackson.  I  was  the 
Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  regiment  to  which  he  belonged,  and  the  first  field 
officer  to  whom  he  reported.  I  then  marked  in  him  the  same  soldierly  and  gen- 
tlemanly qualities  which  have  since  distinguished  his  eventful  career:  frank, 
generous,  brave ;  ready  to  do,  or  to  suffer,  whatever  the  obligations  of  civil  or 
military  duty  imposed  ;  and  always  prompt  to  answer  the  call  of  honor,  patriot- 
ism, and  friendship.  Sincerely  do  I  rejoice  in  his  victory.  It  is  a  victory  without 
alloy,  and  without  parallel,  except  at  New  Orleans.  It  is  a  victory  which  the  civ- 
ilization of  the  age,  and  the  honor  of  the  human  race,  required  him  to  gain :  for 
the  nineteenth  century  is  not  an  age  in  which  a  repetition  of  the  Goliad  matins 
could  be  endured.  Nobly  has  he  answered  the  requisition ;  fresh  and  luxuriant 
are  the  laurels  which  adorn  his  brow. 

"  It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  my  present  purpose  to  speak  of  military  events, 
and  to  celebrate  the  exploits  of  that  vanguard  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  who  are  now 
on  the  confines  of  the  ancient  empire  of  Montezuma ;  but  that  combat  of  San 
Jacinto  !  it  must  forever  remain  in  the  catalogue  of  military  miracles.  Seven 
hundred  and  fifty  citizens,  miscellaneously  armed  with  rifles,  muskets,  belt  pistols, 
and  knives,  under  a  leader  who  had  never  seen  service,  except  as  a  subaltern, 
march  to  attack  near  double  their  numbers — march  in  open  day  across  a  clear 
prairie,  to  attack  upwards  of  twelve  hundred  veterans,  the  elite  of  an  invading 
army  of  seven  thousand,  posted  in  a  wood,  their  flanks  secured,  front  intrenched  ; 
and  commanded  by  a  general  trained  in  civil  wars ;  victorious  in  numberless 
battles ;  and  chief  of  an  empire  of  which  no  man  becomes  chief  except  as  con- 
queror. In  twenty  minutes  the  position  is  forced.  The  combat  becomes  a 
carnage.  The  flowery  prairie  is  stained  with  blood  ;  the  hyacinth  is  no  longer 
blue,  but  scarlet.  Six  hundred  Mexicans  are  dead  ;  six  hundred  more  are  pris- 
oners, half  wounded  ;  the  President-General  himself  is  a  prisoner ;  the  camp  and 
baggage  all  taken  ;  and  the  loss  of  the  victors,  six  killed  and  twenty  wounded. 
Such  are  the  results,  and  which  no  European  can  believe,  but  those  who  saw 
Jackson  at  New  Orleans.  Houston  is  the  pupil  of  Jackson  ;  and  he  is  the  first 
self-made  general,  since  the  time  of  Mark  Antony,  and  the  King  Antigonus, 
who  has  taken  the  general  of  the  army  and  the  head  of  the  government  captive 
in  battle.  Different  from  Antony,  he  has  spared  the  life  of  his  captive  though 
forfeited  by  every  law,  human  and  divine." 

*  Hyacinth ;  Lat.  hyacinthus ;  Span,  huakinthus ;  water  flower. 


Capture  of  Santa  Anna.  91 

/.  W.  Robisoris  Account  of  Santa  Anna's  Capture. 

"ROUND  TOP,  August  5,  1881. 

"  I  have  received  a  letter,  requesting  me  to  give  you  the  particulars  of  the 
capture  of  Santa  Anna  in  1836.  It  was  as  follows  :  On  the  morning  of  the  22d, 
the  day  after  the  battle,  a  party  was  detailed  and  sent  out  under  command  of 
Gen.  Burleson.  This  party  proceeded  in  the  direction  of  the  bridge  on  Vince's 
Bayou.  Our  object  was  to  pick  up  any  Mexicans  we  could  find  who  had  fled 
from  the  battle  the  evening  before,  and  particularly  to  search  for  Santa  Anna 
and  Cos.  When  we  reached  the  bayou  we  divided  into  squads  of  five  or  six  per- 
sons in  each,  and  went  in  different  directions.  The  party  I  was  with  consisted 
of  six,  all  privates,  so  far^as  I  know.  Their  names  were  as  follows  :  Miles,  Syl- 
vester, Thompson,  Vermillion  ;  another,  whose  name  I  do  not  recollect,  and  my 
self.  From  the  bridge  we  started  down  the  bayou.  After  travelling  about  two 
miles,  we  saw  a  man  standing  on  the  bank  of  a  ravine,  some  five  or  six  hundred 
yards  from  us.  He,  no  doubt,  saw  us  first,  for  when  we  started  towards  him  he 
sat  down  on  a  high  place  and  waited  till  we  came  up.  It  proved  to  be  Santa 
Anna.  I  was  the  only  one  of  the  party  that  spoke  the  Mexican  language.  I 
asked  him  if  he  knew  where  Santa  Anna  and  Cos  were.  He  said,  he  thought 
they  had  gone  to  the  Brazos.  I  asked  him  if  he  knew  of  any  other  Mexicans 
that  had  made  their  escape  from  the  battle?  He  said  he  thought  there  were 
some  up  the  stream  in  a  thicket.  I  told  him  we  would  take  him  to  the  Amer- 
ican camp.  He  was  very  willing  to  go,  but  complained  of  being  very  tired.  I 
asked  if  he  was  an  officer !  '  No,'  he  said  that  he  belonged  to  the  cavalry, 
and  was  not  accustomed  to  being  on  foot ;  that  he  was  run  very  close  by  our 
cavalry  the  day  before  and  was  compelled  to  leave  his  horse.  When  we  started 
with  him  one  of  our  party  dismounted,  and  went  up  the  ravine  to  look  for  the 
Mexicans  spoken  of  by  Santa  Anna,  and  Santa  Anna  rode  his  horse  some  two 
miles  up  the  road.  The  man  that  went  up  the  road,  finding  no  Mexicans,  then 
came  and  told  Santa  Anna  to  dismount.  He  refused  to  do  it,  and  the  man  then 
levelled  his  gun  at  him,  when  he  dismounted,  and  asked  me  how  far  it  was  to 
camp.  I  told  him  eight  or  nine  miles.  He  said  he  could  not  walk  so  far.  Tne 
young  man  then  wanted  to  kill  him,  and  I  told  him  so.  He  then  said  he  would 
try  and  walk,  but  would  have  to  go  slow  ;  and  so  we  started  for  camp,  and  the 
man  got  behind  him,  and  would  prick  him  in  the  back  with  his  spear  and  make 
him  trot  for  some  two  or  three  miles.  Santa  Anna  then  stopped,  and,  appealing 
to  me,  said  if  he  wanted  to  kill  him  to  do  so,  but  he  could  not  walk  any  further. 
I  then  took  him  up  behind  me  and  carried  him  to  camp,  some  five  or  six  miles 
further.  After  he  got  up  behind  we  entered  into  a  general  conversation.  He 
asked  me  if  Gen.  Houston  commanded  in  person  at  the  battle  ;  how  many  we 
killed,  and  how  many  prisoners  we  had  taken,  and  when  they  would  be  shot  ? 
I  told  him  I  did  not  think  they  would  be  shot  ;  that  I  had  never  known  Ameri- 
cans to  kill  prisoners  of  war.  He  said  the  Americans  were  a  brave  and  gener- 
ous people,  and  asked  me  what  I  thought  would  be  done  with  the  prisoners.  I 
told  him  that  I  did  not  know,  but  the  Americans  would  like  the  younger  ones 
for  servants.  He  said,  that  would  be  very  kind.  He  asked  me  how  many  were 
in  our  army  at  the  battle.  I  said,  some  six  or  seven  hundred.  He  thought  I 
was  mistaken ;  that  there  must  be  more.  I  said,  No ;  and  that  two  hundred 


92  Life  of.  Sam  Houston. 

Americans  could  whip  the  whole  Mexican  army.  'Yes,'  said  he;  'the 
Americans  are  great  soldiers.'  I  asked  him,  if  he  was  not  sorry  he  had  come 
to  fight  the  Americans.  Yes,  he  said,  but  he  belonged  to  the  army,  and 
was  compelled  to  obey  his  officers.  I  asked  him,  if  he  was  back  in  Mexico  if 
he  would  come  to  Texas  any  more  ?  He  said,  No ;  he  would  desert  first. 
This  brought  us  to  camp,  when  the  Mexican  immediately  announced  his  name. 
He  asked  to  be  taken  to  Gen.  Houston,  and  was  taken  to  him.  If  you  think 
these  facts  of  sufficient  interest,  you  can  put  them  in  such  shape  as  you  think 
best.  "  I  am  yours, 

"  Very  respectfully, 

"  JOEL  W.  ROBISON. 

The  letter  of  Capt.  J.  A.  Sylvester,  stating  that  Santa  Anna  rode 
behind  him  into  the  presence  of  Gen.  Houston,  has  been  read,  but 
we  prefer  to  publish  Col.  Robison's  statement,  which  he  repeated 
to  the  writer  and  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.  Luther,  in  a  conversation  under 
his  own  roof,  in  July,  1879. 

We  subjoin  from  the  Galveston  News  the  following  ; 

"  The  long-talked-of  event,  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  contributed  by  the 
citizens  of  Galveston  to  the  brave  men  who  fell  at  San  Jacinto,  took  place  at  the 
Pavilion,  August  25,  1881,  in  the  presence  of  an  audience  that  filled  the  vast 
auditorium.  The  rich  and  the  poor,  those  of  high  and  of  low  estate,  were  pres- 
ent, filled  with  one  desire,  to  add  by  their  presence  to  the  tribute  so  tardily  be- 
stowed upon  the  memory  of  sterling  valor  and  heroic  deeds. 

"  The  programme  which  had  been  arranged  for  the  occasion  was  of  peculiar 
appropriateness,  and  in  its  execution  was  complied  with,  with  a  faithfulness  and 
promptness  that  admitted  not  of  complaint. 

"  A  description  of  the  monument,  published  in  The  News  of  the  7th  of  Au- 
gust, is  reproduced  in  this  connection. 

"  It  is  a  plain,  square  spire,  with  pediment  cap,  moulded  base,  and  chamfered 
sub-base.  It  is  of  blue  American  marble,  fifteen  and  one-half  feet  high,  and 
when  placed  in  its  position  with  the  foundation,  will  be  two  feet  higher.  Upon 
the  front  is  a  die  of  white  marble  in  which  is  set  a  star  and  nimbus,  surrounded 
by  a  wreath  of  oak  and  laurel  leaves.  Near  the  top  is  a  polished  band  contain- 
ing eight  cut  stars.  These  were  intended  to  represent  the  eight  persons  who 
were  killed  in  the  battle,  but  as  since  the  work  was  completed  it  has  been  dis- 
covered that  there  were  nine  slain,  another  star  will  have  to  be  added.  The 
lettering  on  the  base  will  be  full,  covering  the  three  sides  that  now  are  unfilled. 
On  the  reverse  side  will  be  given  the  names  of  the  fallen.  To  the  right  will  be 
the  words  of  Houston  two  days  before  the  battle : 

" '  This  morning  we  are  in  preparation  to  meet  Santa  Anna.  It  is  the  only 
chance  of  saving  Texas.  From  time  to  time  I  have  looked  for  reinforcements  in 
vain.  We  will  only  have  about  700  men  to  march  with  besides  the  camp  guard. 
We  go  to  conquer.  It  is  wisdom  growing  out  of  necessity  to  meet  the  enemy 
now.  Every  consideration  enforces  it.  No  previous  occasion  would  justify  it. 
The  troops  are  in  fine  spirits,  and  now  is  the  time  for  action.  We  shall  use  our 
best  efforts  to  fight  the  enemy  to  such  advantage  as  will  insure  victory,  though 
the  odds  are  greatly  against  us.  I  leave  the  results  in  the  hands  of  a  wise  God, 


Monument  to  Heroes  of  San  Jacinto.  93 

and  rely  upon  His  providence.  My  country  will  do  justice  to  those  who  serve 
her.  The  rights  for  which  we*  fight  will  be  secured  and  Texas  free. 

'"SAM  HOUSTON.' 

"  On  the  opposite  or  left  side  will  appear  the  words  of  Rusk  one  day  after  the 
battle : 

" '  AT  CAMP  ON  THE  BATTLE-FIELD.— This  glorious  achievement  was  at- 
tributed not  to  superior  force,  but  to  the  valor  of  our  soldiers,  and  the  sanctity 

of  our  cause.     Our  army  consisted  of  750  effective  men The  sun  was 

sinking  in  the  horizon  as  the  battle  commenced,  but  at  the  close  of  the  con- 
flict the  sun  of  liberty  and  independence  rose  in  Texas,  never,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
to  be  obscured  by  the  clouds  of  despotism.  We  have  read  of  deeds  of  chivalry 
and  perused  with  ardor  the  annals  of  war;  we  have  contemplated  with  highest 
emotions  of  sublimity  the  loud  warring  thunder,  the  desolating  tornado,  and  the 
withering  simoon  of  the  desert,  but  no  one  of  these,  nor  all,  inspired  us  with  emo- 
tions like  those  felt  on  this  occasion.  There  was  a  general  cry  which  pervaded 
the  ranks,  "  Remember  the  Alamo  !  Remember  La  Bahia  !  "  These  words  elec- 
trified us.  Onward  was  the  cry.  The  unerring  aim  and  the  irresistible  energy 
of  the  Texan  army  could  not  be  withstood.  It  was  free  men  fighting  against  the 
minions  of  tyranny,  and  the  result  proves  the  inequality  of  such  a  contest.' 

"  At  the  front  of  the  die  will  be  the  name  of  B.  R.  Brigham  ;  on  the  base  the 
name,  '  San  Jacinto.'  Upon  one  side  of  the  pediment  will  be  the  words,  '  Re- 
member Goliad.'  On  the  other,  '  Come  to  the  Bower,'  the  air  to  which  the 
Texans  marched  to  the  fight.  On  the  reverse  of  the  base  will  be  Napoleon's 
words,  '  Dead  on  the  field  of  Honor.' 

"  It  was  set  in  the  center  of  the  stage  last  night,  supported  upon  either  side  by 
a  howitzer  from  the  Galveston  Artillery.  Immediately  in  its  rear  a  detachment 
of  the  Washington  Guards  were  formed  in  a  quarter  circle,  at  '  rest  on  arms.' 
Four  artillerymen  manned  each  gun,  standing  also  '  at  rest.' 

"  At  8.30  o'clock  Lindenberg's  orchestra  began  playing  an  overture  from  Mey- 
erbeer's Huguenots.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  overture,  the  curtains  were  drawn, 
and  the  striking  tableau  presented.  Upon  the  right  of  the  monument  stood  Mr. 
Oscar  Farish,  of  this  city,  and  on  the  left  Capt.  R.  J.  Calder,  of  Richmond, 
Texas,  both  veterans  of  San  Jacinto,  and  the  latter  the  only  surviving  captain  of 
the  gallant  little  army,  who  fought  the  invaders  forty-five  years  ago.  To  him 
was  delegated  the  task  of  unveiling  the  shaft,  arid  as  he  slowly  lowered  the  flag 
the  act  was  greeted  by  an  outburst  of  applause.  The  band  sounded  the  notes 
of  'Will  You  Come  to  the  Bower,'  the  music  to  which  the  Texans  marched  into 
the  fight,  and  simultaneously  a  salute  was  fired  by  a  detachment  of  the  artillery 
company  stationed  upon  the  beach.  The  whole  effect  of  this  tableau  was  strik- 
ingly pleasant,  and  served  well  to  introduce  the  remainder  of  the  exercises.  The 
presence  upon  the  stage  of  Calder,  Farish,  Sullivan,  and  Wood,  gray-haired  veter- 
ans, the  link  between  the  history  of  infant  Texas  and  the  era  of  a  State's  proud 
strength,  bore  in  itself  an  eloquent  significance.  Occupying  the  post  of  honor, 
in  the  auditorium,  sat  Mrs.  Martha  H.  Mitchell  and  Mrs.  Calder,  a  wife  and  a 
sister  of  brave  men  who  ventured  all  for  the  land  they  loved.  With  them  was 
Mrs.  Buchanan,  a  granddaughter  of  Lemuel  Stockton  Blakey,  who  was  killed 
at  San  Jacinto. 

"  After  the  unveiling,  the  Guards  stacked  arms  and  withdrew,  and  Mr.  E.  S. 


94  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Wood,  advancing  to  the  stand,  presented  Mr%  Temple  Houston,  of  Brazoria, 
youngest  son  of  General  Sam  Houston,  who  had  been  invited  to  deliver  the 
address. 

"  While  the  defective  acoustic  properties  of  the  hall  prevented  those  in  the 
rear  from  catching  all  that  was  said,  those  nearer  to  the  speaker  were  permitted 
the  enjoyment  of  a  fervent  yet  finished  tribute,  which  fully  attested  that  the  elo- 
quence of  the  sire  had  not  been  withheld  from  the  son.  Mr.  Houston  spoke  as 
follows : 

MR.  HOUSTON'S  ADDRESS. 

" '  I  would  wish  my  auditors  to  understand  that  I  attribute  the  honor  ot  this 
invitation,  not  to  my  personal  importance,  but  to  the  fact  that  I  happen  to  be  the 
child  of  one  of  the  soldiers  at  San  Jacinto.  The  pleasure  that  I  derive  from  this 
occasion  is  lessened  by  the  absence  of  Mollie  E.  Moore  Davis.  Could  I  have 
stood  beside  her  to-night,  I  would  have  felt  more  than  honored,  for  I  know  that 
I  speak  the  voice  of  my  State  when  I  say  that  hers  is  as  sweet  a  tongue  as 
ever  rung  the  silver  chimes  of  earthly  thought. 

" '  It  is  a  beautiful  custom  of  free  people  to  rear  above  the  last  resting-places  ol 
their  heroic  dead,  some  token  commemorative  of  the  cause  in  which  they  fell, 
and  expressive  of  the  grateful  reverence  felt  toward  them  by  posterity.  This 
gratitude  dwells  in  the  breasts  of  freemen  only — no  real  hero's  monument  was 
ever  built  by  a  race  of  slaves.  The  decay  of  monuments,  the  forgetfulness  ot 
departed  greatness,  are  sure  precursors  of  a  nation's  fall.  It  is  with  a  proud  con- 
sciousness that  I  view  the  sea-girt  city,  the  island  queen,  first  in  honoring  the 
memory  of  our  dead  heroes,  as  she  is  first  in  population  and  commercial  great- 
ness, wearing  with  the  jewels  of  her  wealth  a  patriotism  that  seems  all  the 
brighter  for  adorning  the  metropolis  of  the  Southwest.  While  this  patriotic 
reverence  dwells  in  the  hearts  of  our  people,  the  flames  on  the  altars  of  Texan 
liberty  will  never  cease  to  burn.  On  an  occasion  like  this  one  realizes  the  feeble- 
ness of  language ;  it  speaks  so  little  of  what  is  felt.  The  story  of  the  strife  in 
which  our  heroes  fell  need  not  be  told  ;  history  has  recorded  it.  Their  valor 
needs  no  eulogy,  even  could  my  lowly  lips  utter  such.  For  Fame's  clarion  has 
sounded  their  praises,  and  earth  is  the  only  limit  of  their  renown.  But  as  in  the 
sheer  magnitude  of  its  results,  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  has  but  few,  if  any,  par- 
allels, allusion  to  those  results  may  not  seem  improper.  Never  before  has  the  sur- 
face of  a  land  changed  with  such  marvellous  rapidity  as  has  Texas  in  the  last 
four  or  five  decades.  Only  a  few  years  back  and  the  plumed  and  crested  Algon- 
quin roamed  over  magnificent  Texas,  sole  lord  of  its  vast  wastes,  save  where  a 
few  isolated  missions  sought  vainly  to  weave  religion's  silken  fetters  over  the 
savage  mind.  Yonder  billows,  blue  and  restless,  dashed  then  as  grandly  against 
your  level  shores  as  now,  but  on  their  tossing  bosoms  floated  not  the  freighted 
wealth  of  earth's  nations,  as  does  now.  These  same  breezes,  damp  from  dalli- 
ance with  the  waves,  and  laden  with  perfume  stolen  from  the  flowers,  swept 
over  our  broad  plains,  but  fanned  not  the  cheek  of  civilized  man.  Our  silver 
streams,  rolling  on  to  mingle  their  crystal  waters  with  the  stormy  surges  of  the 
great  deep,  murmured  as  sweetly  and  sparkled  as  brightly  as  now,  but  they 
moistened  not  the  lips  of  the  Anglo-Saxon,  and  turned  not  a  single  mill-wheel ; 
nor  cotton  nor  wheat  field  smiled  in  all  their  valleys.  The  brown  buffalo  cropt 
undisturbed  the  green  grass  from  our  prairies,  and  the  spotted  deer  rested  un- 


Temple  Houston's  Eulogy  on  Texan  Heroes.        95 

frightened  beneath  the  cool  shade  of  our  forest  oaks.  Texas,  lovely  Texas,  was 
as  fair,  as  fresh,  and  as  beautiful  as  was  Eden  when  God,  delighted,  gazed  on 
the  new-born  world.  It  was  thus  when  came  the  men  whose  memory  we  to-day 
honor.  These  pioneers  were  the  heralds  of  a  new  civilization — one  that  was 
born  in  the  mediaeval  convulsions  of  Eng^nd,  nurtured  under  the  shadow  of 
Virginia's  mountains,  and  that  flashed  forth  freed  and  panoplied  from  the  strug- 
gles of  the  American  revolution — a  civilization  whose  fundamental  principle  was 
civil  and  religious  liberty.  Coming  to  Texas,  it  rested  for  a  moment  under  the 
frown  of  the  Spanish  civilization,  which  was  developed  on  the  glittering  thrones 
of  Europe,  and  in  the  torture  chambers  of  the  Inquisition.  One  idolized,  the 
other  abhorred  civil  and  religious  liberty.  When  the  Anglo-Saxon  settlements 
had  attained  a  magnitude  sufficient  to  invite  governmental  interference,  the 
Mexicans  adopted  toward  them  an  oppressive  policy,  typical  of  their  institutions. 
This  ignited  the  spark.  You  know  the  result;  to-day  is  celebrative  of  those  who 
suffered  to  bring  them  about.  The  conflict  of  the  opposite  types  of  civilization 
for  the  mastery  of  this  continent  was  decided  on  the  forest-fringed  banks  of  a 
Texas  stream.  Never  before  in  the  history  of  the  world  were  such  gigantic  re- 
sults intrusted  to  so  few  combatants ;  but  here  let  me  say,  sterner  warriors  or 
truer  patriots  than  those  who  guarded  the  liberty  of  Texas,  on  that  immortal 
day,  never  trod  a  battle-field.  Had  that  little  band  quailed  before  the  might  ot 
invading  despotism,  our  Pacific  shores  might  yet  be  unknown  ;  the  golden  wealth 
of  California  would  yet  sleep  in  her  mountain  gorges ;  the  silver  treasures  of 
Nevada  would  now  slumber,  hidden  in  their  caverned  homes ;  the  two  oceans 
would  not  have  shaken  hands  across  the  completed  lines  of  railways  ;  the  soli- 
tude of  the  Rocky  Mountains  would  yet  be  a  stranger  to  the  shriek  of  the  loco- 
motive, and  their  awful  silence  broken  by  no  sound  save  the  voice  of  nature, 
when  spoken  in  the  deep  roar  of  her  swollen  cataracts,  in  the  rolling  peals  of  her 
warring  storms,  and  in  the  tremendous  crash  of  her  falling  ice-fields,  as  they 
leap  from  their  frozen  homes,  and  desolate  the  green  valleys  nestling  far  beneath. 
On  earth  there  walk  no  men  like  the  veterans  who  freed  Texas.  Only  a  few  of 
them  linger  among  us  now,  and  they  will  be  here  but  a  little  while  longer.  Each 
year  that  passes  thins  their  ranks.  A  few  more  days  and  the  last  will  be  gone. 
One  by  one  the  pale  messenger  is  calling  them  across  that  river  whose  viewless 
farther  shore  is  wrapt  in  the  mists  of  doubt,  the  clouds  of  death.  They  hear 
another  reveille  whose  floating  notes  we  can  not  catch.  Are  they  gathering  for 
a  grander  battle  ?  While  they  are  among  us  we  feel  toward  them  with  a  devo- 
tion whose  depth  speech  can  never  tell.  No  minions  cringe  around  them,  no 
servile  knee  is  bent  to  Jhem,  but  the  homage  of  a  free  nation  is  the  more  than 
royal  offering  laid  before  them.  No  ducal  star  glitters  on  their  breasts,  no  shin- 
ing coronet  encircles  their  brows,  but  around  their  gray  locks  beams  a  glory,  by 
the  side  of  which  kingly  splendors  are  dim.  Cling  tenderly  to  these  old  men, 
for  when  they  are  gone  nothing  like  them  is  left.  Strike  down  your  men  of  emi- 
nence, to-day,  those  who  fill  your  highest  seats,  and  with  a  wave  of  your  hand 
you  can  summon  around  you  hundreds  like  them — for  the  gifted  sons  of  Texas 
are  many — but  when  one  of  these  old  warriors  drops  from  the  line,  earth  has  none 
to  fill  his  place.  Bitterly  do  we  know  that  they  leave  us  forever,  for  of  all  the 
manly  forms  laid  low  beneath  the  rod  of  Death,  none  have  ever  risen ;  of  all  the 
bright  eyes  he  has  closed,  none  have  ever  looked  their  loveliness  on  earth  again ; 
of  all  the  eloquent  lips  silenced  by  his  hand,  none  have  ever  spoken  again ;  of 


96  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

all  the  noble  hearts  whose  warm  beatings  have  been  stilled  by  his  chilling  touch, 
none  ever  throbbed  on  earth  again. 

"  '  The  fathers  of  Texas  have  left  her  in  the  hands  of  another  generation.  Is 
it  worthy  of  the  trust  ?  I  believe  it  is.  As  yet  the  burden  weighs  but  lightly. 
But  with  the  swift  footsteps  of  the  future  there  is  coming  an  hour  when  banded 
gold,  soulless  wealth,  will  oppress  the  lowlier  classes — an  event  that  marks  an 
era  in  every  republic,  when  leagued  capital,  not  claiming  worth  or  services  as  its 
right  to  sway,  but  wielding  as  its  scepter  only  so  much  yellow  dust,  seeks  to 
force  men  to  bow  to  its  ignoble  supremacy.  It  is  where  power  passes  from  the 
cottage  to  the  palace.  History  tells  not  where  a  republic  resisted  this  fatal  in- 
fluence. In  our  Republic's  life  that  period  is  not  a  great  way  off.  And  in  that 
hour  Texas  will  need  men — I  am  speaking  now  to  the  young  men — to  the 
bright-eyed  boys  of  Texas.  In  that  hour  your  State  will  need  men,  not,  oh!  not 
the  paid  politicians  of  the  present,  who  seek  office  for  its  gold,  and  not  its  glory  ; 
who  trade  in  honor  and  traffic  in  eminence  !  But  she  will  need  statesmen  in  her 
councils  and  warriors  on  her  battle-fields.  She  will  want  the  mighty  in  intellect, 
the  grand  in  soul ;  more  than  that— the  pure  in  heart.  Do  you  want  an  ex- 
ample ?  Look  at  the  Texas  veterans !  The  mould  in  which  the  great  are  cast 
is  yet  unbroken.  Let  your  patriotism  be  like  that  of  the  young  Irishman  serving 
in  England's  armies,  who  was  mortally  shot  in  the  breast  on  a  battle-field  in 
Spain.  He  knew  that  he  would  die.  While  his  life-blood  ebbed  fast  away,  he 
thought  of  the  green  fields  of  his  country,  of  his  cottage  home,  of  the  little  fire- 
side group  there  that  he  would  see  never  more,  and  while  the  hot  tears  ran 
down  his  boyish  cheeks,  he  seized  a  goblet,  and,  holding  it  under  his  red  and 
gushing  wound  until  it  filled  with  his  bright  blood,  he  lifted  it  on  high,  watched 
it  glitter  a  moment  in  the  sunlight,  and  casting  it  on  the  earth,  he  exclaimed  : 
"  O,  Erin  !  my  country  !  would  to  God  that  was  shed  for  you  ! "  I  believe  in  my 
heart  that  the  young  men  of  Texas  are  worthy  of  the  glorious  burden  borne  by 
them.  Listen  not  to  the  serpent  hiss  of  him  who  would  counsel  State  or  national 
division.  He  that  would  wish  to  dim  and  divide  the  splendor  of  the  Lone  Star's 
beams  is  as  little  a  patriot  as  one  who  would  seek  to  shatter  the  constellation  of 
which  Texas  is  the  brightest  member.  Revere  the  memory  of  your  forefathers, 
follow  their  examples,  obey  their  teachings,  and  then  the  deeds  commemorated 
by  that  monument  have  not  been  performed  in  vain,  and  the  hallowed  soil  on 
which  it  rests  will  be  free  forever/ 

"  A  march  was  next  rendered  by  the  band,  and  then  Mr.  C.  O.  Bingham  es- 
corted Miss  Lula  Jockusch  to  the  platform.  The  histrionic  talent  of  this  gifted 
young  lady  is  well  recognized  in  Galveston,  where  she  has  more  than  once  de- 
lighted audiences  by  her  rare  elocution,  but  it  is  not  saying  one  word  too  much 
to  pronounce  her  recitation  of  Miss  Mollie  E.  Moore  Davis's  poem,  published  be- 
low, a  finished  work — the  true  interpretation  of  a  poetic  heart  fired  by  the  genius 
of  an  inspiring  occasion.  The  poem  speaks  for  itself.  Mrs.  Davis — Mollie  E. 
Moore — is  known  and  loved  through  all  Texas,  and  her  contribution  to  the  event 
celebrated  last  evening  will  beam  among  the  brightest  of  the  gems  which  she 
has  given  to  the  poetic  literature  of  the  South.  To  both  writer  and  reader  the 
warmest  thanks  of  Galveston  will  go,  for  the  gracious  addition  they  made  to  the 
evening's  programme.  The  poem  is  reproduced : 


Commemorative  Ode  of  Miss  M.  E.  M.  Davis.       97 

SAN  JACINTO. 


«« « Come  to  the  Bower,'*  they  sang, 

Immortal  spirits,  crowned  with  flame, 
On  yonder  heights  of  radiant  bloom. 

From  freedom's  deathless  fields  they  cam*, 
From  mountain  pass  and  prison  gloom  ; 

Dyed  with  the  blood  of  Marathon, 
Drenched  with  Salamis'  bitter  sea, 

From  where  the  sun  of  Leuctra  shone, 
And  from  thy  rocks,  Thermopylae. 

"  •  Come  to  the  Bower,'  they  sang, 

The  old  Paladins  cased  in  mail, 
Whose  standards  sparkled  to  the  morn, 

And  peers  and  princes  from  the  vale 
Where  Roland  blew  his  mighty  horn  ; 

And  Scottish  chiefs  from  Bannockburn, 
And  English  knights  from  Ascalon, 

And  sturdy  hearts  whose  memories  turn 
Toward  Bunker  Hill  and  Lexington. 

"  '  Come  to  the  Bower,'  they  sang, 

'  Come  join  our  deathless  throng  and  glow 
Like  us,  while  earth  and  heaven  shall  stand. 

But  yesterday  the  Alamo, 
Unbroken,  sent  its  glorious  band, 

And  Goliad,  from  a  reeking  field, 
Passed  up  her  heroes  !    Crowned  with  flowers, 

Behold  us !    Come  with  sword  and  shield, 
And  bask  in  fame's  immortal  bowers.' 

II. 

"  By  San  Jacinto's  placid  stream 

The  warriors  heard  and,  shining  far, 
They  saw  the  splendid  morning  gleam 

Of  one  imperial,  changeless  star ; 
They  followed  where  its  gleaming  led : 

To  Hope,  to  Peace,  to  Victory, 
For,  from  beneath  her  martyr  dead, 

Behold,  a  nation  rose  up  free ! 

"  Lo  !  now  around  this  hallowed  stone 

They  press,  the  living  and  the  dead, 
And  banners  on  the  air  are  blown, 

And  quick  and  stirring  orders  sped  ; 
Houston  and  Sherman,  brave  Lamar, 

Millard  and  Hockley  close  around, 
And,  lo !  with  steady,  swinging  step, 

A  phantom  sentry  makes  his  round. 


*  "  Come  to  the  Bower "  is  the  air  to  the  strains  of  which  the  Texan  army 
marched  into  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  and  the  cries  which  animated  them  were: 
"  Remember  Goliad  ! "  "  Remember  the  Alamo  !  " 
7 


98  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 


1  « Goliad  !  Alamo  ! '  hark,  the  cry 

Amid  the  rolling  of  the  drums  ! 
Hark,  the  Twin  Sisters'  hoarse  reply 

Upon  the  battle-breeze  that  comes  1 
Stand  back !  for  rank  and  file  press  by 

A-wearied,  in  the  sunset's  glow. 
And  in  their  midst  they  bear  on  high 

The  broken  sword  of  Mexico ! 

'  Texas,  thou  queen  of  States,  whose  crown, 
Wrought  by  the  hands  of  heroes,  shines 
Like  some  prophetic  sun  adown 

The  glowing  future's  magic  lines, 
Arise,  and,  with  imperial  tread, 

Draw  near  this  consecrated  place, 
And  bless  thine  own,  thy  mighty  dead, 
The  saviors  of  thy  glorious  race  I 

11  MOLLIE  E.  MOORE  DAVIS.' 


CHAPTER   X. 

CAPTURE  OF  SANTA  ANNA— INTRODUCTION  OF  SANTA  ANNA  TO  HOUSTON— CONVERSA- 
TION—SCENE  WITH  YOUNG  ZAVALA— ALMONTE— ARRIVAL  OF  GOVERNMENT  ad  interim 
—HOUSTON  LEAVES  THE  ARMY— GOES  TO  NEW  ORLEANS  FOR  MEDICAL  AID— THE 
CABINET  TREATY  WITH  SANTA  ANNA— TROUBLES— EXTRACT  FROM  ASHBEL  'SMITH'11 
SPEECH  AT  AUSTIN,  1829. 

THE  Commander-in-Chief  awoke  the  next  morning  after  the 
battle  of  San  Jacinto  and  asked,  "  Are  we  really  victors,  or 
is  it  only  my  dream  ?"  He 'could  hardly  believe  that  the  battle 
for  Independence  had  been  fought  and  won.  Only  seven  Texans 
had  lost  their  lives,  and  less  than  thirty  had  been  wounded.  Seven 
hundred  soldiers  had  vanquished  nearly  three  times  their  number. 
Six  hundred  and  thirty  had  perished  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  of 
their  number  were  one  general  officer,  four  colonels,  two  lieutenant- 
colonels,  seven  captains,  and  twelve  lieutenants.  Large  numbers 
met  their  death  in  the  morass  and  bayous.  Two  hundred  and 
eighty  were  wounded  and  eight  hundred  taken  prisoners. 

Gen.  Houston  sent  a  detachment  of  men  at  ten  o'clock  in  the 
morning  to  bury  the  slain.  The  troops  returned  and  reported  that 
decomposition  had  taken  place  so  rapidly  that  it  was  impossible  to 
execute  the  order.  The  greatest  surprise  was  excited.  The  Mex- 
ican prisoners  accounted  for  the  rapid  decomposition,  by  resolving 
it,  like  the  defeat  of  the  previous  day,  into  a  malignant  blast  of 
destiny. 

The  Texans,  meantime,  during  the  day  were  scouring  the  prairie, 
bringing  in  prisoners.  Such  as  had  not  been  taken  the  day  previous 
were  crawling  on  their  hands  and  knees  through  the  grass,  which 
was  everywhere  four  or  five  feet  high,  endeavoring  in  this  way  to 
effect  their  escape. 

The  victors  were  diligently  searching  for  Santa  Anna,  the  Dicta- 
tor, who  had  not  been  taken.  "  You  will  find  the  Hero  of  Tampico," 
said  Gen.  Houston,  "  if  you  find  him  at  all,  making  his  retreat  on 
all  fours,  and  he  will  be  dressed  as  bad  at  least  as  a  common 
soldier.  Examine  every  man  you  find,  closely." 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Lieutenant  J.  A.  Sylvester 
a  volunteer  from  Cincinnati,  Joel  W.  Robison,  now  of  Fayette 
Co.,  John  Thompson,'  and  others  were  riding  over  the  prairie. 
They  espied  a  man  making  his  way  toward  Vince's  bridge.  They 

(99) 


100  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

pursued  him,  whereupon  he  fell  down  in  the  grass.  Sylvester  dashed 
on  in  the  direction  where  he  fell  and  his  horse  came  very  near 
trampling  upon  him.  Disguised  in  a  miserable  rustic  dress,  wear- 
ing a  skin  cap,  a  round  jacket,  pantaloons  of  blue  domestic  cotton, 
and  a  pair  of  coarse  soldier's  shoes,  he  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  without 
the  slightest  apparent  surprise  looked  his  captor  full  in  the  face. 
His  countenance  and  manners  showed  that  he  belonged  to  a  differ- 
ent class  from  that  indicated  by  his  coarse  disguise.  Beneath  his 
common  garb  his  victors  espied  a  shirt  of  the  finest  linen-cambric. 

"You  are  an  officer,  I  perceive,  sir  ?  "  said  his  captor,  raising  his 
cap  politely.  "  No,  soldier,"  was  his  reply.  He  then  drew  out  a 
letter  in  Spanish,  addressed  to  Almonte.  Seeing  that  there  was  no 
hope  of  escape,  he  inquired  for  Gen.  Houston.  As  the  party  with  the 
captured  Santa  Anna  rode  into  the  Texan  camp  past  the  Mexican 
prisoners,  they  cried  out  with  the  greatest  surprise  as  they  lifted 
their  caps,  and  exclaimed,  "  El  Presidente." 

The  news  spread  rapidly  through  the  camp  that  the  Dictator, 
Gen.  Santa  Anna,  was  a  prisoner,  and  had  been  taken  to  Gen.  Hous- 
ton. 

Having  slept  very  little  during  the  night,  the  General  was  lying 
on  the  ground,  having  fallen  into  a  doze.  Santa  Anna,  coming 
up  behind  him,  took  his  hand.  Rousing  himself  and  turning  over, 
Houston  gazed  up  into  the  face  of  the  Mexican.  Santa  Anna, 
faying  his  right  hand  on  his  heart,  and  extending  his  left  arm,  said, 
"  I  am  General  Antonio  Lopez  de  Santa  Anna,  President  of  the 
Mexican  Republic,  and  I  claim  to  be  your  prisoner  of  war."  Hous- 
ton, pointing  to  a  box,  the  only  seat  in  the  camp,  said,  "  Ah  !  General 
Santa  Anna,  take  a  seat ;  I  am  glad  to  see  you."  *  Then  sending  for 
Almonte,  who  spoke  English  perfectly,  he  requested  him  to  act  as 
interpreter.  Santa  Anna  showed  by  his  keen  glances  around  the 
camp,  with  his  timid  expression,  the  pressure  of  the  sides  of  his 
breasts  with  his  two  hands,  and  his  half-suppressed  groans,  that  he 
was  suffering  severe  pain.  Gen.  T.  J.  Rusk,  who  was  present,  relates 
a  deeply  interesting  incident  which  occurred  about  this  time  : 

"  At  the  time  Santa  Anna  was  brought  into  our  camp,  I  was  walking  with 
young  Zavala,  son  of  the  noble  and  venerable  Zavala,  who  distinguished  him- 
self as  the  friend  of  Texan  Independence.  We  approached  him  together.  Santa 
Anna  recognized  young  Zavala  at  once,  and  advanced  to  meet  him  with  great 
apparent  cordiality,  uttering  many  expressions  of  kindness,  such  as  are  customary 
among  the  Mexicans  on  such  occasions  ;  several  of  which  I  remember.  Among 
other  things  he  exclaimed, '  Oh,  my  friend,  my  friend  !  the  son  of  my  early  friend  ! ' 


*  As  reported  by  Major  M.  Austin  Bryan,  who  interpreted  before  Almonte 
came  up. 


Houston's  First  Interview  with  Santa  Anna.      101 

after  which,  and  other  exclamations  in  the  same  strain,  he  embraced  young 
Zavala,  with  high  indications  of  apparent  feeling,  and  I  think  dropping  a  tear. 

"  Young  Zavala  returned  his  greeting  with  that  deference  which  would  have 
been  due  to  his  former  rank  and  power ;  but  at  the  same  time,  emitting  from 
his  countenance  an  expression  I  have  scarcely  seen  equalled  on  any  occasion. 
His  look  seemed  to  wither  Santa  Anna,  and  staring  him  full  in  the  face,  he  replied 
immediately  with  great  modesty,  '  It  has  been  so,  sir.'  Santa  Anna  evinced 
plainly  that  he  was  much  mortified." 

With  evident  respect  and  grief,  Almonte  approached  his  captive 
General,  who  embraced  him.  In  the  meantime,  Houston,  lying  on 
the  ground,  rested  on  his  elbow.  Those  who  were  present  at  the 
interview  relate  the  following  as  the  substance  of  the  conversation 
between  the  two  dommanders. 

After  embracing  Almonte  and  recovering  entirely  from  his  em- 
barrassment, Santa  Anna,  with  the  air  of  one  born  to  command,  rose 
and  said  to  General  Houston  : 

"That  man  may  consider  himself  born  to  no  common  destiny 
who  has  conquered  the  Napoleon  of  the  West ;  and  it  now  remains 
for  him  to  be  generous  to  the  vanquished." 

Houston.  "  You  should  have  remembered  that  at  the  Alamo." 

Santa  Anna.  "  You  must  be  aware  that  I  was  justified  in  my  course 
by  the  usages  of  war.  I  had  summoned  a  surrender,  and  they  had 
refused  ;  the  place  was  then  taken  by  storm,  and  the  usages  of  war 
justified  the  slaughter  of  the  vanquished." 

Houston.  "  That  was  the  case  once,  but  it  is  now  obsolete.  Such 
usages  among  civilized  nations  have  yielded  to  the  influences  of 
humanity." 

Santa  Anna.  "  However  this  may  be,  I  was  acting  under  the  orders 
of  my  Government." 

Houston.  "  Why, you  are  the  Government  of  Mexico." 

Santa  Anna.  "I  have  orders  in  my  possession  commanding  me  so 
to  act." 

Houston.  "A  dictator,  sir,  has  no  superior." 

Santa  Anna.  "  I  have  orders,  General  Houston,  from  my  Govern- 
ment, commanding  me  to  exterminate  every  man  found  .n  arms  in 
the  province  of  Texas,  and  treat  all  such  as  pirates  ;  for  they  have 
no  government,  and  are  fighting  under  no  recognized  flag.  This 
will  account  for  the  positive  orders  of  my  Government." 

Houston.  "  So  far  as  the  first  point  is  concerned,  the  Texans  flatter 
themselves  that  they  have  a  Government  already,  and  they  will 
probably  be  able  to  make  a  flag.  But  if  you  feel  excused  for  your 
conduct  at  San  Antonio,  you  have  not  the  same  excuse  for  the 
massacre  of  Col.  Fannin's  command.  They  had  capitulated  on 
terms  proffered  by  your  General  ;  and  after  the  capitulation,  they 


102  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

were  all  perfidiously  massacred,  without  the  privilege  of  even  dying 
with  arms  in  their  hands." 

It  was  almost  impossible  for  Houston  to  restrain  his  indignation 
while  speaking  of  the  Goliad  tragedy.  Cold  sweat  ran  off  from 
his  brow  in  streams,  while  his  eye  flashed  with  the  fury  of  a  wild 
beast,  as  he  struggled  violently  to  curb  his  wrath. 

Santa  Anna  (noticing  Houston's  excitement),  laying  his  hand  on 
his  heart,  said,  "  I  declare  to  you,  General,  that  I  was  not  apprised  of 
the  fact  that  they  had  capitulated.  General  Urrea  informed  me 
that  he  had  conquered  them  in  battle,  and  under  this  impression  I 
ordered  their  execution." 

Houston.  "  I  know,  General,  that  the  men  had  capitulated." 

Santa  Anna.  "  Then  I  was  ignorant  of  it ;  and  after  your  asseveration 
I  should  not  have  a  shadow  of  a  doubt,  if  it  were  not  that  General 
Urrea  had  no  authority  whatever  to  receive  their  capitulation.  And 
if  the  day  ever  comes  that  I  can  get  Urrea  into  my  hands,  I  will  ex- 
ecute him  for  his  duplicity  in  not  giving  me  information  of  the  facts." 

The  conversation  between  Houston  and  Santa  Anna  was  sus- 
pended for  a  time.  At  Santa  Anna's  request  a  small  piece  of  opium 
was  given  to  him.  His  marque'e  and  luggage,  and  the  attendance 
of  his  aides  and  servants  were  ordered  for  him  by  Houston,  whom 
he  thanked  very  politely,  and  said  "  it  would  make  him  very  happy, 
since  they  were  ordered  by  his  captor." 

While  these  orders  were  in  course  of  execution,  General  Almonte 
displayed  a  disposition  to  converse  with  Houston. 

Remarking  to  the  victorious  General,  that  he  had  been  highly 
favored  by  fortune,  he  asked  why  he  had  not  attacked  the  Mex- 
icans on  the  first  day  on  which  the  armies  met,  and  said,  "You 
had  reason  to  suppose  we  should  be  reinforced.  And  yet,  if  you 
had  risked  a  battle  that  day  you  would  have  had  another  story  to 
tell,  perhaps,  for  our  men  were  then  ready  to  fight,  and  so  anxious 
for  the  battle  to  come  on,  that  we  could  hardly  keep  them  in  their 
ranks.  Why  did  you  wait  till  the  next  morning,  General  ?  " 

"  Well,"  replied  Houston,  "  I  see  I  was  right.  I  knew  you  expected 
I  should  bring  on  the  battle  that  day,  and  was  consequently  pre- 
pared for  it.  Now,  if  I  must  be  questioned  by  an  inferior  officer,  in 
the  presence  of  his  General,  I  will  say,  that  was  just  the  reason  why 
I  did  not  fight ;  besides,  I  thought  there  was  no  use  in  having  two 
bites  at  one  cherry." 

Almonte  then  made  some  remark  which  ill  befitted  the  occasion, 
and  greatly  irritated  the  wounded  hero,  who  said  : 

"  You  have  come  a  great  way  to  give  us  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
and  you  have  made  the  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  a  great  many  brave 
men  necessary." 


Houston9 s  Ear  of  Corn  and  its  Seed.  103 

"  Oh  !  "  Almonte  replied,  flippantly;  "  what  are  six  or  seven  hun- 
dred men?  And,  from  all  accounts,  only  half  a  dozen  of  your 
brave  men  have  fallen." 

Houston  replied,  "  We  estimate  the  lives  of  our  men,  I  perceive, 
somewhat  higher  than  you  do."  Almonte  politely  changed  his  tone, 
as  Houston  looked  sternly  at  him,  and  continued  ;  "  You  talk  about 
reinforcements,  sir  ;  it  matters  not  how  many  reinforcements 
you  have,  sir  ;  you  never  can  conquer  freemen."  Raising  himself 
up  and  taking  an  ear  of  dry  corn  from  his  pocket  which  he  had 
carried  for  four  days,  Houston  held  it  up,  and  said  :  "  Sir,  do  you 
ever  expect  to  conquer  men  who  fight  for  freedom,  whose  General 
can  march  four  days  with  one  ear  of  corn  for  his  rations  ? "  The 
enthusiasm  of  the  Texan  soldiers  was  stirred  up  by  the  sight  of 
the  ear  of  corn.  Gathering  around  the  General,  they  asked  him  to 
allow  them  to  divide  the  ear  of  corn. 

"We'll  plant  it,"  they  said,  "and  call  it  the  Houston  corn." 

"Oh,  yes,  my  brave  fellows,"  said  the  General  smiling,  "take 
it  along,  if  you  care  anything  about  it,  and  divide  it  among  you  ; 
give  each  one  a  kernel,  as  far  as  it  will  go,  take  it  home  to  your 
own  fields,  where  I  hope  you  may  long  cultivate  the  noble  arts  of 
peace  as  well  as  you  have  shown  yourselves  masters  of  the  art  of 
war.  You  have  achieved  your  independence  ;  now  see  if  you  can 
not  make  as  good  farmers  as  you  have  proved  yourselves  gallant 
soldiers.  You  may  not  call  it  Houston  corn,  but  call  it  San  Jacinto 
corn,  for  then  it  will  remind  you  of  your  own  bravery."  The  corn 
was  distributed.  In  successive  crops,  it  has  been  growing  ever 
since,  whether  planted  by  the  fugitives  who  returned  to  the  banks 
of  the  Sabine,  or  the  dwellers  on  the  rolling  prairies  or  fertile  bot- 
toms of  the  Trinity,  the  Colorado,  or  the  Brazos. 

Santa  Anna  was  interested  in  the  conversation  detailed,  as  its 
import  was  made  known  to  him  by  Almonte.  His  rage  was 
aroused,  and  he  cursed  Almonte  for  losing  the  battle.  His 
army  was  large,  perfectly  armed  and  equipped,  his  officers  were 
skilled,  his  camp  was  filled  with  every  luxury.  He  had  been  con- 
quered by  a  band  of  raw,  undisciplined  troops,  incompletely 
armed,  with  officers  destitute  of  most  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  In 
his  mortification  he  remarked  "  that  this  was  the  first  moment  that 
he  had  ever  understood  the  American  character,  and  that  what  he 
had  witnessed,  convinced  him  that  Americans  never  could  be  con- 
quered." 

Although  Santa  Anna's  marque'e  was  near  the  spot  where  Hous- 
ton was  lying,  his  trunks  were  not  opened,  nor  was  any  portion  of 
his  baggage  molested.  The  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  were  upon 
the  hero  of  San  Jacinto.  He  was  the  representative  of  Anglo- 


104  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Saxon  civilization.  His  men  had  been  infuriated  against  the  Dic- 
tator of  Mexico,  by  the  massacres  of  the  Alamo  and  Goliad  ;  kin- 
dred of  the  martyred  victims  to  liberty  were  in  the  conqueror's 
camp.  They  longed  for  revenge  ;  they  wished  to  see  Santa  Anna 
expiate  his  crimes  with  his  blood.  The  feelings  of  the  soldiers 
were  natural  to  men  in  their  circumstances.  Houston's  influence 
over  men,  his  keen  foresight  into  the  future,  his  thorough  appreci- 
ation of  the  exigencies  of  the  hour,  his  complete  knowledge  of  the 
world's  opinions,  all  were  exhibited  in  his  management  of  the 
great  State  prisoner  intrusted  to  him,  in  the  person  of  Santa  Anna. 
It  required  extreme  vigilance  and  superior  shrewdness  in  detect- 
ing insubordination,  to  prevent  assassination.  Houston  detected 
something  wrong  in  the  manner  of  an  officer  who  had  resolved  to 
shoot  Santa  Anna,  and  had  prepared  himself  for  the  work,  as  he 
was  passing,  on  the  day  of  the  night  fixed  for  the  execution  of  his 
purpose.  And  although  the  commanding  General  had  had  no  in- 
timation of  the  design  from  any  quarter,  so  strong  were  his  con- 
victions as  to  the  settled  purpose,  that  he  beckoned  to  the  officer  to 
approach  him.  He  conversed  with  him,  and  made  him  his  confi- 
dant. He  represented  what  would  be  the  terrible  consequences  if 
Santa  Anna  were  assassinated.  He  expressed  his  confidence  in 
him  to  detect  any  murderous  scheme  projected,  and  his  reliance  on 
his  vigilance.  The  officer  pledged  himself  to  act  on  his  General's 
suggestion,  and  declared  that  Santa  Anna  should  not  be  assassi- 
nated while  he  remained  in  the  camp.  He  kept  his  word,  although 
he  afterward  stated  that  at  this  very  time,  he  had  the  arms  on  his 
person  with  which  he  had  sworn  that  he  would  kill  Santa  Anna. 

Numerous  were  the  devices  by  which  Houston  maintained  dis- 
cipline over  his  brave,  heroic,  although  too  often  wayward  and 
reckless  men.  His  methods  were  his  own,  and  concealed  in  his 
own  bosom.  The  belief  became  general  that  Houston  was  the  only 
man  in  the  world  that  could  have  kept  the  army  in  subjection,  or  achieved 
the  independence  of  Texas,  or  preserved  it  after  it  was  won.  He  treated 
his  prisoner  rather  as  a  guest  and  a  gentleman  than  as  a  captive, 
and  exercised  the  keenest  vigilance  over  his  safety.  His  guard 
was  so  disposed  at  night  as  to  include  the  marquee  of  Santa  Anna, 
who  slept  on  his  camp  bed  with  every  comfort  he  could  have  had 
if  he  had  been  the  victor,  while  near  by,  on  the  earth,  on  his  usual  bed 
in  camp,  lay  Houston,  with  no  respite  from  the  intense  agony  of 
his  wound.  About  one  inch  above  the  ankle  joint,  the  ball  had  en- 
tered, shattering  the  bone,  and  severing  the  muscles  and  arteries. 
Prostrated  for  months,  he  was  worn  down  by  fever  and  pain  from 
this  wound  to  the  shadow  of  a  man. 

The  morning  after  the  capture,  Santa  Anna  asked  and  obtained 


Houston  the  Captor*  Santa  Anna  the  Captive.    105 

leave  to  see  Gen.  Houston.  Elegantly  dressed  in  citizen's  garb,  he 
presented  himself,  tendering  a  most  respectful  and  cordial  greet- 
ing to  his  host,  inquiring  kindly  concerning  his  health  and  the  con- 
dition of  his  wound.  Houston  was  far  differently  clad.  He  wore 
a  plain,  old  black  coat,  snuff-colored  pantaloons,  a  black-velvet 
vest,  a  fur  cap,  a  worn-out  pair  of  boots,  a  scimetar  of  tried  metal 
with  a  plated  scabbard,  a  gift  from  Captain  Joseph  Bonnell,  of 
Fort  Jesup.  The  scimetar  was  hung  about  his  person  by  buck- 
skin thongs.  Such  was  his  armory  and  wardrobe.  A  stranger 
would  have  taken  the  captive  for  the  victor.  With  his  usual 
courtesy,  the  Texan  commander  received  his  prisoner,  who  pro- 
posed immediately  negotiations  for  his  liberty.  From  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  of  Santa  Anna's  capture,  Houston  was  never  alone 
with  him  a  single  moment.  In  accordance  with  this  line  of  policy, 
he  immediately  sent  for  Geri.  Rusk,  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  to- 
gether they  conversed  some  time  with  the  prisoner.  A  propo- 
sition, written  with  pencil,  was  submitted  by  Santa  Anna,  which 
paper  Gen.  Rusk  caused  to  be  translated.  The  Mexican  "  Presi- 
dent "  was  informed  that  no  action  could  be  taken  on  his  propo- 
sals, as  Texas  was  ruled  by  a  Constitutional  Government,  whose 
members  had  been  sent  for  immediately  after  the  battle.  Santa 
Anna  naturally  desired  to  know  where  the  Government  was.  An 
express  had  been  dispatched  to  Galveston  to  the  President,  Hon. 
David  G.  Burnet,  who  was  supposed  to  be  in  that  place. 

Santa  Anna  manifested  perfect  willingness  to  act  with  military 
men,  and  exhibited  great  aversion  against  any  negotiations  with 
civilians.  Houston  and  Rusk,  immovable  in  their  determinations, 
would  make  no  terms  with  Santa  Anna,  except  to  receive  from  him 
a  dispatch,  ordering  Gen.  Filisola  to  depart  immediately  with  all 
the  Mexican  troops,  at  least  as  far  as  Monterey.  This  order  was 
tendered  to  Houston,  without  any  intimation  to  Santa  Anna  that 
his  life  would  be  spared.  Filisola  with  his  command  was  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Brazos.  An  officer  on  a  fleet  Andalusian  courser 
had  escaped  from  the  battle-field,  succeeded  in  reaching  his  camp 
and  gave  him  the  news  of  the  disaster  of  San  Jacinto.  When  he 
reached  Filisola's  headquarters  it  was  night.  Consternation  spread 
through  the  camp,  and  the  soldiers  prepared  for  flight.  To  light 
up  their  passage  across  the  river,  the  demoralized  soldiers  fired  a 
large  cotton-gin.  The  Texan  guard  of  250  soldiers  ordered  to  ac- 
company the  dispatch  from  Santa  Anna  to  Filisola,  pressed  on  by 
forced  marches  in  pursuit  of  the  rear  guard  of  the  Mexican  army. 
Horses,  mules,  baggage-wagons,  and  sick  soldiers  were  scattered 
along  the  path  of  the  flying  division,  indicating  the  great  panic 
under  which  the  retreat  had  been  made.  To  reach  the  Colorado 


106  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  march  was  through  a  low,  flat,  wet  prairie.  Overtaken,  how- 
ever, by  the  pursuers,  Filisola  received  the  messengers  who  bore 
the  flag  of  truce  with  every  mark  of  respect,  pledging  himself  to 
execute  without  delay  Gen.  Santa  Anna's  extreme  orders.  Asking 
leave  only  to  take  some  cattle  along  the  march,  his  license  was 
stretched  far  enough  to  rob  every  living  thing  with  which  he  fell  in 
on  his  way.  After  his  divison  commenced  their  ordered  retreat 
the  Texan  detachment  returned  to  San  Jacinto.  Appointing  three 
superior  officers  to  execute  his  order,  Houston  ordered  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  spoils  should  be  divided  equally  among  officers  and 
men.  The  truth  requires  that  incidents  should  be  related  bearing 
on  the  surrender  of  the  command  by  Gen.  Houston,  caused  by  his 
wound,  and  the  transfer  to  others. 

Not  many  days  after  the  victory  of  San  Jacinto,  news  of  which 
had  spread  by  expresses  all  over  the  country,  the  little  steamer 
Yellow  Stone  arrived  from  Galveston  bringing  the  Cabinet  of  the 
Constitutional  Government.  Houston  at  once  surrendered  every- 
thing into  their  hands  but  the  money,  which  had  already  been 
divided  among  his  gallant  comrades.  The  Cabinet,  although  com- 
posed of  patriotic  citizens  of  eminence,  was  not  personally  friendly 
to  Gen.  Houston,  with  one  exception,  Gen.  Thomas  J.  Rusk,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  who  participated  in  the  dangers  and  victory  of 
the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  A  proposition  from  Robert  Potter, 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  assigning  many  reasons,  but  alleging  no 
cause,  was  made  to  dismiss  the  wounded,  suffering,  but  victorious 
hero  of  San  Jacinto  from  the  service.  Gen.  Rusk,  like  a  magnani- 
mous patriot  soldier,  as  he  was,  in  a  spirited  manner  opposed  and 
defeated  the  proposition.  The  Cabinet  disapproved  of  the  distri- 
bution of  the  $12,000  among  the  soldiers,  who  had  no  other  means 
of  compensation,  and  had  fought  only  for  liberty ;  but  no  accu- 
sation was  brought  against  the  General  for  this  distribution  inas- 
much as  the  indignation  of  every  man  in  the  army  would  have  been 
aroused. 

About  the  release  of  Santa  Anna,  Gen.  Rusk,  the  Secretary  ot 
War,  wrote  to  Gen.  Houston  for  his  views.  The  following  answer 
was  returned  : 

"  HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  ARMY,  ) 
"Camp  San  Jacinto,  ^d  May,  1836. 

"  I  have  not  the  pleasure  to  know  on  what  basis  the  Executive  Government 
contemplate  the  arrangement  with  Gen.  Santa  Anna,  but  I  would  respectfully 
suggest,  that  so  far  as  I  have  been  enabled  to  give  my  attention  to  the  subject, 
the  following  points  should  have  some  weight : 

"  The  recognition  of  the  Independence  of  Texas  should  be  a  sine  qua  non. 
The  limits  of  Texas  should  extend  to  the  Rio  Grande,  and  from  the  mouth,  pur- 
suing the  stream  to  its  most  north-western  source,  and  from  thence  north-east 


The  Cabinet  Neglect  of  Houston  and  of  Ms  Counsel.   107 

to  the  line  of  the  United  States.  Indemnity  for  all  losses  sustained  by  Texas 
during-  the  war.  Commissioners  to  be  appointed  for  ascertaining  the  fact — one 
Mexican,  one  Texan,  and  one  American.  The  guarantee  to  be  obtained  from 
the  United  States  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  stipulation  on  the  part  of  the  con- 
tending parties.  Gen.  Santa  Anna  to  be  retained  as  a  hostage,  with  such  other 
officers  as  the  Government  may  think  proper,  until  they  are  recognized  or  ratified 
by  the  Mexican  Government.  Immediate  restoration  oi  Texan  or  Mexican  citi- 
zens, or  those  friendly  to  the  cause  of  Texas,  who  may  have  been  retained,  with 
their  property.  Instantaneous  withdrawal  of  all  the  Mexican  troops  from  the 
limits  of  Texas.  All  property  in  Texas  to  be  restored,  and  not  molested  by  the 
troops  or  marauders  in  falling  back.  Cessation  of  all  hostilities  by  sea  and  land. 
A  guarantee  for  the  safety  and  restoration  of  Mexican  prisoners,  so  soon  as  the 
conditions  shall  be  complied  with..  Agents  to  be  sent  to  the  United  States  to 
obtain  the  mediation  of  that  Government  in  the  affairs  of  Mexico  and  Texas." 

From  all  quarters  where  the  news  of  the  victory  had  gone  volun- 
teers rushed  forward.  Many  brave  men,  when  Houston  needed 
their  help,  coming  by  forced  marches,  failed  to  reach  his  camp  in 
time.  On  account  of  his  wound,  the  General  was  helpless,  and 
even  if  he  survived,  it  was  generally  believed  that  he  would  not  be 
fit  for  service  for  many  months.  In  accordance  with  his  desire, 
and  as  no  other  man  would  have  been  acceptable,  Gen.  Rusk  was 
appointed  by  the  Cabinet  Brigadier-General  to  succeed  him  in  the 
command.  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar  was  appointed  Secretary  of  War, 
to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  Cabinet. 

With  no  intention  to  preserve  unpleasant  reminiscences,  it  is  just 
to  state  some  facts  which  tortured  the  feelings,  at  this  time,  of  the 
wounded  and  enfeebled  hero. 

A  Texan  soldier  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  having  captured  the 
noble  black  stallion  ridden  by  Almonte  in  battle,  presented  the 
horse  to  the  General.  The  soldiers,  when  Houston  sent  him  to 
parade,  and  to  be  sold  for  the  benefit  of  the  army,  with  one  voice 
led  him  to  the  General,  begged  that  he  would  retain  him,  "hoping 
that  the  General  would  be  able  to  ride  him  very  quickly."  But  he 
was  not  allowed  to  keep  the  horse. 

As  there  was  no  medicine  in  the  camp,  no  comforts  for  a  wounded 
man,  it  was  necessary  to  visit  New  Orleans  to  secure  such  medical 
aid  as  would  save  his  life.  The  steamboat  was  ready  to  sail  for 
Galveston,  with  the  Cabinet  and  Santa  Anna  and  suite  on  board. 
Houston  applied  to  the  Cabinet  for  a  passage.  The  application  was 
sternly  refused,  and  it  seemed  that  the  Commander-in-Chief  was 
about  to  be  left  to  die — in  sight  of  the  field  of  San  Jacinto.  Hearing 
of  the  circumstance,  the  captain  of  the  steamboat  declared  that  his 
boat  should  not  leave  the  shore  unless  -it  carried  Gen.  Houston. 
He  took  his  hands  with  him,  and  brought  the  wounded  soldier 
aboard.  A  few  of  his  staff  accompanied  him,  but  when  his  Sur- 


108  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

geon-General,  Dr.  Ewing,  came  on  board,  the  Secretary  of  War 
told  Gen.  Houston  that  he  would  be  discharged  from  the  service 
if  he  accompanied  Gen.  Houston.  When  told  this,  Gen.  Houston 
said  to  Dr.  Ewing,  "  I  am  sorry,  my  dear  fellow,  for  I  have  nothing 
to  promise  you  in  the  future,  and  you  know  I  am  poor;  so  you  had 
better  not  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  new  Secretary  of  War." 
The  surgeon  magnanimously  followed  his  General,  refusing  to 
desert  a  friend  or  a  brave  man  in  the  hour  of  need,  although  he 
was  immediately  dismissed  from  the  army.  Santa  Anna  wept 
when  he  was  told  that  Gen.  Houston  was  not  to  be  a  passenger> 
but  when  he  saw  him  brought  aboard  he  ran  forward  to  him  and 
embraced  him  with  sincere  joy.  From  the  time  of  his  transfer  to 
the  custody  of  the  Cabinet,  the  Mexican  president  had  not  been 
allowed  to  pay  His  customary  morning  visit  to  his  humane  and 
courteous  captor,  but  was  subjected  to  the  irritating  and  humili- 
ating surveillance  of  the  Cabinet.  It  was  a  source  of  severe  pain 
and  mortification  to  the  captive  General  to  be  subjected  to  an  un- 
necessary and  indelicate  severity,  which  Santa  Anna  himself  char- 
acterized by  a  harsher  term. 

Gen.  Houston  was  waited  upon  on  the  arrival  of  the  boat  at  Gal- 
veston  Island,  where  at  that  time  there  was  not  a  framed  house,  by 
some  volunteers  who  had  just  arrived  from  the  United  States,  and 
offered  any  aid  in  their  power  for  his  comfort  or  honor.  On  this 
occasion,  as  on  all  others,  he  showed  how  well  strict  regard  for 
law  and  order  had  fitted  him  to  govern,  and  how  easy  it  is  for  a 
really  great  man  to  exhibit  magnanimity  to  his  opponents.  He 
exhorted  these  ambitious  and  brave  men  to  render  obedience  to 
the  authorities  of  the  country,  and  not  dishonor  themselves  by  any 
disrespect  to  the  Government,  being  assured  that  by  honoring  the 
ranks  they  would  be  qualified  for  the  highest  rights  of  citizenship. 
The  scene  witnessed  when  Gen.  Houston  parted  with  the  army  was 
extremely  touching.  Too  feeble  to  speak,  he  wrote  a  touching  ad- 
dress, which  was  read  as  "  camp  orders,"  as  follows  : 

"  HEADQUARTERS,  San  Jacinto,  May  5,  1836. 

"COMRADES  : — Circumstances  connected  with  the  battle  of  the  2ist  render 
our  separation,  for  the  present,  unavoidable.  I  need  not  express  to  you  the 
many  painful  sensations  which  that  necessity  inflicts  upon  me.  I  am  solaced, 
however,  by  the  hope  that  we  shall  soon  be  reunited  in  the  great  cause  ot 
Liberty.  Brigadier-General  Rusk  is  appointed  to  command  the  army  for  the 
present.  I  confide  in  his  valor,  his  patriotism,  his  wisdom.  His  conduct  in  the 
battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  sufficient  to  ensure  your  confidence  and  regard. 

"  The  enemy,  though  retreating,  are  still  within  the  limits  of  Texas ;  their 
situation  being  known  to  you,  you  can- not  be  taken  by  surprise.  Discipline  and 
subordination  will  render  you  invincible.  Your  valor  and  heroism  have  proved 
you  unrivalled.  Let  not  contempt  for  the  enemy  throw  you  off  your  guard. 


The  Wounded  Herds  Farewell  to  his  Army.      109 

Vigilance  is  the  first  duty  of  a  soldier,  and  glory  the  proudest  reward  of  his 
toils. 

"  You  have  patiently  endured  privations,  hardships,  and  difficulties  unappalled; 
you  have  encountered  odds  of  two  to  one  of  the  enemy  against  you,  and  borne 
yourselves,  in  the  onset  and  conflict  of  battle,  in  a  manner  unknown  in  the  an- 
nals of  modern  warfare.  While  an  enemy  to  your  independence  remains  in 
Texas  the  work  is  incomplete ;  but  when  liberty  is  firmly  established  by  your 
patience  and  your  valor,  it  will  be  fame  enough  to  say,  '  I  was  a  member  of  the 
army  of  San  Jacinto.' 

"  In  taking  leave  of  my  brave  comrades  in  arms  I  can  not  suppress  the  expres- 
sion of  that  pride  which  I  so  justly  feel  in  having  had  the  honor  to  command 
them  in  person,  nor  will  I  withhold  the  tribute  of  my  warmest  admiration  and 
gratitude  for  the  promptness  with  which  my  orders  were  executed,  and  union 
maintained  through  the  army.  At  parting  my  heart  embraces  you  with  grati- 
tude and  affection. 

"SAM  HOUSTON,  Commander-in-Chief" 

The  tears  of  the  brave  men  fell  upon  their  rifles,  on  which  they 
were  leaning,  when  this  pathetic  and  eloquent  address  was  read  to 
them.  Never  were  companions  in  arms  more  devoted  to  a  chief. 

Houston  applied  for  a  passage  for  himself  and  staff  on  a  small 
war  vessel  just  about  to  sail  from  Galveston  to  New  Orleans.  The 
passage  was  refused. 

The  General  sent  for  the  captain  of  a  little  American  schooner 
(the  Flora),  lying  at  Galveston,  and  bound  for  New  Orleans.  With 
him  he  contracted  for  passage  for  himself  and  staff,  to  be  paid  for 
when  he  was  able,  as  he  had  then  not  one  dollar  of  money  to  ad- 
vance. Neither  he  nor  his  followers  had  ever  received  any  com- 
pensation from  the  Government.  The  fugitive  women  and  chil- 
dren, whose  husbands  and  fathers  had  been  slaughtered  at  the 
Alamo,  or  massacred  with  Fannin,  had  received  all  the  funds  he 
had  been  able  to  command.  As  the  little  schooner  was  about  to 
set  sail,  Captain  Charles  Hawkins,  of  the  Texan  Navy,  states  that 
Santa  Anna  asked  permission  to  take  leave  of  General  Houston, 
but  was  refused  ;  a  poor  privilege,  on  account  of  which  the  humili- 
ated Mexican  president  wept.  The  little  schooner  had  a  long  and 
tedious  voyage.  Arriving  at  the  Balize  at  night,  she  was  towed  up 
to  New  Orleans  next  day.  For  forty  days  Gen.  Houston  had  been 
without  medicine  or  poultices  ;  the  shirt  he  wore  furnished  banda- 
ges for  his  wounds,  the  bosom  only  remained,  and  part  had  been 
given  to  soldiers  more  needy  than  himself.  He  was  supposed  to 
be  now  in  a  dying  state.  In  his  feebleness  he  could  not  even  be 
raised  up  without  fainting.  About  eighteen  miles  below  New  Or- 
leans, in  passing  the  "  English  Turn,"  from  expresses  in  waiting  it 
was  made  known  that  Houston  was  on  board.  This  was  the  first 
confirmation  of  the  news  of  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  As  the  in- 


110  Life  of 'Sam  Houston. 

telligence  spread  through  the  city  on  this  memorable  Sunday  a 
dense  crowd  rushed  to  the  levee  of  the  Mississippi  River  to  see  the 
wounded  soldier.  Col.  Wm.  Christy,  his  early  devoted  friend,  with 
whom  he  had  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  his  youth,  had  prepared  for 
him  every  comfort  which  his  situation  required.  He  was  eager  to 
grasp  the  hand  of  his  old  comrade,  and  to  extend  to  him  a  most  cor- 
dial welcome.  Dr.  Kerr,  the  surgeon  who  had  operated  on  his 
wounds  about  thirty  years  before,  also  hastened  to  the  vessel, 
where  Houston  was  found  lying  on  the  deck.  He  fell  upon  the 
wounded  hero,  and  embraced  him  like  a  father.  Every  attention 
was  given  him  by  Drs.  Kerr  and  Cenas,  who  said  that  if  he  had 
arrived  a  few  hours  later  his  life  could  not  have  been  saved,  as  his 
wound  had  begun  to  show  the  first  symptoms  of  mortification. 
The  vessel  was  in  danger  of  sinking,  because  of  the  great  crowd 
present  to  look  on  the  victor  of  San  Jacinto.  The  pier  was  also  so 
densely  thronged  that  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  General  could 
be  gotten  ashore.  An  attempt  had  been  unsuccessful  to  lift  him 
ashore.  His  torture  was  so  great  that  it  seemed  that  he  would  die 
before  it  could  be  done.  Feeling  that  his  strength  was  going,  ris- 
ing on  his  crutches  with  a  desperate  effort,  he  got  over  the  gunwale 
himself.  Immediately  laid  upon  a  litter,  he  fainted  again.  Bands 
of  music  meantime  had  come  down  to  the  levee  and  played  mar- 
tial airs  while  the  landing  was  being  effected.  Houston,  who 
seemed  to  be  dying,  was  placed  on  a  cot,  and  borne  through  the 
vast  throng  to  the  hospitable  mansion  of  his  friend  Christy.  Here, 
a  mere  skeleton  of  disease  and  suffering,  he  found  repose. 

Remaining  two  weeks  in  New  Orleans,  and  although  far  from 
being  out  of  danger,  he  was  so  anxious  to  return  to  Texas  that  he 
took  passage  on  a  Red  River  steamer,  to  Natchitoches.  His  feeble 
health  could  ill  endure  the  fatigue  and  exposure  of  the  journey. 
To  recover  his  strength,  he  was  compelled  to  stop  several  days.  At 
the  first  moment  he  was  able  to  travel,  he  proceeded  to  San 
Augustine,  where  he  remained  till  he  received  intelligence  that  the 
Cabinet  had  made  a  treaty  with  Santa  Anna,  and  had  resolved  on 
his  liberation.  It  was  also  stated,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  enemy 
was  preparing  for  another  campaign.  At  New  Orleans,  Natchi- 
toches, and  San  Augustine,  demonstrations  of  great  respect  had 
been  made,  and  dinners  offered  to  him,  all  of  which  compliments 
he  declined  ;  but  when  the  report  of  the  advance  of  the  enemy  had 
brought  together  a  vast  concourse  of  people  at  San  Augustine,  he 
was  taken  to  the  meeting  resting  on  his  crutches,  and  delivered  so 
effective  and  arousing  an  address,  that  in  two  days  one  hundred 
and  sixty  men  took  up  their  march  for  the  frontier. 

About  this  time  news  reached  the  General  that  the  army,  then  at 


Houston's  Moral  Rule  over  his  Army.  Ill 

Coleti,  had  dispatched  Colonels  Millard  and  Wheelock  to  the 
Cabinet,  to  demand  that  Santa  Anna  should  be  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  the  soldiers  for  execution,  reproaching  the  Cabinet  for 
neglect  of  duty,  ordering  President  Burnet  to  be  arrested  and 
brought  to  the  Texan  camp.  The  following  protest  against  their 
proceedings  was  dispatched,  by  express,  immediately  by  Houston, 
to  the  army  : 

"AYiSH  BAYOU,  26th  July,  1836 

"To  THE  GENERAL  COMMANDING  THE  ARMY  OF  TEXAS: 

"  Sir : — I  have  just  heard,  through  a  citizen  of  the  army,  that  it  is  the  intention 
to  remove  General  Santa  Anna  to  the  army,  and  place  him  upon  his  trial.  I 
can  not  credit  this  statement ;  it  is  obviously  contrary  to  the  true  policy  of  Texas. 
The  advantages  which  his  capture  presented  to  us  will  be  destroyed.  Disregard, 
if  you  will,  our  national  character,  and  place  what  construction  you  please  upon 
the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  we  are  compelled  by  every  principle  of  humanity 
and  morality,  to  abstain  from  every  act  of  passion  or  inconsideration  that  is  to 
be  unproductive  of  positive  good.  Execute  Santa  Anna,  and  what  will  be  the 
fate  of  the  Texans  who  are  held  prisoners  by  the  Mexicans — what  will  be  the 
condition  of  the  North  Americans  who  are  residing  within  the  limits  of  Mexico  ? 
Death  to  them,  and  confiscation  of  their  property  is  the  least  that  can  be  ex- 
pected. Doubtless  torture  will  be  added  to  the  catastrophe,  when  stimulated  by 
ignorance,  fanaticism,  and  the  last  expiring  struggle  of  the  priesthood  for  power 
and  dominion.  Texas,  to  be  respected,  must  be  considerate,  politic,  and  just  in 
her  actions.  Santa  Anna,  living  and  secured  beyond  all  danger  of  escape,  in  the 
eastern  section  of  Texas  (as  I  first  suggested),  may  be  of  incalculable  advantage 
to  Texas  in  her  present  crisis.  In  cool  blood  to  offer  up  the  living  to  the  manes 
of  the  departed,  only  finds  an  example  in  the  religion  and  warfare  of  savages. 
Regard  for  one's  departed  friends  should  stimulate  us  in  the  hour  of  battle,  and 
would  excuse  us  in  the  moment  of  victory,  for  partial  excesses,  at  which  our 
calmer  feelings  of  humanity  would  relent. 

"  The  affairs  of  Texas  connected  with  General  Santa  Anna,  as  President  of 
the  Republic  of  Mexico,  have  become  matter  of  consideration  to  which  the  at- 
tention of  the  United  States  has  been  called,  and  for  Texas,  at  this  moment,  to 
proceed  to  extreme  measures  as  to  the  merits  or  demerits  of  General  Santa 
Anna,  would  be  treating  that  Government  with  high  disrespect,  and  I  would  re- 
spectfully add,  in  my  opinion  it  would  be  incurring  the  most  unfortunate  respon- 
sibility for  Texas. 

"  I,  therefore,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army  of  the  Republic,  do  solemnly 
protest  against  the  trial,  sentence,  and  execution  of  General  Antonio  Lopez  de 
Santa  Anna,  President  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  until  the  relations  in  which 
we  are  to  stand  to  the  United  States  shall  be  ascertained. 

"SAM  HOUSTON, 
"  Commander-in-Chicf  of  the  Army'' 

The  effect  designed  by  Houston  was  produced  by  this  protest. 
The  trial  of  Santa  Anna  was  postponed  ;  Texas  was  spared  the 
odium  and  disgrace  which  a  proceeding  so  summary  and  barbarous 
would  have  produced.  'Houston,  removing  to  Nacogdoches,  re- 


112  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

mained  there,  under  the  influence  of  his  wound,  until  the  fall  of 
1836,  not  idle,  but  exercising  constant  vigilance,  while  the  country 
was  excited  from  a  quasi  state  of  martial  law. 

On  the  1 4th  of  May,  the  Cabinet,  perceiving  that  the  views  offi- 
cially communicated  to  General  Rusk  by  General  Houston  were 
based  on  the  highest  and  soundest  principles  of  policy,  humanity, 
and  justice,  in  the  main  adopted  them,  and  made  a  treaty  with  the 
Mexican  President. 

On  the  first  of  June,  President  Burnet  and  his  Cabinet  were  still 
at  Velasco.  The  Texan  schooner  Invincible  was  anchored  off  the 
bar,  in  sight  of  the  town,  with  Santa  Anna  and  suite  on  board. 
Sailing  orders  had  been  issued  to  the  vessel  to  proceed  to  Vera 
Cruz.  Under  these  circumstances,  Santa  Anna  wrote  the  following 
farewell  to  the  Texan  army : 

"My  Friends :  I  have  been  a  witness  of  your  courage  on  the  field  of  battle, 
and  know  you  to  be  generous.  Rely  with  confidence  on  my  sincerity,  and  you 
shall  never  have  cause  to  regret  the  kindness  shown  me.  In  returning  to  my 
native  land,  I  beg  you  to  receive  the  sincere  thanks  of  your  grateful  friend. 
Farewell. 

Aut:  "  LOPEZ  DE  SANTA  ANNA. 

"Velasco,  \stjune,  1836." 

All  the  circumstances  indicate  that  the  Mexican  President 
meant  at  that  time,  while  feeling  that  he  was  a  free  man,  on  board 
of  a  vessel  under  sailing  orders,  faithfully  to  fulfill  the  pledge  in- 
volved in  this  brief  address.  Whatever  was  his  subsequent  history, 
he  was  manifestly  in  earnest  at  this  period. 

Just,  however,  as  the  Invincible  was  sailing,  a  General  arrived  at 
Velasco  with  several  hundred  volunteers  from  the  United  States. 
Never  having  participated  in  the  Texan  struggle,  with  no  author- 
ity to  order  even  a  drum  beat  in  Texas,  he  declared  that  the  In- 
vincible should  not  lift  her  anchor,  and  that  Santa  Anna  should  be 
tried  and  executed.  General  Lamar  (in  a  voluminous  paper)  had 
already  protested  against  his  release,  and  popular  feeling  ran  in 
the  same  current. 

Although  the  treaty  had  been  signed,  sealed,  and  delivered,  and 
Santa  Anna  had  it  with  him  on  board  the  Invincible,  and  the  vessel 
was  under  sailing  orders,  the  President  ad  interim,  yielding  to  the 
clamor  for  a  violation  of  public  faith,  countermanded  the  sailing 
orders,  and  sent  a  requisition  on  board  for  the  Mexican  President. 
Aware  from  the  day  of  his  capture  that  popular  feeling  ran  high 
against  him,  and  believing  that  his  life  would  be  in  danger  among 
those  who  would  violate  a  solemn  treaty,  he  resolutely  refused  to 
go  on  shore.  The  next  day  the  order  was  repeated,  and  with  simi- 
lar result. 


Santa  Annans    Unauthorized  Arrest.  113 

With  several  armed  men,  Gen.  Green,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  3d  of 
June,  "visited  the  Invincible  (Foote,  26.  vol.,  p.  342)  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  off  the  Dictator,  dead  or  alive.  Like  a  brave  man,  Santa 
Anna  remonstrated  against  the  breach  of  faith,  and  declared  that  he 
would  die  before  he  left."  "  All  this  time,"  says  Gen.  Green  (Foote, 
2d  vol.,  p.  343),  "he  lay  on  his  back  in  his  berth,  and  his  respiration 
seemed  to  be  exceedingly  difficult."  Gen.  Green  ordered  him  to  be 
put  in  irons.  "  When  the  irons  were  brought  within  his  view,  the 
prisoner  immediately  jumped  up,  adjusted  his  collar,  put  on  his  hat, 
and  stated  his  readiness  to  accompany  us."  Gen.  Green  acted  in 
obedience  to  popular  impulses,  and  the  world  sympathized  with 
the  universal  execration  of  the  massacres  of  the  Alamo  and 
Goliad.  But  the  conduct  of  Santa  Anna  at  least  for  once  in 
his  life,  was  at  this  time  worthy  of  admiration.  A  defenceless 
prisoner,  with  a  score  of  bayonets  or  bowie-knives  at  his  breast,  he 
surrendered  at  discretion  to  the  violators  of  a  treaty.  He  was  not 
the  first  to  violate  the  treaty  of  the  i4th  of  May. 

Of  this  event,  he  said  : 

"  I  had  embarked  on  the  Texan  schooner  of  war,  the  Invincible,  on  the  first 
of  June,  after  addressing  a  short  farewell  to  the  Texans,  wherein  I  thanked  them 
for  their  generous  behavior,  and  offered  my  eternal  gratitude.  And  I  protest 
(fifthly)  for  the  violence  committed  on  my  person,  and  abuse  to  which  I  have 
been  exposed,  in  being  compelled  to  go  ashore,  merely  because  130  volunteers 
under  the  command  of  Gen.  Thomas  Green,  recently  landed  on  the  beach  at 
Velasco,  from  New  Orleans,  had  with  tumults  and -threats  demanded  that  my 
person  should  be  placed  at  their  disposal,  which  took  place  on  the  very  day  the 
Government  received  from  Gen.  Felisola  the  answer  that  he  had  strictly  fulfilled 
what  had  been  stipulated  in  the  treaty.  .  .  .  .  Under  these  circumstances,  I 
appeal  to  the  judgment  of  civilized  nations,  to  the  consciences  of  the  citizens 
who  compose  the  Cabinet,  and,  above  all,  to  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  destinies 
of  nations,  who  has  placed  the  existence  and  happiness  of  nations  on  the  faith 
of  treaties,  and  punctual  fulfillment  of  engagements." 

Gen.  Houston,  when  informed  that  the  constituted  authorities 
had  been  compelled  to  yield  to  popular  clamor,  declared,  "  I  would 
have  regarded  the  faith  of  the  nation  under  any  circumstances,  and 
before  the  mob  should  have  laid  hands  on  Santa  Anna,  they  should 
have  first  drunk  of  my  blood." 

But  it  was  now  apparent  that  all  hopes  of  advantage  Houston 
had  borrowed  from  the  treaty  and  release  of  Santa  Anna,  were  des- 
tined to  disappointment.  Santa  Anna's  gratitude  and  sense  of 
honor  were  the  only  reliance,  as  all  his  obligations  had  been  dis- 
solved by  the  course  taken  by  his  enemies. 

Meantime,  the  Cabinet  appointed  Gen.  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar 
Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army,  over  the  heads  of  Generals 
8 


114  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 


Houston  and  Rusk.  The  army  desired  that  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto 
should  resume  command,  but  were  entirely  satisfied  with  Gen. 
Rusk.  Gen.  Lamar,  having  resigned  his  post  as  Secretary  of  War, 
repaired  to  the  army  with  his  commission,  surrounded  by  his  staff. 
How  far  the  change  was  acceptable  to  the  army,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact,  that  when  the  nearly  1,800  troops  in  camp  were  asked 
fora  demonstration  of  satisfaction  with  the  new  commander,  "less 
than  one  in  eighteen  voted  for  him  (Gen.  Lamar),  and  the  rest  posi- 
tively refused  to  serve  under  him." 

On  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of  Gen.  T.  J.  Rusk's  portrait 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Texas,  April  i,  1879,  Hon. 
Ashbel  Smith  eloquently  said  : 

"  On  the  result  of  the  battle  on  the  field  of  San  Jacinto,  on  the  twenty-first  ot 
April,  1836,  turned  the  decision  of  the  question  whether  Texas  should  become 
wholly  Spanish,  for  Santa  Anna  Had  threatened  that  he  would  put  to  death  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  west  of  the  Sabine  who  would  jabber  English,  and  the 
massacre  of  the  Alamo  and  of  Fannin's  command  at  Goliad,  tell  how  bloodily 
he  was  executing  his  diabolical  threat.  We  are  accustomed  to  look  on  Santa 
Anna  as  a  monster  of  Grime.  It  is  a  mistake  ;  he  was  the  exponent  of  the  race 
from  Cortez  and  Pizarro  down.  As  I  just  said,  the  question  decided  on  the  field 
of  San  Jacinto  was,  whether  Texas  should  become  wholly  Spanish,  with  its 
despotism,  religious  and  political,  or  a  land  of  free  institutions,  with  a  represent- 
ative government  of  the  people,  trial  by  jury,  the  habeas  corpus,  free  thought, 
free  speech,  free  politics,  and  free  religion.  But  this  solution  of  the  question  at 
San  Jacinto  has  not  been  restricted  to  Texas  alone;  it  has  drawn  with  it, 
Arizona,  New  Mexico,  California,  and  planted  in  this  vast  region  American  in- 
stitutions  Not  a  few  in  the  heat  of  sectional,  political  jealousies,  have 

affected  to  consider  San  Jacinto  as  a  sort  of  accidental  scrimmage,  in  a  big  in- 
surrection or  pronunc lament o,  in  which  the  Anglo-Americans  had  the  luck  to 
get  the  better  of  the  Mexicans.  The  contest  between  Texas  and  Mexico  was 
war,  organized  war;  it  was  a  campaign  in  form  and  in  reality,  closed  by  a  de- 
cisive battle.  There  were  about  1,300  men  in  the  Texan  army  on  the  Colorado, 
— the  hope,  the  sole  reliance  and  defense  of  the  homes,  of  the  wives  and  chil- 
dren of  our  people.  Against  this  slender  force  came  rushing,  like  a  torrent, 
Gen.  Santa  Anna,  with  an  army  of  10,000  men,  compact,  disciplined,  well  armed, 
supplied  with  an  ample  military  chest,  'with  unbounded  confidence  in  their  Gen- 
eral, whom  they  proudly  styled  the  Napoleon  of  the  West.  Like  wolves  infuri- 
ated by  the  smell  of  fresh  blood,  the  Mexicans  were  maddened  by  the  gore,  still 
green,  of  the  murdered  men  of  the  Alamo  and  Goliad.  Had  Houston  then  and 
there  given  battle  to  Santa  Anna,  overwhelming  numbers  must  have  told ;  the 
Texan  army  crushed,  scattered,  cut  to  pieces,  what  would,  alas  !  have  been  the 
fate  of  the  women,  with  their  children  fleeing,  or  attempting  in  vain  to  flee,  be- 
fore the  squadrons  of  Santa  Anna  ?  But  Houston  fell  back  slowly,  covering, 
protecting  their  escape.  Santa  Anna  crowded  on,  became  confident  and  care- 
less, extending  his  invading  lines  until  every  part  of  them  was  weak,  and  with 
his  own  chosen  corps  pursuing  with  forced  marches,  lest  Houston  should  escape. 


Tlie  Battle  of  San  Jacinto  Legitimate  Warfare.     115 

Thus  he  advanced  beyond  the  support  of  his  main  army ;  when  Houston  and  the 
Texans  suddenly  faced  about,  giving  battle  to  this  advanced  corps  of  the  Mex- 
ican commander-in-chief,  at  San  Jacinto,  gained  a  decisive  victory,  captured 
Santa  Anna  himself,  ended  the  campaign,  ended  the  war,  and  achieved  solid  in- 
dependence for  Texas.  It  was  no  lucky  scrimmage,  no  accidental  encounter ;  it 
was  war,  war  on  scientific  principles,  culminating  in  triumphant  success ;  and  we 
here,  to-night,  are  in  joyful  fruition  of  this  success." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

HOUSTON'S  ELECTION  TO  THE  PRESIDENCY— DEPARTURE  OF  SANTA  ANNA  FOR  WASH 
INGTON— His  CONDUCT— SENT  TO  VERA  CRUZ  IN  A  U.  S.  WAR  VESSEL. 

THE  condition  of  affairs  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  one 
of  discord  and  confusion.  Discontent  was  universal.  The  Gov- 
ernment ad  interim  had  not  been  able  to  pursue  a  line  of  policy 
generally  acceptable.  The  Convention  which  had  adopted  the 
Constitution  at  Washington  in  the  previous  month  of  March,  had 
made  provision  for  the  crisis,  and,  accordingly,  writs  were  issued 
for  the  election  of  a  President  by  the  people  of  Texas.  Two  candi- 
dates were  named — Gen.  Stephen  F.  Austin  and  ex-Governor 
Henry  Smith.  The  latter  was  an  excellent  man  and  a  patriot,;  the 
former  had  the  love  of  all  parties,  and  will  always  be  regarded  as 
the  father  of  Texas.  Houston,  importuned  to  become  a  candidate, 
would  not  consent  until  twelve  days  before  the  election.  He  de- 
sired private  life.  If  the  public  councils  were  guided  by  firmness 
and  wisdom  he  did  not  believe  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  fire 
another  hostile  gun.  Unrelentingly  persecuted,  his  feelings  out- 
raged in  proportion  as  he  had  sacrificed  his  own  interests  and  de- 
voted himself  to  the  State,  he  hoped  in  retirement  to  be  happy  and 
witness  his  country's  freedom.  One  motive,  at  last,  overcame  his 
disinclination  to  mingle  in  the  turmoil  of  public  life.  The  viru- 
lence of  party  ran  so  high,  he  feared  that  the  formation  of  cabinets 
made  of  party  men  would  endanger  the  stability  of  any  adminis- 
tration. 

Without  a  dollar,  and  without  credit,  a  government  was  to  be 
created  from  chaos.  He  belonged  to  no  party,  he  possessed  the 
confidence  of  the  masses  in  a  remarkable  degree  ;  believing,  there- 
fore, that  as  parties  were  nearly  equally  balanced,  and  as  there  was 
great  reason  to  believe  that  those  out  of  power  would  so  far  em- 
barrass an  administration  as  to  destroy  its  efficiency,  he  allowed 
his  name  to  be  used,  hoping  to  be  able  still  to  render  signal  service 
to  the  State.  National  enthusiasm  overcame  the  turbulence  of 
party  when  this  announcement  was  made.  His  election  was  op- 
posed by  a  feeble  clique  of  adventurers,  who  in  the  turbulent  scenes 
of  revolution,  and  when  agitations  convulsed  the  theatre  of  war,  had 
(116) 


Houston  Elected  President  117 

rushed  to  Texas,  hoping  to  attract  a  notoriety  which  they  had  in 
vain  sought  for  in  the  calmer  scenes  of  life. 

A  frontier  population  would  not  submit  to  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment held  by  the  Provisional  Government  of  1835,  and  the  admin- 
istration of  1836.  The  people  saw  that  at  that  time  there  was  only 
one  man  in  Texas  who  could  sway  the  multitude,  whose  strong 
hand  would  steady  the  vessel  of  State  through  the  boisterous 
surges  ;  that  that  man  was  Sam  Houston,  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto 
and  when  he  consented  to  accept  the  Presidency,  by  acclamation 
they  offered  it  to  him. 

The  rare  qualities  which  make  the  great  General  had  been  dis- 
played by  him.  The  brilliant  victory  of  San  Jacinto  had  been  won 
by  the  qualities  of  strategy  and  heroism.  The  loftier  and  nobler 
qualities  which  fit  one  for  a  cabinet,  needed  to  organize  a  govern- 
ment  which  would  secure  peace,  power,  and  prosperity  at  home, 
and  command  the  respect  of  civilized  nations  abroad,  were  now  re- 
quired, and  the  sequel  will  prove  that  they  were  not  required 
in  vain.  Gen.  Houston  was  triumphantly  elected  ;  Senators  and 
Representatives  of  the  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  were 
chosen  at  the  same  time.* 

On  the  3d  day  of  October,  1836,  these  delegates  assembled  at 
Columbia,  and  organized  the  first  Congress  of  the  Republic. 

The  President  ad  interim,  Hon.  David  G.  Burnet,  tendered  his 
resignation  on  the  morning  of  the  226.  of  October.  A  resolution 
was  immediately  passed  by  the  Congress,  "  that  the  inauguration 
take  place  at  four  o'clock,  this  day."  A  committee  was  appointed 
by  both  Houses  to  wait  upon  the  President-elect,  and  at  four 
o'clock  he  was  introduced  witnin  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. The  oath  of  office  was  administered  by  the  Speaker, 
who  proclaimed  Sam  Houston  President  of  the  Republic  of 
Texas. 


*  Of  the  three  candidates  voted  for,  Sam  Houston  received  4,374  votes  ; 
Henry  Smith,  743  ;  Stephen  F.  Austin,  587 — Total  vote,  5,704.  M.  B.  Lamar  had 
a  majority  of  2,699  for  Vice-President.  The  principal  officers  during  this  Presi- 
dential term  were  S.  F.  Austin,  R.  A.  Irion,  and  J.  Pinckney  Henderson,  Secre- 
taries of  State  ;  Thomas  J.  Rusk,  Wm.  S.  Fisher,  Bernard  E.  Bee,  George  W. 
Hockley,  Secretaries  of  War  ;  Henry  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  S.  Rhodes 
Fisher,  William  M.  Shepperd,  Secretaries  of  the  Navy  ;  J.  Pinckney  Henderson, 
Peter  W.  Grayson,  John  Birdsall,  A.  S.  Thurston,  Attorney-Generals  ;  Robert 
Burr,  Postmaster-General  ;  E.  M.  Pease,  Francis  R.  Lubbock,  Comptrollers  ;  John 
W.  Moody,  First  Auditor  ;  J.  G.  Welshinger,  Second  Auditor  ;  Wm.  G.  Cooke, 
Stock  Commissioner ;  Wm.  H.  Wharton,  Memucan  Hunt,  Anson  Jones,  Ministers 
to  the  United  States  ;  J.  Pinckney  Henderson,  Minister  to  Great  Britain  and 
France  ;  W.  F.  Caplett,  Secretary  of  Legation  to  the  United  States  ;  George  S. 
Mclntosh,  Secretary  of  Legation  to  Great  Britain  and  France. 


118  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Advancing  to  a  table,  he  delivered  an  extemporaneous  address 
the  product  of  a  great  mind,  a  far-reaching  statesman;  the  most 
important  State  paper  found  in  the  early  archives  of  Texas. 

"  MR.  SPEAKER  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  Deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the 
responsibility  devolving  on  me,  I  can  not,  in  justice  to  myself,  repress  the  emotion. 
of  my  heart,  or  restrain  the  feelings  which  my  sense  of  obligation  to  my  fellow- 
citizens  has  inspired.  Their  suffrage  was  gratuitously  bestowed.  Preferred  to 
others,  not  unlikely  superior  in  merit  to  myself,  called  to  the  most  important  sta- 
tion among  mankind  by  the  voice  of  a  free  people,  it  is  utterly  impossible  not  to 
feel  impressed  with  the  deepest  sensations  of  delicacy  in  my  present  position  be- 
fore the  world.  It  is  not  here  alone,  but  our  present  attitude  before  all  nations 
has  rendered  my  position,  and  that  of  my  country,  one  of  peculiar  interest. 

"  A  spot  of  earth  almost  unknown  to  the  geography  of  the  age,  destitute  of 
all  available  resources,  few  in  numbers,  we  remonstrated  against  oppression,  and, 
when  invaded  by  a  numerous  host,  we  dared  to  proclaim  our  independence  and 
to  strike  for  freedom  on  the  breast  of  the  oppressor.  As  yet  our  course  is  on- 
ward. We  are  only  in  the  outset  of  the  campaign  of  liberty.  Futurity  has 
locked  up  the  destiny  which  awaits  our  people.  Who  can  contemplate  with 
apathy  a  situation  so  imposing  in  the  moral  and  physical  world  ?  No  one.  The 
relations  among  ourselves  are  peculiarly  delicate  and  important ;  for  no  matter 
what  zeal  or  fidelity  I  may  possess  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  if  I  do 
not  obtain  co-operation  and  an  honest  support  from  the  co-ordinate  departments 
of  the  government,  wreck  and  ruin  must  be  the  inevitable  consequences  of  my 
administration.  If,  then,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty,  my  competency  should 
fail  in  the  attainment  of  the  great  objects  in  view,  it  would  become  your  sacred 
duty  to  correct  my  errors  and  sustain  me  by  your  superior  wisdom.  This  much 
I  anticipate— this  much  I  demand.  I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  difficulties  that 
surround  me,  and  the  convulsive  throes  through  which  our  country  must  pass. 
I  have  never  been  emulous  of  the  civic  wreath — when  merited,  it  crowns  a  happy 
destiny.  A  country  situated  like  ours  is  environed  with  difficulties,  its  adminis- 
tration is  fraught  with  perplexities.  Had  it  been  my  destiny,  I  would  infinitely 
have  preferred  the  toils,  privations,  and  perils  of  a  soldier,  to  the  duties  of  my 
present  station.  Nothing  but  zeal,  stimulated  by  the  holy  spirit  of  patriotism, 
and  guided  by  philosophy  and  reason,  can  give  that  impetus  to  our  energies  nec- 
essary to  surmount  the  difficulties  that  obstruct  our  political  progress.  By  the 
aid  of  your  intelligence,  I  trust  all  impediments  in  our  advancement  will  be  re- 
moved ;  that  all  wounds  in  the  body  politic  will  be  healed,  and  the  Constitution 
of  the  Republic  derive  strength  and  vigor  equal  to  any  emergency.  I  shall 
confidently  anticipate  the  establishment  of  Constitutional  liberty.  In  the  attain- 
ment of  this  object,  we  must  regard  our  relative  situation  to  other  countries. 

"  A  subject  of  no  small  importance  is  the  situation  of  an  extensive  frontier, 
bordered  by  Indians,  and  open  to  their  depredation.  Treaties  of  peace  and 
amity,  and  the  maintenance  of  good  faith  with  the  Indians,  seem  to  me  the  most 
rational  means  for  winning  their  friendship.  Let  us  abstain  from  aggression, 
establish  commerce  with  the  different  tribes*  supply  their  useful  and  necessary 
wants,  maintain  even-handed  justice  with  them,  and  natural  reason  will  teach 
them  the  utility  of  our  friendship. 

"Admonished  by  the  past,  we  can  not,,  in  justice,  disregard  our  national 


Houston's  Impromptu  Inaugural  Address.        119 

enemies.  Vigilance  will  apprise  us  of  their  approach,  a  disciplined  and  valiant 
army  will  insure  their  discomfiture.  Without  discrimination  and  system,  how 
unavailing-  would  all  the  resources  of  an  old  and  overflowing  treasury  prove  to 
us.  It  would  be  as  unprofitable  to  us  in  our  present  situation  as  the  rich  dia- 
mond locked  in  the  bosom  of  the  adamant.  We  can  not  hope  that  the  bosom  of 
our  beautiful  prairies  will  soon  be  visited  by  the  healing  breezes  of  peace.  We 
may  again  look  for  the  day  when  their  verdure  will  be  converted  into  dyes  of 
crimson.  We  must  keep  all  our  energies  alive,  our  army  organized,  disciplined, 
and  increased  to  our  present  emergencies.  With  these  preparations  we  can 
meet  and  vanquish  despotic  thousands.  This  is  the  attitude  we  at  present  must 
regard  as  our  own.  We  are  battling  for  human  liberty ;  reason  and  firmness 
must  characterize  our  acts. 

"  The  course  our  enemies  have  pursued  has  been  opposed  to  every  principle 
of  civilized  warfare — bad  faith,  inhumanity,  and  devastation  marked  their  path 
of  invasion.  We  were  a  little  band,  contending  for  liberty — they  were  thou- 
sands, well  appointed,  munitioned,  and  provisioned,  seeking  to  rivet  chains 
upon  us,  or  extirpate  us  from  the  earth.  Tkeir  cruelties  have  incurred  the  uni- 
versal denunciation  of  Christendom.  They  will  not  pass  from  their  nation  dur- 
ing the  present  generation.  The  contrast  of  our  conduct  is  manifest ;  we  were 
hunted  down  as  the  felon  wolf,  our  little  band  driven  from  fastness  to  fastness, 
exasperated  to  the  last  extreme ;  while  the  blood  of  our  kindred  and  our  friends 
invoking  the  vengeance  of  .an  offended  God  was  smoking  to  high  heaven,  we 
met  our  enemy  and  vanquished  them.  They  fell  in  battle,  or  suppliantly  kneeled 
and  were  spared.  We  offered  up  our  vengeance  at  the  shrine  of  humanity, 
while  Christianity  rejoiced  at  the  act  and  looked  with  pride  on  the  sacrifice. 
The  civilized  world  contemplated  with  proud  emotions  conduct  which  reflected 
so  much  glory  on  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  The  moral  effect  has  done  more  to- 
wards our  liberation  than  the  defeat. of  the  army  of  veterans.  Where  our  cause 
has  been  presented  to  our  friends  in  the  land  of  our  origin,  they  have  embraced 
it  with  their  warmest  sympathies.  They  have  rendered  us  manly  and  efficient 
aids.  They  have  rallied  to  our  standard,  they  have  fought  side  by  side  with  our 
warriors.  They  have  bled,  and  their  dust  is  mingling  with  the  ashes  of  our 
heroes.  At  this  moment  I  discern  numbers  around  me  who  battled  in  the  field 
of  San  Jacinto,  and  whose  chivalry  and  valor  have  identified  them  with  the 
glory  of  the  country,  its  name,  its  soil,  and  its  liberty.  There  sits  a  gentleman 
within  my  view  whose  personal  and  political  services  to  Texas  have  been  invalu- 
able. He  was  the  first  in  the  United  States  to  respond  to  our  cause.  His  purse 
was  ever  open  to  our  necessities.  His  hand  was  extended  in  our  aid.  His 
presence  among  us  and  his  return  to  the  embraces  of  our  friends  will  inspire 
new  efforts  in  behalf  of  our  cause.  [The  attention  of  the  Speaker  and  that  of 
Congress,  was  directed  to  Wm.  Christy,  Esq.,  of  New  Orleans,  who  sat  by  invi- 
tation within  the  bar.]  A  circumstance  of  the  highest  import  will  claim  the  at- 
tention of  the  court  at  Washington.  In  our  recent  election  the  important  sub- 
ject of  annexation  to  the  United  States  of  America  was  submitted  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  people.  They  have  expressed  their  feelings  and  their  wishes 
on  that  momentous  subject.  .  They  have,  with  a  unanimity  unparalleled,  de- 
clared that  they  will  be  reunited  to  the  great  Republican  family  of  the  North. 
The  appeal  is  made  by  a  willing  people.  Will  our  friends  disregard  it  ?  They 
have  already  bestowed  upon  us  their  warmest  sympathies.  Their  manly  and 


120  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

generous  feelings  have  been  enlisted  on  our  behalf.  We  are  cheered  by  the 
hope  that  they  will  receive  us  to  participate  in  their  civil,  political,  and  religious 
rights,  and  hail  us  welcome  into  the  great  family  of  freemen.  Our  misfortunes 
have  been  their  misfortunes — our  sorrows,  too,  have  been  theirs,  and  their  joy 
at  our  success  has  been  irrepressible. 

"  A  thousand  considerations  press  upon  me,  each  claims  my  attention.  But 
the  shortness  of  the  notice  of  this  emergency  (for  the  speaker  had  only  four 
hours'  notice  of  the  inauguration,  and  all  this  time  was  spent  in  conversation) 
will  not  enable  me  to  do  justice  to  those  subjects,  and  will  necessarily  induce 
their  postponement  for  the  present.  [Here  the  President,  says  the  reporter, 
paused  for  a  few  seconds  and  disengaged  his  sword.]  It  now,  sir,  becomes  my 
duty  to  make  a  presentation  of  this  sword — this  emblem  of  my  past  office. 
[The  President  was  unable  to  proceed  further ;  but  having  firmly  clenched  it 
with  both  hands,  as  if  with  a  farewell  grasp,  a  tide  of  varied  associations  rushed 
upon  him  in  the  moment,  his  countenance  bespoke  the  workings  of  the  strongest 
emotions,  his  soul  seemed  to  dwell  momentarily  on  the  glistening  blade,  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  auditory  gave  outward  proof  of  their  congeniality  of  feeling. 
It  was  in  reality  a  moment  of  deep  and  painful  interest.  After  this  pause,  more 
eloquently  impressive  than  the  deepest  pathos  conveyed  in  language,  the  Presi- 
dent proceeded.]  I  have  worn  it  with  some  humble  pretensions  in  defence  of 
my  country, — and  should  the  danger  of  my  country  again  call  for  my  services,  I 
expect  to  resume  it,  and  respond  to  that  call,  if  needful,  with  my  blood  and  my 
life." 

Gen.  Houston  exhibited  the  broad  national  principles  on  which 
fie  intended  to  govern  the  country,  and  his  political  fore- 
cast by  the  first  step  which  he  took  in  his  administration.  He 
called  to  his  Cabinet  his  two  most  important  rivals  for  the  Presi- 
dency. General  Stephen  F.  Austin,  the  sagacious  and  incorrupti- 
ble patriot,  became  Secretary  of  State.  Ex-Provisional  Governor 
Henry  Smith  became  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  rancor  of 
party  abated  under  the  high  policy  and  magnanimity  of  these 
selections.  They  proved  that,  aiming  at  the  public  good,  Gen. 
Houston  had  no  party  but  his  country — the  whole  country. 

An  old  trunk  contained  all  that  was  worthy  to  be  regarded  as 
the  archives  of  an  independent  State.  Chaos  had  reigned  every- 
where. The  new  Cabinet  restored  order.  The  death  of  Gen.  Aus- 
tin a  few  months  after  his  accession  to  office  was  deeply  regretted 
by  the  people.  An  upright,  enlightened,  patriotic  man,  he  was 
beloved  by  Gen.  Houston,  who  ever  ascribed  to  him  a  position  on 
the  apex  of  the  pillar  of  true  glory. 

Public  business  was  done  in  an  orderly  and  efficient  manner  as 
soon  as  Congress  was  completely  organized.  Houston  found  on 
his  arrival  at  Columbia  for  inauguration  that  his  former  captive, 
Santa  Anna,  was  retained  about  twelve  miles  from  the  seat  of  gov- 
ernment, a  prisoner,  under  a  guard  of  twenty  men.  The  captive 
president  sent  a  message  to  the  President-elect,  desiring  to  see  him. 


Houston    Visits  Santa  Anna.  121 

Having  given  up  nearly  all  hope  of  ever  regaining  his  liberty,  he 
did  not  implore  his  release.  He  desired  only  to  see  his  conqueror, 
whom  he  had  found  to  be  a  magnanimous  foe.  Gen.  Houston  was 
affected  by  the  message.  He  regretted  that  the  captive  president 
had  been  left  to  drag  out  months  of  weary  imprisonment,  in  vio- 
lation of  the  most  solemn  pledge  of  faith  from  the  Government  ad 
interim.  He  determined  that  the  name  of  Texas  should  not  bear 
the  stain  of  dishonor.  In  conversation  he  said  :  "  After  a  victory 
like  San  Jacinto  we  could  richly  have  afforded  to  have  been  mag- 
nanimous ;  now  the  only  question  is,  can  we  afford  to  be  just  ? " 
The  Government  had  been  in  a  state  .of  quasi  dissolution  for 
months.  It  had  no  means  to  support  captives.  Destitute  of  the 
comforts,  and  even  of  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  Santa  Anna 
and  his  friends  had  been  living  on  a  mere  pittance.  Accompanied 
by  several  gentlemen,  Houston  visited  the  prisoner.  Their  meet- 
ing was  affecting.  After  the  custom  of  his  nation,  Santa  Anna 
opened  his  arms,  and  advanced  to  meet  his  visitor.  The  large 
heart  of  Houston  was  great  enough  to  hold  even  his  enemies,  and 
in  like  manner  he  received  the  captive  president  with  open  arms. 
The  captive  rested  his  head  on  Houston's  broad  breast  (for  he 
hardly  came  up  to  his  shoulders).  It  is  said  the  Mexican  wept  at 
the  recollection  of  his  reverses,  and  the  Virginian  wept  from  sym- 
pathy with  the  man  whom  he  had  vanquished. 

In  the  presence  of  Major  W.  H.  Patton  and  others,  Gen.  Almonte 
acting  as  interpreter,  Santa  Anna  appealed  to  his  conqueror  to  in- 
terpose his  power  in  his  behalf.  He  had  written  a  letter  to  Gen. 
Jackson,  through  an  enclosure  to  Houston  at  Nacogdoches.  A 
very  kind  reply  had  been  returned  by  Gen.  Jackson.  The  hero  of 
New  Orleans  passed  a  high  eulogium  on  his  friend,  the  hero  of  San 
Jacinto,  for  his  magnanimity  toward  his  captive.  Gen.  Jackson 
often  said  that  Houston  would  receive,  as  he  deserved,  as  much 
honor  from  all  good  men  on  account  of  his  considerate  and  kind 
treatment  of  Santa  Anna  after  the  victory  as  for  the  victory  itself. 
"  Let  those  who  clamor  for  blood  clamor  on,"  said  Jackson.  "The 
world  will  take  care  of  Houston's  fame." 

This  interview  occurred  before  Houston's  inauguration  as  first 
Constitutional  President  of  the  Republic,  but  he  assured  the  Mexi- 
can president  that  when  he  acceded  to  power  he  would  remember 
him.  Col.  Wm.  Christy  and  other  generous  men  who  were  deeply 
interested  in  the  honor  of  Texas,  had,  a  short  time  before,  sent  to 
Santa  Anna  some  comforts.  The  party  dined  with  the  Mexican 
prisoner  that  day,  and  parted.  After  Houston  had  returned  to 
Columbia  Santa  Anna  addressed  Gen.  Houston  a  communication, 
which  he  laid  before  Congress  and  solicited  his  release.  The  sub- 


122  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  both  Houses.  A  report,  very 
inflammatory  in  its  character,  was  made.  The  Senate  in  secret  ses- 
sion adopted  a  resolution  requiring  his  detention  as  a  prisoner. 
In  calm,  dignified  terms  Houston  vetoed  the  resolution.  He  set 
forth  the.  probability  of  his  (Santa  Anna's)  assassination.  One 
attempt  had  been  made  before  Houston's  arrival.  The  belief  was 
expressed  that  whether  Santa  Anna  might  die  from  violence  or 
disease,  Texas  would  never  escape  the  odium  of  his  death,  and  that 
if  he  were  restored  to  his  country  Mexico  would  be  kept  in  commo- 
tion for  years,  and  Texas  would  not  be  safe. 

The  Senate  reversed  its  decision,  and  referred  the  matter  to  the 
discretion  of  the  President.  Houston,  on  his  own  responsibility, 
determined  at  once  to  release  him.  As  Gen.  Jackson  had  requested 
Santa  Anna,  if  released,  to  visit  him,  Houston  promised  that  he 
should  have  an  escort  chosen  by  himself.  Santa  Anna  returned  his 
thanks  by  the  messenger,  and  requested  that  Col.  Geo.  Hockley, 
Bernard  E.  Bee,  and  Major  W.  H.  Patton  might  be  allowed  to 
attend  him  to  Washington  city.  About  the  25th  of  November 
Houston  went  with  the  escort  to  take  his  final  leave  of  the  liberated 
captive.  The  following  paper  is  a  copy  of  Gen.  Houston's  instruc- 
tions. It  was  written  by  Houston,  and  is  copied  from  the  original 
in  possession  of  the  writer  of  these  pages. 

"MEMO.  FOR  PRESIDENT  GENERAL  SANTA  ANNA. 

"  [A  spirited  letter  to  the  Mexican  Minister  at  Washington,  enjoining  on  him  obedience  to 
the  orders  given  him.] 

"  In  all  cases,  while  Gen.  Santa  Anna  admits  the  fact  that  he  is  a  prisoner, 
let  him  assume  the  style  of  a  President,  and  head  of  the  Mexican  Republic. 

"  It  would  be  well  for  the  President  General  to  write  to  General  Jackson  an 
official  letter,  which  may  be  such  as  diplomacy  requires,  whilst  he  could  write  a 
confidential  official  letter  to  General  Jackson,  assuring  him  that  he  is  willing  to 
countenance,  or  to  contribute  to  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States  (re- 
ferring to  the  action  of  the  people).  In  his  correspondence  with  the  General  let 
him  urge  or  solicit  the  General  to  become  responsible  for  his  making  good  all 
stipulations  entered  into  by  him  :  if  this  is  done  at  the  instance  of  General  Santa 
Anna,  General  Jackson  can  be  induced  to  furnish  a  national  vessel  of  the  United 
States  for  Gen.  Santa  Anna  to  sail  in  from  this  coast  to  Vera  Cruz  direct,  or 
to  render  an  escort  to  any  point  which  may  be  most  desirable. 

"  I  pledge  myself  most  solemnly  to  do  all  in  my  power  in  accordance  with  this 
plan,  and  my  situation,  to  obtain  the  release  and  restoration  of  General  Santa 
Anna  and  his  countrymen  to  their  homes. 

"  As  to  the  plan  proposed  by  General  Santa  Anna,  it  is  impossible  to  say 
what  effect  it  would  have,  or  that  it  would  have  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  Cabi- 
net of  Washington,  or  the  people  of  that  country  whose  moral  and  political 
opinions  have  weight  and  influence  on  the  Government,  unless  previously  ap- 
prised of  the  course  proposed. 


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CHAPTER     XII. 

RECOGNITION  OF  TEXAN  INDEPENDENCE— CLOSE  OP  GEN.  HOUSTON'S  FIRST  TERM  AS 
PRESIDENT — GEN.  FELIX  HUSTON — EFFORTS  TO  CONCILIATE  THE  INDIANS — MIRA- 
BEAU  B.  LAMAR  ELECTED  PRESIDENT. 

AMONG  the  most  important  matters  which  engaged  the  atten- 
tion of  Gen.  Houston  in  the  beginning  of  his  administration, 
was  the  feasibility  of  annexing  Texas  to  the  United  States. 

Instructions  were  sent  to  Col.  Wm.  H.  Wharton,  Minister  from 
Texas  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  at  Washington  city, 
to  commence  negotiations  with  President  Jackson  for  annexation. 
Shortly  afterward,  Metnucan  Hunt,  Esq.,  was  sent  to  act  in  con- 
cert with  Col.  Wharton  in  promoting  this  important  object. 

Gen.  Jackson  had  been  familiar  with  all  the  movements  touching 
Anglo-Saxon  occupancy  of  Texas.  He  corresponded  with  Gen. 
Houston,  to  whom  he  was  affectionately  attached.  He  counseled 
and  advised  Houston  in  his  most  important  movements,  even  to 
the  Fabian  policy  of  retreating  before  Santa  Anna  to  the  field  of 
San  Jacinto,  and  if  driven  from  there,  to  retreat  to  the  Sabine,  to 
the  vicinity  of  the  United  States  troops  then  stationed  in  Louisiana. 
Gen.  Jackson  exhibited  remarkable  caution  in  dealing  with  the 
matter  of  annexation  ;  he  dispatched,  in  the  summer  of  1836,  a  con- 
fidential agent  to  Texas,  who  explored  the  Territory,  rigorously 
investigated  the  administration  of  its  government,  associated  with 
the  people,  and  observed  the  character  of  society ;  familiarized  him- 
self with  its  resources,  and  made  a  report  to  the  President  and 
Cabinet  at  Washington.  The  President  and  his  Cabinet  became 
satisfied  from  this  report  that  Texas  was  entitled,  according  to  the 
law  of  nations,  to  a  recognition  of  her  independence.  In  the  strug- 
gle of  Texas  for  freedom,  Gen.  Jackson  deeply  sympathized.  After 
independence  had  been  achieved  on  the  battle-field,  he  did  not 
doubt  that  some  day  Texas  would  be  annexed  to  the  United 
States ;  for  wise  reasons  he  did  not  express  such  an  opinion,  and 
would  not  press  recognition  upon  Congress.  He  used  the  following 
language  in  his  message  to  Congress,  December  5,  1836,  after  pre- 
(124) 


The  United  States  Recognize  Texan  Independence.     125 

senting  most  satisfactory  reasons  :  "  Our  character  requires  that  we 
should  neither  anticipate  events  nor  attempt  to  control  them."  Re- 
ferring to  annexation,  he  further  said,  "  Necessarily  a  work  of  time, 
and  uncertain  in  itself,  it  is  calculated  to  expose  our  conduct  to  mis- 
construction in  the  eyes  of  the  world."  In  another  message  on  the 
22d  of  the  same  month,  after  discussing  the  question,  he  expresses  the 
opinion  that  it  would  be  impolitic  yet  to  recognize  Texas  as  an  inde- 
pendent State,  and  proposes  then  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of 
Congress. 

On  the  1 2th  of  January,  1837,  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker,  Senator 
from  Mississippi,  introduced  the  following  resolution  before  the 
U.  S.  Senate  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  State  of  Texas,  having  established  and  maintained  an 
independent  Government,  is  capable  of  performing  those  duties,  foreign  and  do- 
mestic, which  appertain  to  independent  governments;  and  it  appearing  that  there 
is  no  longer  any  reasonable  prospect  of  the  successful  prosecution  of  the  war  by 
Mexico  against  said  State,  it  is  expedient  and  proper,  and  in  conformity  with  the 
laws  of  nations,  and  the  practice  of  this  Government  in  like  cases,  that  the  in- 
dependent political  existence  of  that  State  be  acknowledged  by  the  Government 
of  the  United  States." 

A  strange  and  unreasonable  war  had  been  made  by  the  American 
press,  against  the  interests  and  advancement  of  Texan  liberty. 
Popular  prejudices  swayed  and  controlled  the  votes  of  some 
Senators.  Coolly  biding  his  time,  Mr.  Walker  moved  that  his  reso- 
lution be  made  the  order  of  the  day  for  the  i8th  of  January.  When 
that  day  came,  other  business  crowded  it  aside.  After  several  in- 
effectual efforts  to  decide  the  question,  the  resolution  was  brought 
up  on  the  ist  of  March  for  final  action. 

A  brilliant  and  able  debate  occurred.  The  resolution  of  Mr. 
Walker  was  sustained  by  William  C.  Preston,  John  J.  Crittenden, 
Henry  Clay,  and  John  C.  Calhoun.  Their  mastery  of  the  facts  of 
history  and  persuasive  eloquence,  aided  the  Mississippi  Senator  in 
the  achievement  of  the  most  important  act  of  his  life.  Henry  Clay 
spoke  of  Texas  with  the  generous  enthusiasm  of  his  noble  nature. 
He  declared  unhesitatingly,  that  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic 
of  Texas,  as  a  whole,  was  superior  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Had  Mr.  Clay  pursued  the  same  course  on  the  subject  of 
annexation,  eight  years  thereafter,  he  would  probably  have  been 
the  successor  of  John  Tyler  as  President  of  the  United  States. 
The  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  small  majority.  To  the  efforts  of 
Robert  J.  Walker  must  the  success  of  the  measure  be  attributed, 
and  his  name  is  now  everywhere  spoken  of  with  honor  and  grati- 
tude. When  Texas  reaches  the  point  where  gratitude  will  take  his- 


126  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

toric  form,  she  will  erect  a  monument  to  R.  J.  Walker,  and  place  it 
conspicuously  in  the  grand  temple  which  she  was  destined  to  erect 
for  those  who  signalized  their  friendship  for  her  liberties,  in  her 
day  of  trial. 

The  Republic,  in  gratitude,  ordered  a  portrait  of  Wm.  C.  Preston, 
and  a  bust  of  Robert  J.  Walker  to  be  procured  for  her  Capitol. 

The  last  official  act  of  Gen.  Jackson  was  to  put  his  pen  to  the 
paper  approving  the  resolution,  recognizing  Texas  as  an  independ- 
ent State. 

The  seat  of  Government  was  removed  in  March,  1837,  from  Co- 
lumbia, on  the  Brazos,  to  Houston.  There  was  but  one  house  at 
that  time  at  the  location,  for  it  was  neither  village  nor  town.  This 
house,  a  mere  cabin  just  erected,  served  as  the  "abode  for  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  new  nation.  The  growing  grass  carpeted  the  ground, 
which  was  the  only  floor  of  this  new  residence.  From  its  position, 
as  the  highest  point  of  navigation  on  Buffalo  Bayou,  which  empties 
into  Galveston  Bay,  Houston  attracted  attention,  population  rushed 
in,  and  in  a  short  time  comfortable  public  buildings  were  erected. 

In  regard  to  the  future,  Gen.  Houston's  policy  was,  if  possible,  to 
secure  annexation  to  the  United  States.  The  proposition  for  annex- 
ation had  once  been  rejected  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  Public  feeling  had  not  reached  the  height  of  the  grand 
argument  for  its  necessity.  Houston  did  not  cherish  expectations 
of  the  early  success  of  this  great  measure.  Keen-sighted  and  saga- 
cious statesmen  saw  in  the  consummation  of  annexation,  that  many 
elements  of  mutual  power  and  prosperity  would  accrue  to  both 
countries. 

Failing  to  secure  annexation,  Houston  was  determined  to  con- 
duct the  Government  on  such  principles  as  would  secure  confidence 
abroad  and  inspire  hope  at  home.  He  resolved,  therefore,  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  deep  and  strong ;  to 
harmonize  antagonistic  factions,  never  to  weaken  the  State  with  a 
public  debt,  to  be  the  ruler  of  the  nation  and  not  of  a  party  or  a 
clique. 

In  no  part  of  his  public  life  did  Gen.  Houston  show  the  exalted 
powers  of  a  profound  statesman  in  a  more  remarkable  degree  than 
in  the  policy  which  governed  his  intercourse  with  the  Indian  tribes 
occupying  the  territory  of  Texas.  As  a  population,  they  then  out- 
numbered all  the  inhabitants  of  Texas.  They  were  ferocious  and 
unconquerable.  The  Comanches,  especially  savage  and  numerous, 
lived  in  the  saddle,  fleetly  moving  with  their  women  and  children, 
wherever  their  necessities  or  passions  might  carry  them.  Up  to  the 
present  hour  they  are  the  terror  of  civilized  people.  To  cultivate 
and  maintain  friendly  relations  with  powerful  and  warlike  savage 


Houston's  Statesmanship.  127 

tribes  on  the  frontier,  Houston  regarded  as  one  of  the  chief  objects 
of  his  administration.  He  had  studied  Indian  character  from  his 
boyhood.  His  knowledge  of  Indian  character  was  almost  perfect. 
The  letter  and  spirit  of  his  treaties  with  savage  nations  he  regarded 
so  rigidly  inviolable,  that  he  saved  the  infant  Republic  from  the 
invasions  of  Indians,  and  made  them  venerate  and  love  his  name. 
His  correspondence  with  Indian  tribes,  some  of  which  may  be  seen 
in  another  part  of  this  work,  exhibits  a  mastery  of  the  nervous 
thought  and  terse  language  of  uncultivated  minds,  and  an  adroit- 
ness in  employing  Indian  phraseology,  indicative  of  high  genius. 
Some  of  his  Indian  talks  are  admirable  specimens  of  Indian  ideas 
in  English  words. 

He  had  associated  with  the  Indians  so  intimately  that  he  had  at- 
tained a  complete  knowledge  of  their  character.  In  all  his  negoti- 
ations with  them  he  ever  treated  them  on  the  great  principles  of 
humanity  and  justice.  During  his  two  administrations  in  Texas, 
he  carried  out  his  just  views  of  intercourse  with  Indian  tribes  with 
entire  success.  He  never  experienced  the  slightest  difficulty  in 
winning  their  friendship,  and  preserving  their  perpetual  alliance, 
whenever  he  had  an  opportunity  of  giving  the  Indians  evidence 
that  he  intended  to  treat  them  with  good  faith  and  common  justice. 
How  his  treatment  of  the  Indians  was  regarded  by  those  who  gen- 
erously considered  it,  may  be  comprehended  from  the  fact,  that 
among  the  relics  which  survive  him,  is  a  cane  of  wood,  brought 
from  Asia  Minor,  on  whose  head  in  gold,  is  this  inscription  :  "John 
S.  Tappan  to  Gen.  Sam  Houston,  of  Texas,  the  friend  of  the  red 
man." 

The  administration  of  the  Government  in  its  first  years  was,  as 
might  have  been  expected,  a  severe  trial  and  a  grand  difficulty. 
There  was  no  money  in  the  treasury,  and  there  was  no  credit  on 
which  to  obtain  loans.  An  army  was  in  the  field,  with  no  means  on 
which  it  could  be  supported.  Still  new  projects  were  planned  and 
cherjshed  ;  among  them,  a  grand  campaign  against  Matamoras. 
All  who  were  jealous  of  the  influence  of  the  President  joined  in 
this  scheme,  so  that  the  army  now  numbered  2,400  men.  The  com- 
mander of  the  army,  Gen.  Felix  Huston,  came  to  Houston  when 
the  Congress  met,  to  obtain  authority  to  carry  out  the  project. 
Without  money  in  the  treasury,  without  fiscal  means,  without  cur- 
rency except  promissory  notes  struck  on  common  paper,  it  was 
clearly  inadvisable  and  impracticable  to  inaugurate  such  a  cam- 
paign. To  prevent  disaster  to  the  Republic  in  this  crisis  of  affairs, 
the  President  resorted  to  a  sagacious  expedient.  In  the  absence  ol 
Gen.  Felix  Huston,  Col.  Rodgers  had  been  left  in  command  of  the 
army.  He  had  caused  it  to  be  understood  that  if  the  volunteers 


128  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

did  not  obtain  what  they  desired,  that  he  would  march  to  the  seat 
of  Government,  "chastise  the  President,  kick  Congress  out  of 
doors,  and  give  laws  to  Texas." 

Gen.  Houston  determined  to  end  this  matter  summarily.  Know- 
ing that  Gen.  Felix  Huston  occasionally  indulged  his  men  in  what 
he  called  a  Saturnalia,  during  which  occasional  murders  had  oc- 
curred in  consequence  of  the  brutal  intoxication  of  the  men,  the 
President,  having  also  understood  what  was  transpiring  in  Con- 
gress, which  he  never  visited  except  at  the  opening  or  close  of  the 
session,  directed  the  Secretary  of  War  to  be  ready  to  start  at  two 
o'clock  the  next  morning  for  the  camp.  The  Secretary  carried 
sealed  orders,  with  all  possible  dispatch,  to  be  opened  and  read  in 
camp.  By  these  orders  the  Secretary  was  required  to  furlough  the 
army  by  companies,  until  it  was  reduced  to  600  men.  The  first 
company  was  furloughed  to  march  to  Dimitt's  landing  on  Mata- 
gorda  Bay  ;  the  second  to  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos  ;  the  third  to 
Galveston,  and  thus  the  process  was  to  continue  till  the  reduction 
was  made.  The  opportunity  was  thus  afforded  to  the  volunteers  to 
go  to  the  United  States  by  water,  and  free  the  country  from  appre- 
hensions. Unlimited  furloughs  were  given,  providing  for  recall  of 
those  furloughed  at  any  time  by  proclamation,  and  that  such  as  did 
not  report  within  thirty  days  after  the  proclamation,  should  be  con- 
sidered and  treated  as  deserters.  Without  paying  the  men  off, 
which  was  impossible  with  no  means  of  payment,  and  instructed 
by  the  attempt  of  Gen.  Washington  to  disband  the  army  of  the 
Revolutionary  war,  Gen.  Houston  did  not  attempt  to  disband  the 
army  in  form,  although  he  successfully  did  it  in  fact,  and  in  his  own 
way.  Subordination  had  been  entirely  broken  down.  Scenes  of  dar- 
ing violence  constantly  occurred  in  camp.  To  commit  high-handed 
depredations,  many  lawless  and  desperate  men  were  banded  toge- 
ther. While  Houston  manifested  no  alarm,  the  whole  country  was 
suffering  from  the  most  serious  apprehensions,  and  the  course 
which  he  pursued  evinced  his  fears.  The  various  companies  reached 
their  destinations,  and  made  their  way  to  the  United  States;  having 
fared  roughly  and  seen  enough  of  military  life,  having  exhausted 
the  courage  dangerous  outside  of  the  battle-field,  and  fearing  that 
the  proclamation  of  the  President  would  end  their  furlough  before 
they  could  depart, — all  had  disappeared  before  the  thirty  days  had 
expired.  Thus,  by  a  bold  and  sagacious  policy  which  none  but  a 
man  like  Sam  Houston  would  have  dared  to  attempt,  he  had  saved 
the  Republic  from  the  deepest  peril.  Gen.  Felix  Huston  plotted 
at  the  capital  while  Sam  Houston's  Secretary  of  War  successfully 
disbanded  the  army  of  which  he  was  the  commander. 

During  the  session  of  this  Congress  a  land  law  was  passed  under 


Houston 's  Military  Strategy  in  Peace.  129 

which  serious  troubles  about  titles  have  since  grown  up.  As  its 
object  was  speculation,  many,  in  anticipation  of  enormous  gains, 
voted  for  its  passage.  In  one  of  his  ablest  State  papers,  Gen.  Hous- 
ton vetoed  it.  The  law  was  passed  over  the  veto,  and  went  into 
operation.  A  fruitful  source  of  lasting  litigation,  it  opened  the 
door  to  all  sorts  of  fraud.  Malign  and  fatal  fruits  exhibited  them- 
selves in  a  few  years.  Reckless  legislation  too  often  characterized 
the  Congresses  of  the  Republic.  The  country  was  saved  from  ter- 
rible disaster  by  the  clear  mind  and  strong  will  of  the  firm  and  in- 
telligent statesman  at  the  head  of  the  Government.  During  the 
two  terms  of  his  administration  as  President  he  issued  not  less 
than  eighty  vetoes,  remarkable  for  conservative  principles  and 
opinions.  In  the  want  of  currency,  and  governed  by  ill-judged 
ideas  of  finance,  a  bill  was  passed  authorizing  an  excessive  issue  of 
promissory  notes.  Believing  that  if  this  measure  prevailed,  paper 
currency  would  depreciate  ten  to  one,  the  President  promptly  ve- 
toed the  bill.  The  bad  consequences  were  temporarily  arrested, 
but  under  the  administration  of  his  immediate  successor  the  bill 
was  passed,  approved,  and  abundantly  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of 
Houston. 

Alarms  of  Mexican  and  Indian  invasions  occasionally  agitated 
the  country  during  the  year  1837,  but  such  was  Gen.  Houston's 
watchfulness  that  no  invasions  of  any  kind  occurred.  The  people 
confided  in  the  administration,  just  recovered  from  the  shock  and 
devastation  of  a  powerful  invading  army  ;  environed  with  Mexican 
and  savage  foes,  they  presented  the  beautiful  spectacle  of  an  in- 
dustrious and  increasing  population  in  the  quiet  and  successful 
prosecution  of  the  arts  of  peace.  A  proclamation,  printed  and  cir- 
culated in  English  and  Spanish,  announced  trade  and  commerce 
between  Mexico  and  Texas.  Trade  sprang  up  rapidly.  The  tide 
of  emigration  began  to  set  in  gradually  toward  the  Mexican  bor- 
ders, and  the  frontier  counties  began  to  be  repopulated.  Large 
quantities  of  silver  and  merchandise,  with  caravans  of  horses  and 
mules,  came  into  Texas.  Good  feeling  growing  up  continued  to 
increase.  Mexicans  and  Texans  were  alike  anxious  for  peace. 
The  people  of  Mexico  had  nothing  to  gain  in  battle,  and  had  the 
renewal  of  hostilities  been  put  to  vote,  a  lasting  peace  would  have 
blessed  both  countries. 

Houston's  administration  of  his  first  term  in  the  Presidency  was 
eminently  successful  and  profitable  to  the  country.  Steadily  had 
the  proposition  for  annexation  been  pressed  upon  the  U.  S.  Govern- 
ment at  Washington.  Little  encouragement  was  given  to  the 
Texan  ministers.  Houston  withdrew  the  proposition  as  soon  as 
he  discovered  that  no  advantage  could  accrue  to  Texas  from  fur- 
9 


130  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ther  negotiations.  Foreign  nations  were  likely  to  view  Texas  with 
ill-favor  if  attempts  at  annexation  were  continued  with  so  little 
prospect  of  present  consummation.  The  people  generally  approved 
of  the  withdrawal  of  the  proposition.  On  the  i2th  December,  1838, 
the  first  Presidential  term  closed.  Gen.  Houston  surrendered  the 
keys  of  office  with  a  government  perfectly  organized.  Officers  of 
ability,  integrity,  and  economy  were  in  charge  of  every  department 
of  the  State.  About  $600,000  of  promissory  notes  were  in  circula- 
tion. The  debt  of  the  Republic  did  not  reach  more  than  a  million 
and  a  half.  .Peace  had  been  established  with  the  Indians,  and 
commerce  was  profitable  with  Mexico.  Promissory  notes  were  of 
par  value,  a  grand  result  of  the  wise  government  of  an  infant 
State.  The  feuds  between  Mexico  and  Texas  were  dying  away, 
gradually  and  surely.  At  a  time  when  there  was  little  specie  in 
the  country,  when  no  one  knew  how  the  "  promissory  notes  "  were 
to  be  redeemed,  that  the  currency  of  the  country  should  be  good 
and  adequate  to  general  wants,  was  strong  proof  that  Houston  had 
conducted  the  Government  with  ability  and  integrity.  The  lan- 
guage of  the  people  was,  "  As  long  as  Old  Sam  is  at  the  helm,  the 
ship  of  State  is  safe." 

Extraordinary  difficulties  embarrassed  the  beginning  of  the  ad- 
ministration. A  reckless  people,  who  had  looked  to  the  right  arm 
for  protection,  accustomed  to  the  unrestrained  liberty  of  frontier 
life,  had  to  be  withdrawn  from  the  sway  of  anarchy  and  confusion 
and  placed  under  the  firm  and  mild  sway  of  constitutional  law. 
Even  in  the  older  settlements,  during  these  revolutionary  times, 
the  ordinary  course  of  justice  had  been  suspended.  It  was  not 
strange,  therefore,  that  these  men  of  the  period  should  yield  restive 
obedience  to  the  high  supremacy  of  constitutional  law.  Anglo- 
Saxons  have  ever  been  examples  of  a  law-abiding  people,  but  the 
elements  which  have  made  them  the  supporters  of  law  and  order 
have  also  made  them  most  lawless  frontiersmen.  The  justice  of  a 
jury  is  slow  and  not  always  sure,  hence,  frontiersmen,  whose  homes 
in  forest  or  on  prairie,  afar  from  the  homes  of  their  nativity,  are 
not  often  eager  to  transfer  their  protection  from  a  rifle  which  sel- 
dom misses  fire  to  the  chance  of  the  verdict  of  a  petit  jury.  The 
history  of  Rome  and  the  British  Isles  is  but  the  history  of  Texas 
antecedents.  Such  was  the  personal  influence  of  Sam  Houston 
over  reckless  frontier  settlers,  that  as  easily  as  he  ruled  by  the  stern 
despotism  of  a  camp,  he  governed  them  by  the  mild  sceptre  of  civil 
law.  While  such  benign  changes  were  in  course  of  successful  ac- 
complishment, and  the  grand  structure  of  civil  government  was 
towering  before  the  eyes  of  nations,  petty  intrigues  harassed,  and 
formidable  combinations  confronted  him.  Such  has  been  the  fate 


Close  of  Presidential  Term.  131 

of  all  really  great  minds  in  Church  and  State.  The  same  clique 
who  refused  him  removal  from  the  battle-field  of  San  Jacinto, 
bleeding  and  comfortless,  to  the  steamer  which  might  bear  him 
to  remedies  and  recovery,  busied  themselves  to  undermine  a 
castle  which  they  could  neither  rear  nor  overthrow.  Fruitless 
in  efforts  in  thwarting  his  policy  in  detail,  they  cemented  them- 
selves in  one  grand  organization  for  his  destruction.  But  as  their 
efforts  were  failures,  so  let  the  story  and  chronicle  of  their  doings 
be  transferred  to  the  oblivion  to  which  all  such  factions  belong. 

So  warmly  was  Houston's  conduct  approved  by  the  people,  that, 
had  he  been  eligible  to  the  Presidency  for  the  next  term,  he  would 
have  been  the  almost  unanimous  choice  of  the  people.  The  second 
section  of  the  third  article  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic  de- 
clared that  "  The  first  President  elected  by  the  people  shall  hold 
his  office  for  the  term  of  two  years,  and  shall  be  ineligible  during 
the  next  succeeding  term." 

Just  before  the  election  of  his  successor  occurred,  the  two  other 
candidates  for  the  succession  (James  Collinsworth  and  Peter  W. 
Grayson)  died  by  suicide,  and  no  other  candidate  was  brought 
forward  at  this  late  period  for  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  Under 
these  circumstances,  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar  was  elected  to  the  Presi- 
dency, receiving  6,995  votes  out  of  a  total  vote  of  7,247.  Some 
supposed,  that  with  Houston's  departure  from  office,  his  power 
with  the  people  would  be  lost.  A  vast  concourse,  larger  than 
ever  had  been  assembled  before  in  Texas,  gathered  to  witness  the 
closing  scenes  of  his  administration  and  the  inauguration  of  a  new 
President.  The  Inauguration  Committee  had  made  no  arrange- 
ments on  their  programme  for  the  delivery  of  his  valedictory  ad- 
dress. The  assembled  multitude,  in  a  burst  of  indignation,  clam 
ored  for  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto.  He  came  forward  to  the  front 
of  the  Capitol.  A  wild  shout  of  enthusiasm  rent  the  sky  as  the 
people  gazed  upon  his  lofty,  ample,  and  heroic  form,  relieved 
against  the  portrait  of  George  Washington,  which  was  suspended 
behind  him. 

For  three  hours  he  held  the  thousands  before  him  under  the 
force  of  his  impetuous  eloquence.  The  scroll  of  the  history  of 
Texas  was  unrolled,  her  future  policy  was  portrayed  ;  her  future 
destiny,  if  a  sound  policy  was  pursued,  was  set  forth  in  prophetic 
speech.  Good  faith  with  all  nations  was  solemnly  enjoined,  indi- 
vidual and  national  economy  was  inculcated,  the  cultivation  of 
peace  with  the  Indians  was  earnestly  urged,  and  the  people  were 
warned  against  faction  and  the  rancor  of  party  spirit.  Instead  of 
vesting  hopes  in  annexation  or  treaties,  he  implored  the  people  to 
rely  on  their  own  public  and  private  virtue,  and  be  magnanimous 


132  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

and  just  with  all  men  and  all  nations.  The  tears  streamed  down 
his  face  as,  in  conclusion,  he  took  farewell  of  the  people  he  loved. 
Extending  his  broad  arms  over  the  people,  he  poured  out,  from  his 
great  heart,  the  benediction  of  a  true  patriot  and  invincible  soldier. 
The  vast  multitude  responded  with  tears,  to  his  tears.  The  still 
deep  murmur  of  subdued  feeling  closed  the  excitement  of  the 
solemnly  moving  scene.  Houston  had  demonstrated  all  the  quali- 
ties of  soldier,  statesman,  and  orator,  and  in  each  character  had 
placed  his  name  on  the  rolls  of  immortality. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

THE  SUCCEEDING  ADMINISTRATION  THE  REVERSE  OF  HOUSTON'S — HOUSTON  A  MEMBER 
OF  THE  TEXAN  CONGRESS— SANTA  Ft  EXPEDITION  AND  ITS  RESULT— WAR  ON  THE 
INDIANS — LETTER  TO  ANTHONY  BUTLER — ESTIMATE  OF  THE  PATRIOTISM  AND  PUB- 
LIC VIRTUES  OF  M.  B.  LAMAR  AND  D.  G.  BURNET. 

A  FTER  a  retirement  of  about  one  year,  during  Gen.  Lamar's 
1\  administration,  Houston  consented  to  represent  his  district  in 
the  Congress  of  1839-40,  and  again  in  1840-41.  In  no  part  of  his 
history  did  his  services  yield  more  marked  proofs  of  good  service 
in  arresting  the  tide  of  evil,  and  even  in  preventing  a  dissolution 
of  the  Government.  It  is  impossible  to  do  him  justice  without  al- 
luding to  the  policy  and  measures  of  the  new  administration. 

Opposition  to  everything  pursued  and  recommended  by  Hous 
ton  was  apparent  in  the  inaugural  address  of   the  new  President. 
Extermination  of  the  Indians,  hostility  to  annexation,  the  found- 
ing of  a  huge  national  bank,  and  the  establishment  of  a  splendid 
government,  were  all  earnestly  recommended. 

The  measures  for  the  accomplishment  of  these  great  designs 
were  presented  to  and  adopted  by  the  compliant  Congress.  One 
and  a  quarter  millions  of  treasury  notes  were  appropriated  for 
frontier  defence,  a  half  million  of  the  same  currency  for  the 
civil  list,  and  all  without  a  dollar  on  which  to  base  the  issues.  For 
the  extermination  of  the  frontier  tribes  a  regular  army  of  two  regi- 
ments was  to  be  raised.  Happily,  the  project  to  locate  the  capital, 
originating  largely  in  the  spirit  of  speculation,  has  been  the  prin- 
cipal redeeming  feature  in  the  brilliant  but  otherwise  barren  ad- 
ministration of  Gen.  Houston's  successor. 

Confidence  in  the  new  Government  was  speedily  lost.  Depres- 
sion of  currency  naturally  followed.  While  Texas  was  at  peace 
with  Mexico,  in  the  midst  of  disordered  finances,  the  President 
caused  a  proposition  to  be  introduced  into  both  Houses  of  Con- 
gress, to  conduct  an  expedition  to  Santa  Fe,  through  a  wilderness 
and  prairie,  more  than  five  hundred  miles  distant.  Although  the 
proposition  was  presented  in  both  Houses  at  the  same  time,  it  was 
by  both  rejected. 

But  in  the  face  of  rejection  by  Congress,  during  its  recess  in 
1840,  the  President,  on  his  own  authority,  ordered  the  expedition, 

(133) 


134  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

and  over  three  hundred  men  started  on  a  war-like  expedition  to  a 
distant  country.  The  disasters  of  that  ill-starred  expedition  have 
become  matters  of  history.  A  Governor,  a  Custom-house  officer, 
and  a  Military  Commandant  were  all  appointed  by  the  President, 
and  a  Territorial  Government  organized.  The  men  were  captured, 
the  President's  plans  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  and  were  a 
moving  cause  for  the  bitter  cruelty  with  which  the  men  were 
treated.  Unauthorized  by  the  Constitution  or  Congress,  another 
enormous  amount  of  "  promises  to  pay  "  money  was  issued  to  sup- 
port the  Santa  Fe  expedition.  The  currency  of  the  President  had 
depreciated  so  much  that  the  horses  on  that  expedition  cost  on  an 
average  one  thousand  dollars  each.  By  presidential  edict,  the 
country  was  deprived  of  a  large  number  of  chivalrous,  patriotic 
citizens,  costly  arms  and  munitions  of  war  were  abstracted  from 
the  public  arsenal,  and  public  wagons  and  means  of  transportation 
were  appropriated.  Even  a  piece  of  artillery,  with  the  President's 
name  inscribed  on  its  breech,  was  dragged  across  the  prairies,  over 
that  great  distance,  to  become  a  trophy  for  the  enemies  of  Texas, 
and  illustrate  the  ill-judged  policy  of  the  President  and  degrade 
the  Republic. 

Houston  had  left  the  two  countries  substantially  at  peace,  but 
this  expedition  aroused  hostilities  between  the  two  peoples,  which 
otherwise  might  have  slumbered  forever.  This  lamentable  expedi- 
tion was  the  sole  cause,  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  for  the 
renewal  of  hostilities.  Some  time  previous  to  this  expedition, 
President  Lamar  had  deputed  commissioners  to  Gen.  Arista,  pro- 
posing, it  is  conjectured,  a  union  of  the  Northern  Provinces  of  Mex- 
ico with  Texas,  to  form  a  grand  power,  of  whose  Government  he 
was  to  be  chief.  Arista,  taking  advantage  of  the  misconceptions 
of  the  President,  returned  commissioners.  When  the  Santa  Fd 
expedition  took  up  its  line  of  march  from  Austin,  these  Mexican 
commissioners  were  present,  and  witnessed  the  vain-glorious  dis- 
play. The  facts  have  never  been  disclqsed  whereby  we  may  know 
with  certainty  what  passed  between  the  high  contracting  parties. 
The  result  is  known  to  the  world.  It  may  be  presumed  that  Arista 
was  a  party  to  the  plan.  Facts  favor  the  presumption.  A  guide, 
who  had  long  resided  in  Mexico,  and  spoke  the  language  perfectly, 
led  the  expedition  out  of  Austin.  The  commanding  officers  charged 
him  with  their  betrayal  at  San  Miguel  and  Santa_Fe.  He  led  them 
many  days  into  the  wilderness,  where,  when  the  miseries  of  their 
situation  began  to  press  heavily  upon  them,  he  abandoned  them  to 
their  fate  in  their  misfortunes,  and  was  never  heard  of  afterward. 
Doubtless  Arista's  object  was  to  have  them  conducted  into  the  wil- 
derness, and  there  left  to  perish,  and,  if  they  did  not  perish,  informa- 


President  Lamar^s  Unwise  Schemes.  135 

tion  should  be  given  to  the  authorities  of  Santa  Fe,  who  could 
receive,  betray,  and  then  capture  them.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
avoid  criticism  of  the  President  for  this  ill-advised  and  unauthorized 
expedition.  Passing  over  Gen.  Lamar's  plans  for  a  national  bank, 
a  national  road,  and  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  some  distinguished 
public  functionary  of  Mexico,  some  allusion  should  be  made  to  his 
treatment  of  the  Indians,  so  strongly  contrasted  with  the  wiser  and 
more  humane  policy  of  his  predecessors.  When  his  administration 
began,  his  first  attempt  was  to  attack  the  Cherokees,  and  drive 
them  from  their  possessions  between  the  Nuecas  and  Sabine  Rivers, 
where  they  had  been  settled  for  a  much  longer  time  than  the  Texan 
colonists  themselves.  They  were  a  peaceful,  industrious,  and  profit- 
able community.  The  arts  had  made  some  considerable  progress 
among  them,  and  they  lived  nearly  as  comfortable  as  white  people. 
Mexico  had  invited  them  from  the  United  States.  Great  induce- 
ments had  been  held  out,  and  land  assigned  to  them.  Quietly  and 
inoffensively  pursuing  their  avocations,  they  had  settled  on  these 
lands.  By  solemn  assurance,  a  consultation  in  1835  had  guaran- 
teed to  this  tribe  undisturbed  possession  of  their  territory.  Each 
member  of  the  consultation  had  signed  the  solemn  assurance. 
Recognizing  the  same  rights  and  guarantee,  Houston  and  other 
commissioners  had  subsequently  made  a  treaty  with  the  tribe.  The 
consultation  ratified  this  treaty,  and  its  validity  was  recognized  by 
every  form  of  authority  known  to  bind  Indians  and  white  people. 
While  hostilities  existed  between  Mexico  and  Texas,  Houston  and 
Rusk  prevented  them  from  aiding  the  enemy.  Having  made  great 
advances  in  civilization  during  Houston's  administration,  they  re- 
garded "Texans"  as  friends,  and  Sam  Houston  as  their  "father." 
Upon  such  a  people,  called  "  Houston's  pet  Indians,"  President 
Lamar  commenced  a  war  of  extermination,  with  a  force  of  700  men, 
part  of  whom  had  fought  at  San  Jacinto.  Of  course,  he  carried 
ruin  to  the  homes  of  the  poor  red  man,  as  his  force  was  five  times 
superior  to  theirs.  In  consequence  of  this  treatment  of  the  Chero- 
kees and  other  tribes,  scenes  of  rapine  and  murder  spread  from  the 
Red  River  to  the  Rio  Grande.  It  was  vain,  then,  to  expect  frontier 
protection  from  the  President's  two  regiments  of  regulars  on  the 
field.  Such  a  policy  toward  the  Indians  could  not  have  operated 
otherwise  than  disastrously. 

The  course  pursued  amid  the  disorders  which  prevailed  in  Yuca- 
tan, was  no  less  derogatory  to  the  good  character  of  the  new  Repub- 
lic. Yucatan,  an  integral  part  of  Mexico,  without  proclaiming 
revolt  or  independence,  sent  a  Minister  to  President  Lamar,  for  the 
purpose  of  forming  a  treaty  of  alliance.  Without  concurrence  of 
the  Senate,  or  ratification  of  the  treaty,  the  President  ordered  the 


136  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Texan  navy  to  sail  to  the  coast  of  Yucatan.  A  true  history  of  the 
second  administration  of  Gen.  Houston  as  President  demands 
these  allusions  to  the  administration  which  intervened.  The  con- 
trast is  not  one  involving  the  question  of  patriotism,  but  one  involv- 
ing the  question  of  political  sagacity. 

The  condition  of  the  Republic  at  the  close  of  President  Lamar  s 
administration  was  deplorable.  Outrages  had  been  committed 
upon  peaceful  Indian  tribes,  and  the  flames  of  savage  war  had  been 
kindled  all  along  the  borders  of  Texas.  A  hostile  marauding  ex- 
pedition had  been  sent  into  the  very  heart  of  the  Mexican  provinces. 
The  little  Texan  navy  had  been  sent  to  aid  a  revolting  territory  in 
making  war  upon  Mexico,  and  Mexico  was  rousing  all  her  force  for 
a  new  invasion.  The  national  debt  had  quadrupled  ;  the  public 
treasure  had  been  so  unskillfully  managed,  that  Texan  securities 
had  depreciated  from  one  to  ten  for  one  ;  mail  routes  had  been 
broken  up  ;  profligacy  prevailed,  and  orderly  and  patriotic  citizens 
began  to  regard  the  Government  as  virtually  dissolved,  and  the 
country  reduced  to  the  very  verge  of  ruin. 

How  different  was  the  state  of  affairs  two  years  before.  Houston 
had  overcome  all  difficulties  then  in  the  way  of  the  advancement 
of  Texas.  Domestic  and  foreign  relations,  finances,  and  the  admin- 
istration of  law,  agriculture,  and  commerce  were  in  sound,  peaceful, 
and  flourishing  state.  In  no  portion  of  the  world  had  a  civil  gov- 
ernment ever  been  established  and  consolidated  in  so  short  a  space 
of  time.  Brave  and  true  men  surrounded  Houston,  and  participated 
in  the  glory  of  the  victory  of  San  Jacinto  ;  equally  brave  and  true 
men  surrounded  him  in  the  administration  of  civil  affairs,  and 
shared  in  the  honors  of  success. 

Before  Gen.  Lamar's  term  of  service  had  expired,  all  who  con- 
templated seriously  the  gloomy  condition  of  the  Republic,  turned 
their  eyes  once  more  to  Houston.  Twice  had  he  saved  the  country, 
and  now  for  the  third  time  was  he  called  to  the  helm  of  State. 
Once  more  the  lawless  and  the  desperate  began  to  fear  the  result 
of  their  crimes.  It  was  not  necessary  for  a  Convention  to  nomi- 
nate him.  As  he  believed  that  the  Republic  and  its  Government 
could  be  saved,  he  came  forward  to  the  rescue,  and  by  an  almost 
universal  feeling  that  he  was  the  only  man  who  could  save  Texas, 
and  as  he  had  led  to  victory  and  independence  at  San  Jacinto,  he 
was  made  President  for  a  second  time,  in  the  very  first  hour  when 
the  Constitution  would  allow  it.  Nor  did  he  enter  upon  his  second 
term  one  moment  too  soon,  if  the  events  of  the  times  furnish  a  key 
to  the  situation.  A  memorable  scene  illustrating  the  fact  that  there 
was  never  a  time  when  Houston  could  not  obtain  a  hearing,  oc- 
curred. A  stormy  debate  was  about  to  close  with  the  adjournment 


National  Disaster  from  Unwise  Counsels.        137 

of  Congress  sine  die.  Members  declared  that  they  had  lost  all  hope 
of  carrying  on  the  Government,  and  that  they  would  close  the  farce 
by  retiring  to  their  homes.  In  the  midst  of  the  tempest  Houston 
arose  and  addressed  the  speaker.  Members  dropped  their  hats  and 
gradually  resumed  their  seats.  The  house  was  soon  full,  and  the 
members  quiet  and  still.  Before  ten  minutes  had  elapsed,  the  rich 
deep  voice  which  had  rung  out  clearly  over  the  field  of  San  Jacinto, 
was  all  that  could  be  heard.  The  result  only  can  give  the  true  idea 
of  the  effect  of  the  speech.  He  read  a  resolution  "  that  the  House 
adjourn  till  to-morrow  morning  at  the  usual  hour."  Not  a  member 
voted  against  the  resolution  ;  crowds  flocked  around  him,  and  even 
some  of  his  old  enemies  seizing  his  hand,  thanked  him  for  saving 
the  country.  The  feeling  was  universal  that  but  for  him  the  Gov- 
ernment would  have  been  dissolved.  It  is  quite  certain  that  his 
efforts  saved  it  from  impending  disaster.  The  following  letter  ex- 

hibits  the  times  : 

"AUSTIN,  2d Feby.,  1841. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : — I  would  have  written  to  you  long  since,  but  the  truth  is 
that  I  have  nothing  interesting  or  agreeable  to  advise  you  of.  We  have  been  in 
session  for  months,  and  little  of  advantage  has  resulted  to  our  country  from  the 
session.  We  are  in  a  bad  box,  and  I  fear  it  is  locked  upon  us  !  We  are  in 
debt— we  have  nothing  to  pay  with.  It  will  be  impossible  for  the  Government 
to  go  on  without  the  most  burthensome  taxes.  Yes,  so  much  so  that  the  people 
can  not  get  money  sufficient  to  pay  them  !  What  is  to  become  of  us,  God  only 
can  tell.  All  human  wisdom,  or  at  least  Texan  wisdom,  seems  to  fail  us.  We 
have  many  patriots  in  Texas,  as  well  as  Congress,  but  it  seems  that  every 
measure  proposed  by  those  most  able  in  finance  can  not  devise  a  plan  by  which 
the  nation  is  to  be  extricated  from  its  present  difficulties  !  The  exertion  of  all 
the  talents  and  industry  of  the  people  will  be  necessary  to  restore  us  to  the  situ- 
ation in  which  the  present  administration  found  the  country.  But  we  must 
turn  our  eyes  to  the  only  subject  that  claims  the  attention  of  the  people.  We 
must  cultivate  our  soil,  raise  our  crops,  rear  our  cattle,  and  everything  that  will 
make  us  comfortable  and  independent  when  we  are  at  our  homes.  We  will  still 
be  a  people,  if  we  can  not  be  a  Government,  though  I  hope  devoutly  we  will  re- 
main a  people  and  a  nation.  The  truth  is,  that  useless  extravagance  and  the 
most  unprincipled  profligacy  have  characterized  the  present  administration. 
Recklessness,  the  most  palpable  and  barefaced,  has  been  practiced  to  such  an 
extent  that  they  can  neither  blush  for  their  crimes,  nor  relent  at  the  calamities 
which  they  have  inflicted  upon  a  generous,  poor,  and  confiding  people. 

"  When  things  get  to  the  worst  they  must  mend,  as  the  old  adage  goes.  Our 
situation,  if  the  adage  is  true,  must  soon  be  in  a  better  condition.  I  hope  this 
may  be  the  case  !  I  can  not  see  how  we  would,  or  could,  be  in  a  worse  condi- 
tion. 

"The  sole  object  of is  to  insure,  to  secure,  his  re-election.  And  the 

country  has  to  pay  for  his  experiment ;  but  he  ought  not  to  presume  too  far  upon 
the  forbearance  of  an  injured  and  oppressed  people.  He  has,  as  you  will  see  by 
the  newspaper  enclosed,  had  recourse  to  novelty,  as  well  as  the  ranks  of  his  op- 


138  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ponents,  for  men  to  sustain  his  pro  tern,  situation.  I  have  been  assured  that 
Judge  Terrell  will  not  accept  the  Secretaryship  of  State,  as  it  was  made  without 
his  consent  or  knowledge. 

"  The  day  was  when  it  was  reputable  to  hold  a  place  in  the  Cabinet.  Those 
days  are  gone  by,  and  days  must  pass  ere  we  shall  see  those  times  again. 

"We  are  to  adjourn  on  Thursday  next,  so  say  both  Houses  of  Congress. 
God  knows,  we  are  doing  no  good  by  staying  here.  Congress  meets  too  often, 
and  does  too  much.  The  printing  of  Congress  would  break  any  nation,  and 
when  it  is  done,  the  country  has  paid  for  a  beautiful  batch  of  law-suits  !  I  hope 
to  pass  by  you  in  a  few  days,  and  will  call  if  it  is  in  my  power. 

"Thine  truly, 

"SAM  HOUSTON. 
••  LOL.  ANTHONY  BUTLER." 

But  this  chapter  must  not  close  without  placing  in  history  the 
opinion  of  one  of  the  most  able  and  distinguished  men  who  has  served 
Texas  in  any  capacity — of  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar  and  David  G. 
Burnet.  Hon.  Ashbel  Smith  says  in  his  "Reminiscences  of  the 
Texas  Republic": 

"  The  age  of  chivalry  could  never  have  shown  a  more  knightly  paladin,  a  more 
princely  troubadour  than  Mirabeau  B.  Lamar.  He  knew  not  the  emotion  of  per- 
sonal fear,  the  stern  simplicity  of  his  love  of  justice  was  never  marred  by  a  selfish 
motive.  David  G.  Burnet  united  the  perfidium  ingenium  of  the  Scotch  char- 
acter, with  the  unbending  sternness  of  principle  of  an  old  covenanter.  Old  John 
Knox  would  have  hugged  such  a  character  with  grim  delight.  It  does  not  de- 
tract from  the  virtues  of  these  gentlemen  that  neither  of  them  possessed  eminent 
administrative  ability,  nor  in  a  high  degree  that  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and 
tact  in  managing  men,  which  inferior  men  often  acquire  ;  nor  that  political  wis- 
dom and  statesmanship  accorded  to  but  few,  but  still  indispensable  in  moulding, 
forming  institutions,  and  in  conducting  public  affairs  during  periods  of  transition 
and  danger." 

Ill-health,  overwork,  and  a  sensitive  nature,  induced  President 
Lamar  to  ask  for  leave  of  absence  during  the  last  year  of  his  term. 
Vice-President  D.  G.  Burnet,  formerly  President  ad  interim,  acted  as 
President  during  his  absence,  and  to  the  close  of  his  term. 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

TEN.  HOUSTON'S  SECOND  PRESIDENTIAL  TERM— THE  EXCHEQUER  SYSTEM  OF  FINANCE 
— AVNEXATION — RUMORS  OF  INVASION  BY  MEXICO — VETO  OF  BILL  TO  MAKE  HIM 
Dici  VTOR— THE  EXCITEMENT— APPEAL  TO  THE  GREAT  POWERS  FOR  RECOGNITION 
OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

ON  the  i3th  of  December,  1841,  Gen.  Sam  Houston  was  inaugu- 
rated, for  the  second  time,  as  President  of  the  Republic  of 
Texas.*  The  Government  was  now  in  a  greatly  worse  state  than 
when  he  took  its  reins  five  years  before.  The  body  politic  had 
fallen  into  premature  and  inflammatory  decay,  not  a  disease  merely, 
but  a  relapse.  He  had  formed  a  Government  out  of  chaos  ;  it  was 
his  work  now  to  save  it  from  ruin.  Millions  in  debt,  the  treasury 
was  empty,  and  without  credit  on  which  to  borrow  another  dollar. 
The  money  had  been  wasted  while  the  debt  still  hung  over  the  Re- 
public ;  the  promissory  notes  and  liabilities  of  the  Government  had 
depreciated  ten  to  one,  payment  postponed,  but  not  repudiated. 

In  such  a  sad  state  of  finances  Gen.  Houston  proposed  a  new 
currency,  called  the  exchequer  system,  the  entire  issues  of  which  were 
not  to  exceed  $200,000.  For  the  redemption  of  this  currency,  he 
asked  Congress  to  guarantee,  the  customs  of  the  country,  and  cer- 
tain tracts  of  land  amounting  vo  about  three  millions  of  acres.  An 
act  had  passed,  through  his  agency  while  in  Congress,  declaring 
these  lands  not  subject  to  location.  Members  of  Congress  were 
unwilling,  however,  to  pledge  lands,  as  such  a  course  would  inter- 
fere with  private  interests,  but  they  were  quite  willing  to  hypothe- 
cate the  customs.  Opposition,  rank  and  fierce,  combined  against 

*At  the  election  held  in  September,  1841,  11,531  votes  were  polled  ;  Sam  Hous- 
ton received  7,915  votes,  David  G.  Burnet  3,616  votes,  for  President.  Edward 
Burleson  received  6,141  votes,  and  Memucan  Hunt  4,336  votes,  for  Vice-President. 
The  following  were  the  leading  officers  during  this  Administration  :  Anson  Jones, 
Secretary  of  State  ;  George  W.  Hockley  and  George  W.  Hill,  Secretaries  of  War 
and  Navy  ;  William  H.  Daingerfield  and  James  B.  Miller,  Secretaries  of  the  Treas- 
ury ;  George  W.  Terrell  and  Ebenezer  Allen,  Attorney-Generals  ;  Asa  Brigham, 
Treasurer ;  Francis  R.  Lubbock  and  James  B.  Shaw,  Comptrollers  ;  Charles 
Mason,  Auditor  ;  John  P.  Borden  and  Thomas  William  Ward,  Commissioners  of 
the  General  Land  Office  ;  James  Reiley,  Isaac  Van  Zandt,  and  J.  Pinckney  Hen- 
derson, Ministers  to  the  United  States  ;  Ashbel  Smith,  Minister  to  France ; 
William  Henry  Daingerfield,  Minister  to  the  Netherlands,  Belgium,  and  the  Hanse 
Towns  ;  Charles  H.  Raymond,  Secretary  of  Legation  to  the  United  States. 

(139) 


140  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

the  President,  composed  of  many  of  the  same  elements  which  had 
attempted  to  rule  him  before,  and  had  only  brought  the  country 
near  to  ruin.  The  opposition  aimed  to  control  the  appointments 
under  the  new  administration.  All  such  efforts  to  constrain  his 
policy  were,  as  they  had  been  before,  ineffectual  and  fruitless. 
From  among  the  most  enlightened  and  firm  statesmen  of  Texas,  he 
chose  for  his  Cabinet  officers,  men  in  whom,  not  only  he,  but  the 
country,  reposed  unlimited  confidence.  Hon.  Anson  Jones  (the  last 
President  of  the  Republic)  became  Secretary  of  State  ;  Col.  G.  W. 
Hockley  (a  warm  patriot  and  a  devoted  friend  of  Houston  in  all 
his  struggles),  Secretary  of  War  and  Marine  ;  Hon.  William  H. 
Daingerfield,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  ;  and  Hon.  G.  W.  Terrell, 
Attorney-General.  Multitudes  of  broken-down  speculators  and 
politicians  from  the  United  States,  hopeless  of  winning  distinction 
in  the  new  field  which  they  had  chosen,  continually  flocked  to  Texas 
and  joined  the  ranks  of  those  who  had  declared  openly  that  they 
would  ruin  Houston's  administration,  even  if  revolution  ensued, 
and  zealously  devoted  themselves  to  the  ruin  of  the  young  Repub- 
lic. Having  marked  out  his  policy,  calmly  and  steadily  he  moved 
on  to  its  execution.  The  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States 
was  the  first  measure  which  engaged  his  attention  ;  to  aid  in  its 
accomplishment,  he  dispatched  a  minister  to  Washington  to  open 
negotiations.  If  annexation  failed,  his  next  object  was  to  secure 
from  Mexico  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  Texas.  If  he 
failed  in  both  objects,  he  was  resolved,  in  order  to  secure  the  peace, 
extend  the  commerce,  and  advance  the  prosperity  of  Texas,  to  open 
negotiations  with  France  or  England,  and  form  a  treaty  or  enter 
into  an  alliance.  His  next  movement  was  to  recall  from  Yucatan 
the  little  navy  which  President  Lamar  had  dispatched  thither  to 
help  on  a  revolt.  A  wide  coast  and  a  broad  sea,  and  a  country  ab- 
solutely stripped  of  all  defences,  were  open  to  the  depredations  of 
the  enemy.  Mexico  had  every  provocation  in  the  Santa  Fe  expedi- 
tion, and  the  league  with  Yucatan,  to  renew  hostilities.  The  amity 
which  had  subsisted  between  Texas  and  the  Indian  tribes,  had  been 
broken  by  the  outrages  committed.  When,  therefore,  an  irruption 
from  the  frontier,  or  an  invasion  from  Mexico,  might  at  any  time 
be  reasonably  expected,  in  this  exposed  condition  of  the  country, 
Houston  recommended  Congress  to  raise  a  company  of  sixty  men 
to  protect  the  archives,  as  there  was  then  no  military  force  in  the 
field.  Congress  refused  to  adopt  the  recommendation  and  grant 
the  needed  subsidies,  and  adjourned  the  5th  of  February.  The  seat 
of  Government  having  been  removed  from  its  temporary  location 
at  Houston  to  its  permanent  site  at  Austin,  the  President  started 
for  Houston  to  bring  his  family  to  Austin,  and  in  the  early  part  of 


Interest  in  U.  S.  for  Cause  of  Texas.  141 

March,  while  at  Galveston,  he  heard  of  the  invasion  of  Texas  by 
the  Mexican  commander  Vasquez.  The  deepest  alarm  spread 
throughout  the  country  on  receipt  of  this  intelligence.  Families, 
all  along  the  western  border,  were  seen  flying  from  their  habita- 
tions toward  the  interior.  The  wildest  apprehensions  stirred  the 
public  mind.  The  enemy  had  provocation  in  the  follies  and  disas- 
ters of  Santa  Fe  and  Yucatan.  Another  Alamo  or  Goliad  slaughter 
might  terrify  the  whole  people,  with  a  coast  without  protection  and 
no  army  prepared  to  oppose  an  invader.  In  this  state  of  panic,  all 
the  intrigues  and  conspiracies  against  Houston  suddenly  ceased. 
Everywhere,  committees  of  vigilance  and  safety  were  organized  ; 
the  various  means  resorted  to  in  revolutionary  times  were  called 
into  requisition.  They  were  now  most  active  in  stimulating  their 
neighbors  to  prepare  for  approaching  disasters,  who  recently  had 
been  foremost  in  threatening  to  overthrow  Houston's  administra- 
tion in  the  storm  of  a  revolution.  The  orders  of  the  President  at 
this  time  showed  that  he  did  not  believe  that  the  enemy  would  long 
remain  in  the  country.  In  fact,  the  Mexicans,  after  committing 
outrages  upon  the  citizens  of  San  Antonio,  had  already  made  a 
precipitate  retreat  across  the  Rio  Grande. 

Great  sympathy  was  displayed  at  this  time  by  the  newspapers  of 
the  Western  and  Southern  States  of  the  Union,  for  the  cause  of 
Texas.  The  reported  invasion  by  Vasquez  and  the  miscarriage  of 
the  Sante  F6  expedition,  had  produced  a  sensation.  Relying  on 
this,  Houston  made  an  appeal  to  the  American  people.  Agents 
were  sent  to  the  United  States  to  receive  contributions  and  procure 
volunteers.  A  proclamation  was  issued,  in  which  it  was  distinctly 
required  that  all  troops  which  came  should  be  perfectly  armed  and 
provisioned  for  a  campaign  of  six  months.  Texas  had  no  means 
of  arming  troops  ;  notwithstanding,  several  hundred  volunteers 
came  to  Texas  without  arms  and  without  provisions,  in  direct  vio- 
lation of  the  proclamation.  At  a  public  meeting  in  Georgia,  some 
generous  individuals  raised  something  over  $500.  Besides  this  sum, 
all  the  arms,  ammunition,  provisions,  equipments,  and  money  raised 
throughout  the  United  States  and  reported  to  the  Government  of 
Texas,  did  not  amount  to  $500.  Contributions  were  merely  nomi- 
nal. An  extra  session  of  Congress  was  called  to  meet  in  June,  to 
consider  the  state  of  the  country,  and  devise  means  for  national 
defence.  So  general  prevailed  the  impression  that,  if  anything 
should  be  done,  it  should  be  done  quickly,  that  Congress  debated 
and  legislated  without  much  formality  or  delay.  Congress  passed 
a  bill  investing  Houston  with  dictatorial  powers,  and  appropriat- 
ing ten  millions  of  acres  of  the  public  domain  to  carry  on  a  cam- 
paign. •  Without  a  dollar  in  the  treasury  to  compensate  agents  for 


142  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

disposing  of  the  land,  this  bill  came  no  nearer  making  a  provision 
for  war  than  a  "  resolution  to  appropriate  ten  millions  of  acres  of 
blue  sky,  and  conferring  dictatorial  powers  on  the  north  wind." 

The  will  of  the  Congress  was  certainly  good  enough,  and  mem- 
bers undoubtedly  thought  that  they  had  acquitted  themselves  like 
men.  Will  without  means  is  worthless.  While  the  bill  was  under 
discussion,  it  was  apprehended  that  Houston  would  veto  it,  as  he 
was  the  last  man  to  make  use  of  dictatorial  powers  in  resisting  the 
encroachments  of  a  dictator.  The  excitement  became  intense  as 
the  time  for  constitutionally  keeping  the  bill  in  his  possession  had 
nearly  expired.  Angry  and  desperate  men  filled  the  capital,  whose 
noisy  clamor  excited  the  country.  The  executive  was  assailed  with 
various  accusations,  and  threats  of  violence  were  made  in  every 
quarter,  and  he  was  even  told  that  if  he  vetoed  the  bill,  his  life 
would  pay  the  forfeit.  Apprehending  his  assassination,  his  friends 
gathered  about  him,  and  begged  him  not  to  hazard  a  veto,  in  the 
belief  that  it  would  result  in  his  own  and  his  country's  ruin.  Few 
of  his  friends,  for  two  weeks,  dared  openly  to  approach  the  Presi- 
dent's house,  but  secretly  went  there  under  the  shadow  of  night. 
In  the  meantime,  assassins  lurked  around  his  dwelling.  It  is  said 
that  even  his  Cabinet  officers  talked  of  resigning.  While  a  storm 
raged  which  could  be  resisted  by  few  men,  the  President  was  cheer- 
ful and  calm.  No  guard  was  stationed  around  his  house  ;  no  spies 
were  on  the  alert.  What  was  said  in  Congress  or  done  on  the 
.streets  was  not  inquired  after.  The  blinds  and  windows  of  his 
house  were  wide  open  as  usual.  Often  was  he  seen  walking  across 
his  parlor,  cheerfully  conversing  with  his  family.  His  young  wife, 
one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  gifted  of  women,  whom  he  had 
married  in  1840,  and  of  whom  more  full  mention  will  be  made  here- 
after, confidently  reposed  upon  his  character,  and  sustained  him 
trustingly  and  calmly,  by  her  placid  and  intellectual  conversations. 
The  cheerful  voice  of  his  wife,  mingling  with  the  tones  of  the  harp 
and  the  piano,  was  heard  issuing  from  the  open  windows  of  the 
President's  dwelling,  long  after  the  lights  had  been  extinguished 
through  the  town,  and  sullen,  desperate,  armed  men  were  gathered 
in  secret  meetings  to  plot  and  counterplot. 

The  crisis  was  terrible  ;  Sam  Houston  was  equal  to  it.  No  act 
of  his  eventful  life  gave  such  indubitable  evidence  that  nature  had 
lavished  upon  him  all  those  gifts  which  make  up  the  really  great 
man,  as  this  one.  In  his  own  chosen  time  he  sent  his  veto  to 
Congress. 

In  that  veto  he  demonstrated  to  members  of  Congress  how  ut- 
terly and  totally  they  had  failed  to  accomplish  the  object  for  which 
he  had  called  them  together.  Without  making  provision  for  carry- 


Houston  Restores  Public  Confidence.  143 

ing  on  a  war,  they  had  declared  against  a  powerful  and  organized 
foe.  The  means  to  buy  a  pound  of  powder  were  not  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  President.  He  assured  them,  that  if  they  would 
provide  the  means  for  a  campaign,  if  necessary  he  would  head  it 
himself.  No  army  could  be  prepared  to  take  the  field  without  money, 
and  all  attempts  at  hostilities  without  money — the  true  sinew  of 
war — would  only  serve  to  bring  universal  contempt  down  upon 
the  Republic  of  Texas.  To  confer  unlimited  powers  upon  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  country  was  too  dangerous  to  be  established  as 
a  precedent.  While  they  were  warring  against  dictatorial  powers 
in  a  neighboring  State,  he  would  never  accept  the  prerogatives  of 
a  dictator.  Universal  calm  succeeded  the  publication  of  the  veto, 
and  he  now  became  the  idol  of  the  people  who  so  recently  had  been 
covered  with  maledictions.  Confidence  was  restored.  Houston 
successfully  crushed  one  open  rebellion  by  going  to  the  scene  and 
calling  out  the  militia.  Desperadoes,  finding  that  a  man  who  could 
not  be  trifled  with,  was  at  the  head  of  affairs,  soon  disbanded. 
With  a  new  set  of  men  in  office,  justice  efficiently  administered,  and 
economy  observed,  the  supremacy  of  law  was  again  restored.  And 
although  an  enormous  debt  had  been  imposed  upon  the  country, 
which  would  take  a  long  time  to  discharge,  yet  men  began  to  feel 
again  proud  of  their  Government,  as  public  credit  was  in  process 
of  restoration.  Another  important  matter  evinced  the  wisdom  and 
magnanimity  of  the  President.  His  first  message  after  his  inaugu- 
ration had  hardly  been  delivered,  before  the  news  arrived  of  the 
capture  of  the  Santa  Fe  expedition.  The  fatal  results  of  the  policy 
of  his  predecessor  were  his  first  greeting  in  office.  Immediately  he 
began  to  plan  for  the  redemption  of  the  unfortunate  men,  who  had 
been  deluded  away  into  the  wilderness.  The  lives  of  Texan  sol- 
diers were  as  dear  to  him  as  if  they  had  been  his  own  children.  To 
effect  the  liberation  of  the  Santa  Fe  prisoners,  he  left  no  resource 
untried.  He  appealed  to  all  friendly  powers  to  mediate  for  their 
release.  After  the  news  of  their  capture  had  arrived,  the  Congress 
of  Texas  adjourned,  without  passing  an  act  or  resolution  whereby 
the  President  might  be  aided  in  restoring  them  to  their  liberty. 
Having  gone  to  Santa  Fe  in  violation  of  the  law  of  nations,  and 
with  no  constitutional  authority  from  their  Government,  they  had 
been  given  up  as  doomed  men.  Thus  they  were  thrown  on  Hous- 
ton's hands.  The  terms  of  their  capitulation  was  his  only  reliance. 
Even  if  they  had  been  outlaws  before,  he  insisted  that  their  capitula- 
tion had  brought  them  within  the  pale  of  civilized  warfare.*  After  a 

*  The  correspondence  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States,  Daniel  Web- 
ster, aided  materially  in  the  liberation  of  the  Santa  Fe  prisoners. —  Vide  letter  t* 
Hon.  Waddy  Thompson,  July  8,  1842. 


144  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

series  of  negotiations,  whose  history  reveals  stirring  scenes  and 
vigorous  efforts,  these  brave  but  misguided  men  were  liberated. 
The  Mier  expedition  also  possessed  a  history  connected  with  those 
times,  the  authentic  account  of  which  has  never  been  published. 
This  is  not  the  place  for  such  a  history  in  detail. 

Up  to  this  time,  Mexico  continued  to  threaten  a  grand  campaign 
against  Texas,  but  had  not  dared  to  meet  the  revolted  province 
since  their  overwhelming  defeat  at  San  Jacinto.  Predatory  bands 
of  Mexicans  had  made  repeated  invasions  with  two  apparent 
objects — to  harass  the  country  which  they  could  not  subdue, 
and  to  pay,  with  the  spoils  of  robbery,  the  arrearages  due  from 
the  treasury  of  Mexico  to  their  soldiers.  The  tyranny  of  dictators 
had  lost  forever  to  Mexico  the  dominion  of  Texas.  Mexicans 
themselves  were  the  worst  foes  to  the  tyrant  whose  supremacy  at 
his  capital  could  only  be  maintained  by  the  presence  of  troops. 
Should  he  leave  his  capital  his  dominion  ceased,  and  another  dic- 
tator would  be  proclaimed.  This  contemptible  system  of  pillage 
and  robbery  of  a  Republic  which  had  successfully  won  and  main- 
tained its  independence  had  lasted  long  enough.  But  the  Great 
Powers  of  the  world  had  been  slow  in  acknowledging  this  inde- 
pendence. President  Houston  caused  his  Secretary  of  State  to 
make  an  honorable  appeal  to  these  Great  Powers  to  secure  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  independence  of  the  Republic  of  Texas. 
The  document,  which  is  herein  inserted,  shows  clearly  the  condi- 
tion of  Texas,  and  corrected  many  false  impressions  which  had 
been  made  in  other  countries  in  reference  to  the  struggles  of  the 
Republic.  It  gained  the  sympathy  and  respect  of  Sir  Robert  Peel 
and  M.  Guizot,  who  exhibited  ever  afterward  a  lively  interest  in 
the  fortunes  of  Texas: 

"DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,   TEXAS,  . 

"WASHINGTON,    Oct.    15,    1842.} 

"  I  am  instructed  by  his  Excellency,  the  President,  to  submit  for  your  con- 
sideration and  action  a  subject  of  general  concern  to  civilized  nations,  but 
of  peculiar  interest  to  Texas,  viz. :  The  character  of  the  war  at  present  waged 
by  Mexico  against  this  country.  The  President  is  led  to  believe,  from  the  nature 
of  the  facts  involved,  that  this  step  will  be  deemed  not  only  admissible  but  en- 
tirely proper.  The  civilized  and  Christian  world  are  interested  in  the  unim- 
paired preservation  of  those  principles  and  rules  of  international  intercourse, 
both  in  peace  and  war,  which  have  received  the  impress  of  wisdom  and  human- 
ity, and  been  strengthened,  through  a  long  course  of  time,  by  the  practice  and 
approval  of  the  most  powerful  and  enlightened  of  modern  States.  To  these 
rules,  in  their  application  to  the  pending  difficulties  between  this  Republic  and 
Mexico,  your  attention  is  respectfully  invited. 

"  Whenever  a  people,  separate  and  sovereign  in  their  political  character,  are 
admitted  into  the  great  community  of  nations,  they  incur  responsibilities  and 


Appeal  to  European  Powers.  145 

contract  obligations  which  are  reciprocal  in  their  character,  and  naturally  bind- 
ing upon  all  the  members  of  this  community,  the  extent  and  force  of  which  de- 
pend upon  that  code  of  ethics  which  prescribes  the  reciprocal  duties  and  obliga- 
tions of  each  sovereign  member.  Hence  arises  the  right  to  control  the  mode  of 
warfare  pursued  by  one  nation  toward  another,  and  the  corresponding  duty  of 
providing  against  the  perpetration  of  acts  at  variance  with  the  laws  of  humanity, 
and  the  settled  usages  of  civilized  nations. 

"  In  view  of  the  character  of  hostilities,  at  present  waged  by  Mexico  against 
Texas,  and  of  those  principles  which  have  been,  in  the  opinion  of  this  govern- 
ment, so  frequently  and  so  flagrantly  violated  by  our  enemy,  the  hope  is  confi- 
dently indulged  by  the  President  that  the  direct  interference  of  nations  mutually 
friendly  will  be  extended  to  arrest  a  species  of  warfare  unbecoming  the  age  in 
which  we  live,  and  disgraceful  to  any  people  professing  to  be  civilized. 

"  The  course  of  conduct  uniformly  observed  by  the  government  and  people  of 
Texas  towards  our  enemy,  stands  in  palpable  contrast  with  their  manifold  enor- 
mities and  wanton  aggression,  and  will,  it  is  confidently  expected,  furnish  abun» 
dant  ground  for  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  interference  now  invoked. 

"  It  has  now  been  nearly  seven  years  since  the  Declaration  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Independence  of  this  Republic.  During  the  whole  of  this  time, 
Mexico,  although  uniformly  asserting  the  ability  and  determination  to  re-subju- 
gate the  country,  has  never  made  a  formidable  effort  to  do  so.  Her  principal 
war  has  consisted  of  silly  taunts  and  idle  threats,  of  braggadocio  bulletins  and 
gasconading  proclamations.  All  her  boasted  threats  of  invasion  have  resulted 
in  nothing  more  than  fitting  out  and  sending  into  the  most  exposed  portions  of 
our  territory  petty  marauding  parties,  for  the  purpose  of  pillaging  and  harassing 
the  weak  and  isolated  settlements  on  our  western  border. 

"  Since  March  last,  no  less  than  three  incursions  of  that  character  have  been 
made,  none  of  which  have  continued  longer  than  eight  days.  The 'first  party 
was  composed  of  artillery,  infantry,  rancheros,  and  Indian  warriors,  in  all  about 
700.  Their  attack  was  made  upon  the  defenceless  town  of  San  Antonio.  The 
second,  consisting  of  about  800,  attacked  a  party  of  about  200  emigrants  at  Li- 
pantillan.  They  were  repulsed  with  loss,  and  retreated  out  of  the  country.  The 
last,  under  Gen.  Wall,  of  about  1,300,  attacked  and  took  San  Antonio  the  second 
time,  by  surprise,  during  the  session  of  the  District  Court.  His  force  was  com- 
posed of  regulars,  rancheros,  and  Indians.  The  Indians  employed  by  the  Mex- 
icans are  fragments  of  bands  originally  from  the  United  States,  but  now  located 
within  the  limits  of  Texas.  This  government  has  always  refused  to  employ  the 
services  of  Indians,  when  tendered,  against  Mexico,  and  has  sought  every  pos- 
sible means  to  mitigate,  rather  than  increase,  the  calamities  of  war.  Persisting 
in  this  effort,  the  President  has  had  recourse  to  the  present  measure,  with  a  hope 
to  subserve  the  cause  of  humanity.  Should  this  effort  fail,  the  government  must 
resort  to  retaliatory  measures,  growing  out  of  our  peculiar  situation,  which  are 
to  be  deprecated  by  every  Christian  and  generous  feeling.  The  rulers  of  nations 
are  responsible  for  their  preservation,  and,  as  a  last  resort,  must  adopt  a  just  re- 
taliation. What  is  most  to  be  deplored  in  a  war  of  this  character,  is  that  the 
unoffending  and  defenceless  become  victims  of  the  most  relentless  cruelty. 
War,  in  its  most  generous  and  noble  aspect,  is  accompanied  by  great  calamities. 
Nations  are  not  benefited  by  it,  and  it  must  be  productive  of  great  individual  suf- 
ferings. But  when  individuals  and  nations  are  exasperated  by  repeated  wrongs, 
10 

I 


146  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

even  cruelty  itself  may  be  rendered  tolerable,  if  it  be  used  as  retaliation  for  in- 
juries long  endured.  The  massacres  and  cruelties  which  have  been  inflicted 
upon  Texas,  since  the  commencement  of  her  revolution,  have  been  responded  to 
by  a  generous  forbearance,  but  that  can  not  be  expected  longer  to  exist. 

"  The  object  of  Mexico,  in  her  course,  can  not  be  misunderstood.  By  incur- 
sions of  the  character  complained  of,  the  spirits  of  our  husbandmen  and  farmers 
are  depressed — the  cry  of  invasion  is  kept  up,  and  the  excitement  incidental  to 
war  prevents  emigration,  and  embarrasses  our  resources,  by  deterring  men  of 
enterprise  and  capital  from  making  importations  of  goods  into  our  country. 
This,  for  a  time,  may  avail  her  something,  but  the  aggregate  of  human  suffering 
will  be  a  poor  recompense  for  the  advantages  she  may  gain.  The  origin, 
genius,  and  character  of  the  people  of  Texas,  are  guarantees  for  her  ultimate 
success.  Nations  that  contribute  to  her  advancement  will  command  her  grati- 
tude. Never,  since  1836,  has  Mexico  attempted  anything  like  a  general  invasion 
of  the  country,  or  conducted  the  war  upon  any  plan  calculated  to  test  the  supe- 
riority of  the  two  nations  on  the  field  of  battle,  and  bring  the  war  to  a  close  by 
the  arbitration  of  arms.  Her  hostile  demonstrations,  thus  far,  have  consisted, 
exclusively,  in  the  clandestine  approach  of  small  bands  of  rancheros  from  the 
valley  of  the  Rio  Grande,  for  plunder  and  theft,  but  sometimes  associated  with 
fragments  or  the  Mexican  army,  composed  for  the  most  part  of  convict  soldiery, 
fit  for  nothing  either  honorable  in  enterprise  or  magnanimous  in  conduct.  The 
people  of  Texas,  being,  for  the  most  part,  agriculturists,  engaged  in  the  tillage 
of  the  soil,  the  consequences  of  this  predatory  system  of  warfare  have  been  to 
them  extremely  vexatious  and  harassing,  without  in  any  degree  hastening  the 
adjustment  of  the  difficulties  existing  between  the  parties.  Entirely  different  is 
the  general  character  of  the  Mexican  population.  They  are  literally  a  nation  of 
herdsmen,  subsisting,  in  a  great  measure,  on  the  proceeds  of  their  flocks  and 
herds.  They  can  move  about  from  place  to  place,  and  make  their  homes  wher- 
ever inclination  or  convenience  may  prompt,  without  detriment. 

"  Hitherto,  the  conduct  and  disposition  of  the  Government  and  people  of 
Mexico  have  been  diametrically  opposed  to  those  manifested  by  the  people  ot 
Texas.  While  the  one  has  been  depredating  upon  the  property  and  dwellings 
of  our  exposed  and  defenceless  frontier,  murdering  the  inhabitants  in  cold  blood 
or  forcing  them  away  into  a  loathsome,  and  too  often  fatal,  captivity,  inciting 
the  murderous  tribes  of  hostile  Indians,  who  reside  along  our  northern  border, 
to  plunder  our  exposed  settlements,  stimulating  to  the  most  cruel  and  barbarous 
massacres,  and  inhuman  butcheries,  even  of  our  defenceless  women  and  chil- 
dren, and  to  commit  every  excess  of  savage  warfare — the  other,  animated  by  the 
hope  of  a  further  resort  to  arms  and  their  attendant  calamities,  for  injuries  re- 
ceived, returned  forbearance. 

"  The  President  has  sought  to  abstain  from  the  effusion  of  blood,  and  in  that 
aim  has  uniformly  restrained  the  impetuosity  and  calmed  the  excitement  of  his 
countrymen,  so  often  aroused  by  a  course  of  conduct  which  violates  every  right 
both  private  and  national,  and  a  cruelty  and  depravity  which  would  disgrace  the 
darkest  ages  of  feudal  barbarism.  The  popular  impulse  might  have  been  turned 
upon  the  enemy  on  their  own  soil.  The  result  might  have  proved  that  a  free 
people,  burning  with  vengeance  long  restrained,  could  levy  a  heavy  retaliation. 

"  Such  being  the  character  of  hostile  operations  against  Texas,  on  the  part  of 
our  enemy,  which  being  plainly  violative  of  every  principle  of  civilized  or  honor- 


The  Republic  does  not  fear  Mexico.  147 

able  warfare,  and,  at  the  same  time,  so  little  calculated  to  achieve  the  professed 
object  of  the  war — the  re-conquest  of  Texas,  the  President  confidently  hopes 

the  Government  of will  feel  not  only  justified,  but  even  called  upon,  to 

interpose  its  high  authority  and  arrest  their  course  of  proceedings,  and  require 
of  Mexico  either  the  recognition  of  the  Independence  of  Texas,  or  to  make  war 
upon  her  according  to  the  rules  established  and  universally  recognized  by  civil- 
ized nations.  If  Mexico  believes  herself  able  to  re-subjugate  this  country,  her 
right  to  make  the  effort  to  do  so  is  not  denied,  for,  on  the  contrary,  if  she  choose 
to  invade  our  territory  with  that  purpose,  the  President,  in  the  name  of  the  peo- 
ple of  all  Texas,  will  bid  her  welcome.  It  is  not  against  a  war  with  Mexico 
that  Texas  would  protest.  This  she  deprecates  not.  She  is  willing  at  any  time 
to  stake  her  existence  as  a  nation  upon  the  issue  of  a  war  conducted  on  Chris- 
tian principles,  ^t  is  alone  against  the  unholy,  inhuman,  and  fruitless  character 
it  has  assumed,  and  still  maintains,  which  violates  every  rule  of  honorable  war- 
fare, every  precept  of  religion,  and  sets  at  defiance  even  the  common  sentiments 
of  humanity,  against  which  she  protests,  and  invokes  the  interposition  of  those 
powerful  nations  which  have  recognized  her  independence. 

"  The  Government  of  this  Republic  has  already  given  an  earnest  of  its  dis- 
position to  consult  the  wishes  of  other  nations,  when  those  wishes  do  not  con- 
flict with  the  general  interests  and  convenience  of  the  country.  Fully  appre- 
ciating the  friendly  sentiments  of  those  Powers  which  have  acknowledged  the 
Independence  of  Texas,  and  relying  much  upon  their  ability  and  influence  in 
securing  an  early  and  permanent  adjustment  of  our  difficulties  with  Mexico,  the 
President,  in  compliance  with  the  desire  of  those  nations,  expressed  through 
their  representatives  to  this  Government,  revoked  the  late  proclamation  of 
blockade  against  Mexico,  and  thus  removed  every  cause  of  embarrassment  to 
those  nations  in  their  intercourse  with  our  enemy.  Having  thus  yielded  the  op- 
portunity of  retaliating  upon  our  enemy  the  many  injuries  we  have  received  at 
her  hands,  the  President  feels  less  reluctance  in  making  this  representation,  and 
invoking  the  interposition  of  those  nations  to  put  an  end  to  a  mode  of  warfare 
at  once  disgraceful  to  the  age,  so  evil  in  its  consequences  to  civil  society,  so  re- 
volting to  every  precept  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  shocking  to  every  senti- 
ment of  humanity. 

"  G.  W.  TERRELL, 
'  Attorney-General  and  Acting  Secretary  of  State" 


CHAPTER     XV. 


IMPRESSIONS  PRODUCED  BY  THE  APPEAL  TO  THE  GREAT  POWERS—  ANNEXATION—  COR- 
RESPONDENCE WITH  HON.  MR.  VAN  ZANDT  —  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  — 
FRANCE  AND  ENGLAND  —  VIEWS  AND  POSITION  OF  PRESIDENT  TYLER. 


press  of  the  United  States  teemed  with  calumnies  against 
I  the  Texan  people  and  their  intrepid  leader.  The  appeal  for 
recognition  and  interposition  was  received,  and  read  with  surprise 
and  mortification  by  the  press.  But  this  paper  so  clearly  unfolded 
the  merits  of  the  Texan  struggle  as  to  receive  profound  attention 
from  the  Cabinets  of  Washington,  London,  and  Paris.  Powerful 
and  widely  circulated  American  papers  had  impressed  their  preju- 
dices and  their  intelligence  upon  the  leading  journals  of  England 
and  France.  The  people  of  Texas  were  regarded  as  a  band  of 
outlaws.  Beyond  a  tardy  recognition  of  independence  other  na- 
tions hardly  ventured.  Their  ministers  scarcely  uttered  a  word  of 
encouragement  or  sympathy  to  the  agents  of  Texas  in  Europe. 
The  appeal  indicated  a  high  veneration  for  justice,  lofty  regard 
for  national  honor,  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  claims  of  humanity 
and  Christian  principle,  not  inferior  to  all  the  characteristics  of 
civil  liberty  which  marked  the  progress  and  the  intercourse  of  the 
leading  governments  of  the  world.  It  is  said  that  Peel  and  Guizot, 
on  reading  this  appeal,  declared  that  it  would  have  done  credit  to  the 
bravest  nation  and  most  enlightened  statesmen  of  the  race.  The  ar- 
chives of  Texas  show  that,  immediately  afterward,  an  honorable  ri- 
valry sprung  up  in  the  English  and  French  Cabinets  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  friendly  relations  with  Texas.  The  ministers  of  those  nations 
accredited  to  the  Texan  Government  received  instructions  to  em- 
brace every  opportunity  for  winning  the  regard  and  friendship  of 
the  Republic,  hence  every  effort  was  put  forth  by  vigilant  ministers 
and  keen-sighted  diplomatists  to  gain  for  their  sovereigns  the  con- 
trol of  the  commerce  and  political  fortunes  of  Texas.  To  prevent 
the  final  union  of  Texas  with  the  United  States  became  a  matter  of 
vast  consequence  to  England  and  France,  and,  as  an  independent 
power,  no  barriers  could  prevent  her  ultimate  advancement.  But 
the  tendency  of  affairs  toward  annexation  with  the  United  States 
was  watched  with  vigilance  and  alarm.  Diplomatic,  commercial, 
(148) 


Negotiations  for  Annexation.  149 

and  financial  machinery  were  employed  to  avert  what  was  clearly 
foreseen  would  prove  detrimental  to  all  English  and  French  in- 
terests on  the  Western  Continent.  Houston  controlled  negotia- 
tions. Motives  of  personal  aggrandizement  could  not  constrain  or 
coerce  him  to  adopt  the  policy  of  England  or  France.  Had  that 
policy  prevailed,  the  map  of  the  United  States  would  present  dif 
ferent  boundaries,  and  the  power  of  the  United  States  a  different 
aspect. 

In  proportion  as  Texas  was  spurned  from  the  embrace  of 
the  United  States,  the  British  and  French  Cabinets  redoubled 
their  exertions  to  prevent  annexation.  The  Congress  of  the 
United  States  still  held  aloof  from  legislation,  plied  by  threats, 
awed  by  clamor,  and  blinded  by  falsehood  and  prejudice.  The 
minds  of  the  friends  of  Texas  in  the  Union  were  filled  with 
timidity  and  apprehensions.  But  President  John  Tyler  and  his 
Cabinet  were  not  indifferent  spectators  of  the  moving  drama. 
Whatever  opinion  may  be  entertained  respecting  the  wisdom  of 
President  Tyler's  administration  in  other  matters,  there  can  be 
but  one  opinion,  that  he  pursued  a  most  enlightened,  sagacious, 
and  true  American  policy  in  the  affair  of  annexing  Texas  to  the 
United  States.  With  vigilance,  activity,  and  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  merits  of  the  question,  he  strove  to  consummate 
the  vastly  important  measure  of  annexation  at  the  earliest  possible 
moment.  Throughout  his  administration  he  was  true  to  his  policy 
on  this  question.  He  steadily  and  firmly  pursued  his  purpose,  un- 
awed  by  popular  clamor,  and  unseduced  by  the  minions  who  sought 
to  eclipse  his  fame.  Temporarily,  his  reputation  may  have  suf- 
fered with  both  of  the  political  parties  then  existing,  but  the  time 
has  come  when  the  important  consequences  of  that  great  act, 
whose  consummation  is  so  largely  due  to  him,  has  become  ap- 
parent to  the  whole  American  people. 

In  the  meantime  negotiations  were  conducted  in  London  by  Hon. 
Ashbel  Smith  with  the  most  consummate  ability,  and  England  and 
France  did  interfere.  The  friendly  offices  also  of  the  Cabinet  at 
Washington  city  were  tendered,  but  exerted  but  little  influence 
with  Mexico. 

The  policy  of  Gen.  Houston  on  this  important  subject  may  be 
inferred  from  a  dispatch  from  the  Department  of  State  of  Texas 
to  Hon.  Mr.  Van  Zandt,  Charge  d'Affaires  of  the  Republic  at 
Washington  city,  dated  July  6,  1843,  an  extract  from  which  is 
herewith  presented.  Whether  our  Government  would  ever  consent 
to  annexation  on  fair  and  equal  terms  was  to  him  exceedingly 
doubtful.  In  this  state  of  doubt,  and  whatever  may  have  been  his 
private  feelings,  he  was  resolved  to  maintain  the  most  friendly  re- 


150  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

lations.  If  Texas  should  be  spurned  from  the  embrace  of  the 
United  States,  he  was  for  placing  the  Republic  in  such  an  attitude 
that  she  might  fall  back  upon  a  treaty  with  a  powerful  ally.  Texas 
could  thus  claim  protection  from  her  foe,  and  might  advance  rap- 
idly to  power  under  a  policy  made  liberal  by  interest.  The 
extract  is  as  follows  :  "  The  United  States  having  taken  no  definite 
action  in  this  matter,  and  there  being  now  an  increased  prospect 
of  an  adjustment  of  our  difficulties  with  Mexico,  the  Presiden 
deems  it  advisable  to  take  no  further  action  at  present  in  reference 
to  annexation,  but  has  decided  to  await  the  issue  of  events  now  in 
progress,  and  to  postpone  that  subject  for  future  consideration  and 
for  such  action  as  circumstances  may  hereafter  render  most  expedi- 
ent for  the  interests  of  the  country." 

Gen.  Houston's  negotiations  with  the  Washington  Cabinet 
caused  some  little  jealousy  with  the  English  and  French  Ministers 
resident  in  Texas.  Not  regarding  it  probable  that  a  treaty  of  an- 
nexation would  soon  be  .consummated,  he  instructed  Mr.  Van  Zandt 
to  defer  all  further  action  for  the  time  being.  The  following  ex- 
tracts from  instructions  forwarded  to  Mr.  Van  Zandt  December 
13,  1843,  will  set  forth  the  reasons  for  Houston's  policy  : 

"The  interposition  of  foreign  friendly  governments,  by  which  an  armistice 
has  been  established  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  and  the  prospects  of  a  perma- 
nent peace  with  that  power  given,  has  been  extended  by  the  particular  govern- 
ments mostly  influential  in  obtaining  these  most  desirable  results,  chiefly  with  a 
view  that  in  the  event  of  Mexico's  agreeing  to  acknowledge  the  independence 
of  Texas,  she  should  continue  to  exist  as  a  separate  and  independent  nation. 
The  great  object  and  desire  of  Texas  is  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  and 
satisfactory  peace  with  her  enemy,  and  for  this  purpose  the  good  offices  of  these 
powers  hare  been  asked  and  obtained,  and  the  object  sought  for,  through  their 
intervention,  appears  now  on  the  eve  of  being  realized. 

"  This  intervention  and  these  good  offices  have  been  gratuitously  and  uncon- 
ditionally given,  and  although  Texas  is  entirely  free  to  pursue  any  course  she 
may  please  in  future,  the  President  thinks  that,  in  the  present  state  of  our  foreign 
relations,  it  would  not  be  politic  to  abandon  the  expectations  which  now  exist 
of  a  speedy  settlement  of  our  difficulties  with  Mexico  through  the  good  offices 
of  other  powers,  for  the  very  uncertain  prospect  of  annexation  to  the  United 
States,  however  desirable  that  event,  if  it  could  be  consummated,  might  be. 
Were  Texas  to  agree  to  a  treaty  of  annexation,  the  good  offices  of  these  powers 
would,  it  is  believed,  be  immediately  withdrawn,  and  were  the  treaty  then  to 
fail  of  ratification  by  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  Texas  would  be  placed  in 
a  much  worse  situation  than  she  is  at  present,  nor  could  she  again  ask  or  hope 
for  any  interposition  on  her  behalf,  either  by  England  or  France ;  and  without 
our  consequent  supposed  dependence  upon  the  United  States,  might  again  re- 
turn to  the  apathy  and  indifference  towards  us  which  have  always  until  now  char- 
acterized that  government.  Texas  would  then  be  left  in  the  same  situation  she 
was  two  years  since,  without  a  friend,  and  her  difficulties  unsettled. 


England  and  France  Jealous  of  Annexation.       151 

"  This  Government  is  duly  sensible  of  the  very  friendly  feelings  evinced  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  in  the  offer  to  conclude  a  treaty  for  the  annexa- 
tion of  this  country,  but  from  all  the  information  which  he  has  been  able  to  ob- 
tain in  relation  to  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  he 
is  induced  to  believe  that  its  approval  by  the  other  branches  of  that  Government 
would  be,  if  not  refused,  at  least  of  very  uncertain  attainment  at  this  particular 
time  ;  therefore,  and  until  such  an  expression  of  their  opinion  can  be  obtained  as 
would  render  this  measure  certain  of  success,  the  President  deems  it  most  proper 
and  advantageous  to  the  interests  of  this  country  to  decline  the  proposition  for 
concluding  a  treaty.  In  making  a  communication  of  this  determination  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States,  it  will  be  proper  to  inform  that  Government 
that  whenever  the  Congress  or  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  throw  wide 
open  the  door  to  annexation  by  a  resolution  authorizing  the  President  of  that 
country  to  propose  a  treaty  for  the  purpose,  the  proposition  will  be  immediately 
submitted  to  the  representatives  of  the  people  of  this  country,  and  promptly 
responded  to  on  the  part  of  its  Government.  The  present  determination  of  the 
President  on  this  subject  does  not  proceed  from  any  change  in  his  views  of  the 
general  policy  of  the  measure,  but  from  a  change  in  the  relations  of  this  coun- 
try with  other  powers" 

Knowing  that  England  was  pressing  her  powerful  and  friendly 
offices  upon  the  Republic,  the  Cabinet  at  Washington  was  alarmed 
on  receiving  these  instructions  for  the  suspension  of  negotiations 
on  the  subject  of  annexation.  The  difficulties  between  England 
and  the  United  States  growing  out  of  the  Northeastern  and  Oregon 
boundaries  proved  abundantly  that  prejudicial  consequences  might 
ensue  from  allowing  England  to  gain  a  foothold  on  our  southern 
frontier.  Fearing  the  result,  President  Tyler  lost  no  opportunity 
to  instruct  his  Secretary  of  State  to  assure  the  Texan  Government 
of  his  earnest  desire  to  consummate  annexation.  Under  President 
Lamar's  administration  the  question  of  annexation  had  been  al- 
lowed to  sleep.  President  Houston  strove  to  pursue  a  discreet 
course  in  regard  to  it  after  his  re-election.  He  was  placed  in  a 
position  of  extreme  delicacy.  Any  imprudent  act  or  movement 
might  prove  exceedingly  hazardous  to  the  interests  of  the  country. 
Occupied  earnestly  for  some  time  in  securing  annexation,  he  had 
wisely  kept  his  own  counsel.  Parties  were  taking  strong  ground 
for  and  against  annexation  in  the  United  States,  arid  it  was  doubt- 
ful till  the  presidential  election  in  November,  1844,  which  party, 
that  which  rallied  under  the  honored  names  of  Henry  Clay  and 
Theodore  Frelinghuysen  for  President,  or  that  other  party  which 
supported  "  Polk,  Dallas  and  Texas,"  was  the  stronger.  The  tariff, 
and  Texas  made  up  the  staple  of  the  political  eloquence  which 
came  from  the  lips  of  John  J.  Crittenden,  Sergeant  S.  Prentiss, 
James  C.  Jones,  and  others  known  as  mighty  in  speech  among  the 


152  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

masses  on  one  side,  and  Robert  J.  Walker,  Henry  Stuart  Foote, 
Jefferson  Davis,  and  others  equally  as  powerful  on  the  other  side. 
Free  soil  and  the  abolition  of  slavery  were  the  watchwords  of  a 
small  party  destined  in  a  future  day  to  be  masters  of  the  situation, 
and  sway  the  destinies  of  the  United  States. 

The  election  of  1844  settled  the  policy  of  the  Cabinet  and  Senate 
at  Washington  city. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SECRET  MESSAGE  TO  THE  TEXAN  CONGRESS  ON  ANNEXATION. 

BUT  it  required  other   negotiations  and  much  correspondence 
before  the  question  of  annexation  was  settled  at  the  ballot- 
box.     The  following  secret  message  was  transmitted  to  the  Con- 
gress of  the  Republic  : 

"EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,      ) 
"WASHINGTON,  January  20,  1844.  ) 
"To  THE  HONORABLE  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

"  Connected  with  our  present  condition  our  foreign  relations  are  becoming 
daily  more  and  more  interesting,  and  if.  seems  to  me  that  the  representatives  of 
the  people  should  anticipate  the  events  which  may  in  all  probability  occur. 

"  To  suppose  that  both  branches  of  the  Honorable  Congress  were  not  aware 
of  the  important  and  absorbing  questions  which  it  is  believed  will  agitate  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  connected  with  the  fate  of  this  country,  would  be 
to  doubt  their  intelligence.  The  Executive,  therefore,  relies  upon  the  delibera- 
tive wisdom  and  decision  of  the  representatives  of  the  people  to  give  him  all  the 
aid  in  their  power  to  conduct  the  affairs  of  Texas  to  such  an  issue  as  will  be 
promotive  of  its  interests  as  a  community,  and  at  the  same  time  gratifying  to 
the  people.  Heretofore  he  has  carefully  abstained  during  his  present  admin- 
istration from  the  expression  of  any  opinion  in  reference  to  the  subject  of  an- 
nexation to  the  United  States.  And  in  submitting  this  communication  he  does 
not  think  it  becoming  in  him  now  to  express  any  preference.  It-  will  be  per- 
ceived by  the  Honorable  Congress  that  if  any  effort  were  made  on  the  part  of 
this  Government  to  effect  the  object  of  annexation,  which  is  so  desirable,  and  it 
should  fail  in  meeting  responsive  and  corresponding  action  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  it  might  have  a  seriously  prejudicial  influence  upon  the  course 
which  England  and  France  might  otherwise  be  disposed  to  take  in  our  favor. 
And  a  failure  on  our  part  after  a  decided  expression  could  not  but  be  mortifying 
to  us,  and  to  a  great  extent  diminish  our  claims  to  the  confidence  of  other 
nations.  It  would  create  distrust  on  their  part  toward  us,  because  the  oppo- 
nents of  our  interests  would  allege  there  was  no  stability  in  our  purposes,  and 
therefore  unsafe  in  other  nations  to  cultivate  very  intimate  relations  with  us,  or 
even  to  maintain  those  which  now  so  fortunately  exist.  They  might  apprehend 
that  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  more  years,  Texas  having  acquired  increased  im- 
portance from  their  friendly  aid  and  good  offices,  would  be  induced  again  by  the 
agitation  of  the  same  question  in  the  United  States  to  apply  for  admission  into 
the  Union,  and  that  by  possibility  it  might  be  effected.  Hence  the  utmost  cau- 
tion and  secrecy  on  our  part  as  to  the  true  motives  of  our  policy  should  be  care- 
fully observed. 

(153) 


i54  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

"  Were  the  interest  now  manifested,  both  in  the  United  States  and  Texas,  in 
relation  to  annexation,  to  pass  off  without  producing  any  material  change  in  our 
national  attitude,  another  object  of  but  secondary  importance  might  be  achieved. 
It  appears  to  the  Executive,  that  the  relations  which  the  United  States  bear  to 
this  country,  and  its  important  position  in  the  gulf,  would  not  disincline  them  to 
a  treaty  of  alliance  with  us,  defensive,  if  not  also  offensive.  If  nothing  else  were 
effected  than  a  treaty  for  defense,  it  would  secure  to  Texas  a  position  that  would 
forever  bid  defiance  to  our  Mexican  enemy.  It  would  be  as  important  to  us,  in 
tact,  as  the  recognition  of  our  independence  by  Mexico. 

"  These  measures  seem  to  the  judgment  of  the  Executive  to  be  vitally  con- 
nected with  the  glory,  the  well-being,  and  stability  of  the  nation,  and  had  he 
under  this  conviction  not  communicated  the  same  to  Congress,  he  should  have 
felt  himself  delinquent  in  the  discharge  of  an  important  duty.  If  they  are  favor- 
ably received  by  the  honorable  Congress,  and  their  effectuation  desired,  it  may 
be  necessary  for  this  purpose,  if  circumstances  daily  arising  should  justify  the 
course,  to  dispatch  an  additional  agent  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
to  co-operate  with  our  agent  now  there  ;  and  in  that  event  an  appropriation  ot 
five  thousand  dollars  would  be  requisite  to  meet  the  necessary  expenses.  This 
recommendation  does  not  arise  from  any  distrust  of  the  ability  and  capacity  of 
Mr.  Van  Zandt,  our  present  Charg6  d'Affaires.  His  industry,  zeal,  and  capacity 
are  evinced  by  his  correspondence  with  this  Government ;  but  the  additional 
weight  a  coadjutor  would  give  to  our  character  at  that  court,  and  the  multipli- 
cation of  facilities  for  success  by  the  aid  which  they  could  mutually  render  each 
other,  from  increased  opportunities  for  intelligence,  and  in  collecting  and  com- 
paring information,  would  doubtless  be  of  the  highest  importance. 

"  If  the  honorable  Congress  should  think  well  of  these  suggestions,  they  will 
be  aware  of  the  propriety  of  immediate  action  upon  the  subject.  The  Congress 
of  the  United  States  has  now  been  in  session  some  time,  and  there  can  be  but 
little  doubt  that,  if  they  have  not  already  done  so,  they  will  soon  indicate  their 
disposition  and  course  of  policy  toward  this  country; 

"  Believing,  as  the  Executive  did  at  the  commencement  of  the  present  session, 
that  the  subject  of  annexation  was  in  the  best  position  in  which  Texas  could  place 
it,  he  did  not  allude  to  it  in  his  general  message,  apprehending  that  any  public  ac- 
tion, taken  either  by  the  Executive  or  the  Congress,  would  only  have  a  tendency 
to  embarrass  the  subject.  Action  must  now  be  taken  by  the  United  States,  and 
we  must  now  watch  and  meet  their  disposition  toward  us.  If  we  evince  too 
much  anxiety  it  will  be  regarded  as  importunity,  and  the  voice  of  supplication 
seldom  commands,  in  such  cases,  great  respect. 

"  The  Executive  hopes  that  these  injunctions,  under  which  this  communication 
is  made,  may  be  so  regarded  by  the  Congress,  as  to  prevent  the  possibility  of  its 
publication,  until  the  measures  sought  may  be  accomplished,  or  the  negotiations 
terminated. 

"SAM  HOUSTON." 

The  effect  of  this  message  was  salutary.  Another  minister,  in 
the  person  of  Hon.  J.  Pinckney  Henderson  (afterward  the  first 
Governor  of  the  State  of  Texas),  was  commissioned  to  go  to 
Washington.  Anxiety  for  annexation,  which  the  people  voted  for 
in  1836,  almost  unanimously,  was  declining,  with  the  certain  evi 


Increased  Desire  for  Annexation.  155 

dence  that  England  (if  not  France  also)  would  throw  over  Texas 
the  broad  aegis  of  its  protection.  Desire  for  annexation  was  in- 
creasing in  the  United  States.  The  Cabinet  at  Washington  mani- 
fested an  anxiety  to  renew  negotiations.  Gen.  Houston  instructed 
his  minister,  Hon.  Mr.  Van  Zandt,  to  meet  the  United  States  half 
way,  and  to  inform  him  of  any  disposition  on  their  part  to  come  to 
the  terms  which  they  had  rejected.  The  chapters  containing  cor- 
respondence will  furnish  the  principal  points  touching  the  reasons 
for  annexation. 


CHAPTER     XVII. 

CLOSE  OF  THE  SECOND  TERM  OF  HOUSTON'S  ADMINISTRATION  AS  PRESIDENT — RESOLU- 
TIONS OF  THE  SENATE— HOUSTON'S  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  FINANCES  OF  TEXAS  DURING 
HIS  Two  ADMINISTRATIONS,  AND  HIS  ADMIRABLE  SUCCESS— A  REVIEW  AND  EXPLANA- 
-HON  OF  THE  SYSTEM. 

ON  December  pth,  1844,  the  second  term  of  the  administration  of 
Gen.  Sam  Houston  closed.  His  valedictory,  like  all  other 
papers  and  addresses  emanating  from  his  pen  and  tongue,  ranks 
him  among  the  first  statesmen  and  patriots  of  the  world.  Texas 
was  prosperous.  Certain  formalities,  hereafter  to  be  indicated, 
only  were  necessary  to  introduce  her  to  the  sisterhood  of  the  United 
States.  He  anticipated  the  pleasure  of  retiring  to  domestic  life, 
only  to  be  disappointed  by  the  call  of  his  countrymen  for  further 
and  long-protracted  services.  The  following  document  places  his 
administration  in  its  true  light  before  the  world  : 

"SENATE  CHAMBER,  December  9,  1844. 
"  To  His  EXCELLENCY,  SAM  HOUSTON,  President. 

"Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  your  Excellency  the  following  Reso- 
lutions, introduced  by  the  Hon.  David  S.  Kaufman,  Senator  from  the  District 
of  Shelby,  Sabine,  and  Harrison,  and  passed  by  the  Senate. 

"  ist.  Resolvedly  the  Senate,  That  the  Administration  of  President  Houston, 
which  this  day  terminates,  has  been  characterized  by  a  forecast,  economy,  and 
ability,  which  entitle  it  to  the  thanks  and  gratitude  of  the  Nation. 

"  2d.  Resolved,  That  as  the  Constitutional  advisers  of  the  President,  we  have 
undiminished  confidence  in  the  unbending  integrity  and  devoted  patriotism  of 
Gen.  Sam  Houston,  and  he  carries  with  him  into  retirement,  our  warm  wishes 
for  his  health  and  happiness. 

"  $d.  Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  furnish  Gen.  Houston  with  a  copy  of  these 
Resolutions. 

"  With  great  respect, 

"  HENRY  J.  JENET, 

" Secretary  of  the  Senate" 

The  history  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  the  history  of  the  two  ad- 
ministrations of  President  Houston,  the  personal  history  of  General 
Houston  himself,  would  be  incomplete,  would  not  be  clearly  intel- 
(156) 


Finances  of  Texas  during  the  Revolution.         157 

ligible  without  a  somewhat  specific  account  of  the  system  and  of 
the  management  of  the  finances  of  Texas,  under,  and,  in  no  in- 
considerable measure,  by  President  Houston.  Such  account  is 
necessary  to  understand  that  powerful  hold  which  he  had  on  the 
confidence  of  the  people  ;  that  strong  popularity  of  his  with  the 
masses,  which  always  triumphed  over  the  fierce,  unrelenting  oppo- 
sition of  political  leaders  of  great  ability.  It  will  be  necessary  to 
advert,  only  cursorily,  to  a  different  financial  system  pursued  dur- 
ing the  presidential  term  intervening  between  the  two  terms  of 
President  Houston's  administration.  In  order  to  appreciate  the 
importance  of  the  financial  system  perseveringly  carried  on  by 
President  Houston,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  financial  pros- 
perity of  any  Government  is  the  sure  index,  the  sure  measure,  of 
the  prosperity  of  its  people.  It  is  (foubly  true  of  an  infant  nation, 
of  a  nascent  Government,  such  as  Texas  then  was,  before  time  had 
intertwined  interests  and  consolidated  institutions. 

Under  the  Council,  the  Consultation,  the  Provisional  Government, 
which  were  the  successive  forms  of  administering  public  affairs  of 
Texas  during  the  Revolution  v/hich  severed  it  from  Mexico,  and 
until  the  achievement  of  independence  at  San  Jacinto,  current  ex- 
penses were  provided  for  as  best  they  could  be.  This  was  done,  or 
attempted  to  be  done,  by  borrowing  from  private  individuals  ;  by 
generous  gifts  of  small  sums — sums  so  small,  indeed,  that  the  men- 
tion of  them  is  calculated  to  raise  a  smile  ;  by  commissioners 
empowered  to  negotiate  loans  ;  and  by  offers  of  sales  of  land.  The 
slender  contributions  from  these  sources  were  of  inappreciable 
value  to  the  infant  cause.  During  that  revolutionary  period,  Texas 
lived,  in  the  language  of  proverb,  from  hand  to  mouth.  It  was  not 
known  to-day  where  the  means  for  carrying  on  affairs  on  the  mor- 
row were  to  be  found.  There  was  no  financial  system  ;  there  was 
no  system  of  public,  organized  finance  ;  there  could  be  none  in  the 
circumstances  of  the  hour  which  deserved  the  name. 

Freedom  from  Mexican  rule  being  achieved  at  San  Jacinto,  the 
President,  Vice-President,  and  members  of  Congress  were  elected. 
At  the  first  session  of  the  first  Congress  in  the  fall  and  winter  of 
1836,  the  organization  of  the  essential  functions  of  the  new  Gov- 
ernment claimed  absorbing  attention.  Concurrently,  means  to 
carry  on  government  were  also  of  immediate  necessity  to  be  pro- 
vided for.  Several  tentative  projects  of  finance  were  presented. 
Two  bank  charters  were  passed.  One  of  them  will  be  more  par- 
ticularly mentioned  further  on.  But  no  financial  system  was 
adopted,  no  financial  policy  inaugurated.  The  first  substantive  act 
of  a  definite  system  was  passed  at  the  second  session  of  this  first 


158  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Congress,  which  convened  in  the  city  of  Houston,  on  the  ist  of 
May  following,  A.D.  1837. 

The  session  was  opened  by  President  Houston  in  person.  In  his 
address  to  Congress,  he  emphatically  counselled  "  the  maintenance 
of  our  integrity,  and  the  faithful  and  just  redemption  of  our 
plighted  faith,  wherever  it  has  been  pledged."  This  is  the  keynote 
of  Houston's  financial  administration.  With  him,  it  meant  not 
only  that  we  should  redeem  our  pledges  when  we  have  the  means,  the 
money  to  do  so,  but  also  to  so  guard  the  making  of  pledges,  and 
to  so  manage  our  affairs,  that  we,  Texas,  may  be'surely  able  to  redeem 
them. 

It  is  not  here  the  place  to  enter  minutely  into  the  financial  his- 
tory of  the  Republic.  Consequently,  we  omit  details  which  would 
only  interest  persons  curious  rh  political  and  financial  history,  and 
confine  ourselves  mainly  to  leading  facts  which  throw  light  on 
President  Houston's  financial  principles,  his  policy,  and  his  action, 
and  which  serve  to  illustrate  their  wholesome  influence  on  the 
solidification  of  our  institutions,  and  on  the  prosperity  of  the  Re- 
public of  Texas. 

At  this  second  session  of  the  first  Congress  an  act  was  passed  for 
funding  the  public  debts.  These  consisted  of  audited  drafts  of 
various  amounts  for  civil  and  military  services,  and  for  supplies 
furnished  to  the  Republic.  These  audited  drafts  were  in  no  sense 
a  currency,  though  they  served  in  irregular  trades  occasionally, 
and  in  barter.  The  bonds  into  which  these  drafts  were  converted 
were  of  the  usual  form  of  Government  bonds,  transferable  only  on 
the  books  of  ^the  treasury.  They  bore  on  their  face  the  promise 
of  interest  of  10  per  cent,  per  annum,  one  year  from  date.  The 
currency  of  the  country  was  at  this  time,  and  had  been,  gold  and 
silver  and  bank  notes,  mostly  of  the  New  Orleans  banks. 

Some  two  or  three  days  after  the  passing  of  the  Funding  Act,  Con- 
gress passed  another  act  for  the  issuance  of  promissory  notes  of 
the  Government,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  $500,000,  bearing  in- 
terest at  10  per  cent.,  redeemable  in  twelve  months,  and  receivable 
for  all  public  dues.  Not  being  reissuable,  they  were,  strictly  speak- 
ing, treasury  notes  or  exchequers,  and  were  issuable  only  in  pay- 
ment for  civil  services  and  civil  supplies.  They  were  printed  with 
common  type,  on  common  book  paper.  They  had  in  their  center  a 
large  five-pointed  star,  from  which  star  they  received  the  name  by 
which  they  were  afterward  designated,  of  star  money.  There  was 
a  sharp  conflict  of  opinion  between  the  Congress  and  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  Henry  Smith,  about  the  details  of  this  act, 
from  which  it  may  be  fairly  inferred  that  the  act  did  not  altogether 
please  the  administration  of  President  Houston.  But  Gen.  Hous- 


Houston  a  Hard-Money  Democrat.  159 

ton  left  no  doubt  as  to  his  opinion  on  treasury  note  acts.  He 
gave  a  qualified  approval  in  the  "  proviso,  that  they  were  not  issued 
in  greater  amount  than  would  meet  the  actual  necessities  of  a  cir- 
culating medium." 

Having  arrived  at  this,  the  first  substantive  act  of  President 
Houston  in  the  management  of  the  financial  affairs  of  the  Republic 
of  Texas,  if  seems  fitting  to  state,  somewhat  succinctly,  his  opinions 
on  these  matters, — opinions  from  which  he  at  no  time,  then  or 
afterward,  swerved. 

General  Houston  was  emphatically,  in  the  language  of  the  day, 
a  hard-money  Democrat.  He  held  sternly,  that  a  public  debt  is  a 
public  evil.  In  his  opinion,  no  money  is  a  safe  currency  except 
metallic  money,  gold  and  silver.  A  currency  not  directly  redeem- 
able in  coin  of  its  own  nature,  leads  to  contracting  public  debt,  and 
to  the  unrestrained  -increase  of  public  debt.  Facility  in  the  issu- 
ance of  paper  currency  leads  to  mismanagement,  to  reckless  expendi- 
tures, to  dishonesty,  peculation,  and  embezzlement  in  the  administra- 
tion of  public  affairs.  An  administration  of  Government  finances 
based  on  a  system  of  paper  currency,  produces  oppressive  taxation  of 
the  people,  is  calculated  to  make  the  few  who  are  rich,  richer,  and  the 
many  in  moderate  circumstances,  poorer  ;  it  saps  public  and  pri- 
vate morals  ;  it  impairs  respect  for  honesty  in  private  life  as  well 
as  for  law  and  order.  Banks  of  issue  Houston  regarded  with  more 
than  distrust,  and  he  looked  on  public  loan  acts  with  wary  doubt. 
When  public  necessity  compels  a  resort  to  paper  currency,  it  should 
be  done  as  sparingly  as  possible,  and  a  return  to  metallic  money 
should  be  made  as  speedily  as  possible.  Paper  should  be  the  hand 
maid  to  gold  and  silver,  always  subordinated  to  these  metals,  and 
redeemable  in  them  as  promptly  and  as  directly  as  can  be  done. 
Himself  a  patriot,  he  did  not  disbelieve  in  patriotism;  but  his  ideas 
were  not  Utopian.  He  looked  on  human  nature  as  it  is,  as  it  has 
ever  shown  itself  to  be.  To  his  principles  and  opinions,  as  just 
stated  in  general  outline,  Houston,  in  the  difficult  circumstances  of 
his  two  administrations,  and  on  all  occasions,  was  true. 

It  seems  fitting  here  to  make  formal  record  of  a  declaration  made 
in  the  latter  days  of  the  Republic  more  than  once  to  Ashbel  Smith. 
He  declared  that  the  financial  management  and  control  of  the 
treasury  in  its  principles  and  general  action  during  both  his  ad- 
ministrations were  affirmatively  his  own.  He  said  that  this  was 
emphatically  true  of  the  exchequers  of  his  second  administration, 
and  that  he  was  the  author  of  the  plan.  This  should  not,  how- 
ever, lead  us  to  underrate  the  value  of  the  counsels  and  co-opera- 
tion of  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Henry  Smith.  Let  us  return 
to  the  treasury  notes,  the  star  money  of  1837.  The  issue  of  them 


1 60  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

from  the  treasury  commenced  on  the  first  of  November.  They 
bore  on  their  face,  by  law,  that  they  were  receivable  for  public 
duties.  Immediately  thereafter,  on  the  5th  of  November,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury,  Henry  Smith,  sent  histructions  to  collec- 
tors of  customs  forbidding  them  to  receive  these  notes  in  payment 
of  duties.  Seven  days  afterward,  the  i3th  November,  Secretary 
Henry  Smith  revoked  his  order  of  the  5th,  and  instructed  collec- 
tors of  duties  to  receive  the  treasury  notes  as  gold  and  silver. 
For  this  change  of  instructions  Secretary  Smith  invoked  the  orders 
of  President  Houston,  who  assumed  the  whole  responsibility. 
General  Houston  herein  acted  on  the  principle  laid  down  in  his 
address  to  Congress,  adverted  to  above,  "  the  maintenance  of  our 
integrit)'  and  just  redemption  of  plighted  faith." 

The  issue  of  treasury  notes  was  restricted  to  the  limits  imposed 
in  the  act  creating  them.  And  these  notes,  when  paid  back  into 
the  treasury  for  taxes  and  duties,  were,  as  has  been  already  stated, 
canceled.  They  passed  in  business  at  par.  They  were  as  good  as 
the  notes  of  banks  of  most  of  the  States  of  the  American  Union. 
There  was  thus,  on  the  whole,  a  wholesome  condition  of  the  cur- 
rency ;  we  had,  practically,  a  good  currency  of  our  own.  With 
every  allowance  for  the  newness  of  our  situation  and  for  political 
animosities,  the  people  were  cheerful  and  confident. 

To  place  Houston  in  a  proper  light,  it  is  necessary  to  relate  an 
incident  which  occurred  at  this  time.  It  is  in  connection  with  one 
of  the  bank  charters  alluded  to  above,  as  having  been  granted  at 
the  first  session  of  the  Congress, — "  The  Texas  Railroad,  Naviga- 
tion and  Banking  Company,"  with  a  capital  stock  of  five  million 
dollars,  to  be  increased,  if  desirable,  to  ten  millions.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  our  present  purpose  to  recite  its  vast  franchises. 
Times  were  prosperous,  prospects  flattering.  In  the  phrase  of  to- 
day, "  there  were  millions  in  this  bank  charter."  The  capital  stock 
was  divided  into  eight  shares,  and  one  share  each,  conveyed — (the 
wise  do  call  it  "  convey  ") — to  eight  stockholders.  One  share  of 
the  eight  was  sent  to  General  Houston.  Single  shares  were  sold 
for  $12,000  and  upwards,  and  were  in  demand  at  such  prices.  It 
was  a  condition  in  the  charter  that  before  the  bank  could  com- 
mence business  operations  it  should  pay  into  the  treasury  of  the 
Republic  a  bonus  of  $25,000  "  in  gold  and  silver."  This  sum, 
$25,000,  was  formally  tendered  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in 
treasury  notes.  Though  these  notes  were  receivable  as  gold  and 
silver  in  payment  of  taxes  and  duties,  they  were  neither,  it  was  al- 
leged, in  the  contemplation  of  the  act  of  incorporation,  nor  in  its 
words,  gold  and  silver.  The  bonus  of  $25,000  was  neither  a  tax  nor  a 
duty.  Accordingly  President  Houston  ordered  the  Secretary  of  the 


Success  of  Houston's  "Treasury  Notes"          161 

Treasury  to  refuse  them  in  payment  of  the  bank  bonus.  The 
eighteen  months  from  the  date  of  the  act,  within  which  time  pay- 
ment could  be  made,  were  about  to  expire.  This  was  not  all ;  be- 
fore the  expiration  of  the  eighteen  months  President  Houston,  in 
presence  of  several  gentlemen,  formally  committed  to  the  flames 
the  certificate  that  had  been  sent  him  of  a  share  in  the  bank.  As 
shares  were  openly  sold,  he  could  have  put  in  his  pocket  for  his 
certificate  of  share  $20,000.  But  this  hydra-headed  monster  of  the 
class  of  gigantic  swindles,  like  Law's  Mississippi  scheme  and  the 
more  recent  Credit  Mobilier,  was  by  Houston's  sagacity,  honesty, 
and  firmness  crushed  in  its  embryo  state.  If  room  permitted,  it 
would  be  a  curious  study  to  describe  the  influences  brought  to 
bear  on  Houston  to  permit  the  bonus  to  be  paid  in  treasury  notes, 
and  thus  the  bank  to  go  into  operation.  He  was  inflexible,  and 
the  people  were  saved  from  a  huge  corporation  which  would  have 
enveloped  in  its  folds  and  crushed  every  enterprise,  and  forbid 
competition  outside  of  the  shareholders  of  the  bank.  It  would  be 
unjust  to  Henry  Smith  to  omit  to  mention  that  in  this  matter  he 
was  in  full  accord  with  President  Houston.  But  Houston  was  the 
rock  of  resistance.  Persons  at  this  day  can  not  easily  appreciate 
the  magnitude  of  this  bank  enterprise.  It  may  help  their  imagina- 
tion to  be  informed  that  three  of  the  eight  shares  were  sold  in  New 
York  for  merchandise  to  the  amount  of  $60,000. 

The  treasury  notes  were,  on  the  whole,  a  decided  sucdess.  As 
already  stated,  they  were  at  par,  or  nearly  so,  with  gold  and  silver, 
and  equal  in  current  value  with  bills  of  banks  in  the  United  States. 
This  rare  quality  for  paper  not  instantly  redeemable,  enjoyed  by 
the  treasury  notes,  may  be  attributed  mainly  to  the  following 
causes.  The  known  resources  of  Texas — the  issue  of  notes  being 
limited  to  an  amount,  in  Houston's  language,  "  required  to  meet 
the  actual  necessities  of  a  circulating  medium  " — their  issue  lim- 
ited to  payment  of  civil  services — not  being  reissuable,  but  can- 
celed on  being  paid  into  the  treasury — these  were  safeguards 
against  the  country  being  flooded  with  these  notes.  And  to  these 
should  be  added  General  Houston's  well-known  resolute  opposi- 
tion to  buccaneering  expeditions  against  Mexico,  and  quixotic 
hunts  of  Indians  to  chase  them  from  lands  which  our  scant  popu- 
lation rendered  it  impossible  for  us  to  occupy. 

The  success  of  the  star  money  thus  protected  seems  to  have  en 
couraged  Congress  to  attempt  a  larger  enjoyment  of  the  good. 
Accordingly,  in  May,  1838,  Congress  passed  acts  for  the  issue  of 
another  million  of  treasury  notes,  and  authorizing  their  reissue 
after  having  been  paid  into  the  treasury,  and  making  appropria- 
tions of  them  for  all  sorts  of  public  expenditure.  Unlike  the  star 
11 


162  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

money,  they  bore  no  interest.  These  acts,  submitted  to  President 
Houston  for  his  approval,  were  returned  to  Congress  with  elab- 
orate, earnest  vetoes,  in  vain.  They  were  passed  by  Congress  tri- 
umphantly over  the  vetoes.  The  new  notes  issued  under  these  acts 
being  well  engraved  and  printed  on  good  bank  paper,  with  a  red 
ground,  had  quite  a  bank-note  look — quite  unlike  the  old  star 
money  printed  with  common  type  on  a  very  common  paper.  Such 
was  the  original  of  the  famous  redbacks. 

With  these  acts  of  Congress  of  1838,  passed  the  last  year  of 
Houston's  administration,  so  greatly  enlarging  the  new  issue  of 
treasury  notes,  thereafter  known  as  redbacks,  and  discarding  pre- 
vious wholesome  restrictions,  commenced  their  decline  in  value. 
They  nevertheless  maintained  to  the  close  of  President  Houston's 
first  administration  their  circulation  as  currency  in  ordinary  busi- 
ness transactions.  They  were  worth,  or  rather  were  valued  at, 
seventy  cents  or  seventy-five  cents  on  the  dollar  when  General 
Houston's  Presidential  term  closed — the  roth  December,  1838. 

At  the  close  of  Houston's  first  administration  the  public  debt  of 
Texas  amounted  to  a  little  over  a  million  dollars.  The  report  of 
his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  states  the  amount  of  audited  claims 
at  $1,090,984.  Of  this  amount  $903,720  were  for  military  services. 
It  had  mostly  accrued  in  the  active  campaigns  of  the  Revolution, 
and  in  the  support  and  pay  of  the  army  until  it  was  furloughed  in 
the  summer  of  1837.  To  diminish  public  expenses  in  accordance 
with  the  economical  system  of  the  administration  the  army  was 
furloughed  till,  every  company  and  squad  told,  it  did  not  amount 
to  one  battalion  of  a  full  regiment.  There  was"  no  risk  in  thus  vir- 
tually disbanding  the  army.  For  on  the  first  tap  of  the  drum  the 
ranks  would  be  filled,  and  competent  officers  were  on  hand  to  lead 
them.  And  further,  several  offices,  civil  and  military,  were  abol- 
ished, and  the  pay  and  expenses  of  others  greatly  cut  down. 

As  already  stated,  President  Houston's  first  term  closed  on  the 
loth  December,  1838.  He  was  succeeded  by  General  Lamar. 

President  Lamar  was  possessed  of  high  genius  ;  he  was  ol  un- 
spotted integrity  ;  a  chivalrous  paladin  of  finished  culture,  of  bril- 
liant courage,  of  lofty  daring,  of  pure  patriotism.  He  was  a  sol- 
dier, and  in  other  times  and  other  circumstances  he  would  have 
been  a  magnificent  chieftain  ;  his  whole  nature  was  poetical  and 
military.  But  he  was  not  a  financier  ;  he  did  not  possess  adminis- 
trative capacity  ;  he  was  not  familiar  with  principles  of  political 
economy  universally  deemed  incontrovertible.  Reposing  unbounded 
confidence  in  his  friends,  he  lacked  the  sagacity  often  termed  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  knowledge  of  mankind.  His  administra- 
tion of  the  Presidency  was  not  a  success. 


Results  of  Lamar^s  Administration.  163 

It  does  not  fall  within  my  present  object  to  linger  in  detail  on 
the  management  of  the  finances  of  Texas  during  General  Lamar's 
Presidency.  It  suffices  to  state,  in  general  terms,  that  the  policy 
inaugurated  by  the  acts  of  Congress  of  May,  1838,  adopted  over 
Houston's  vetoes,  was  persevered  in,  expanded  in  its  worst  features. 
It  may  be  described  as  the  financial  system  of  unlimited  issue  of 
irredeemable  treasury  notes  known  as  redbacks.  Their  decline 
in  value,  mentioned  already  as  having  commenced  in  1838,  con- 
tinued until,  at  the  close  of  General  Lamar's  Presidency,  they  had 
sunk  to  ioc.,  5c.,  3C.,  on  the  dollar.  At  these  rates  they  were  some- 
times bartered  away  in  loose  speculative  trading  for  things  of  un- 
certain value,  but  they  had  ceased  to  be  even  a  nominal  currency. 
In  the  general  prostration,  gold  and  silver  had  disappeared.  The 
funded  debt  was  not  heard  of ;  it  seemed  to  have  floated  off,  no- 
body knew  whither.  But  the  public  debt,  now  augmented  to  over 
seven  million  dollars,  hung  like  a  black  cloud  of  evil  portent  over 
the  country. 

It  will  devolve  on  the  future  historian  of  the  Republic  of  Texas 
to  relate  how,  in  a  time  of  profound  practical  peace,  with  no  serious 
attempt  at  invasion  by  Mexico,  with  no  trouble  of  any  moment 
with  Indians  on  the  frontier,  with  not  even  the  skeleton  of  an 
army,  with  no  internal  dissensions,  with  no  works  of  public  im- 
provement undertaken,  the  public  debt  was  increased  from  little 
over  a  million  to  upwards  of  seven  millions  of  dollars.  The  people 
were,  indeed,  kept  in  pleasant  expectation  by  projects  of  loans 
which  were  to  make  the  floods  of  redbacks  equal  to  gold.  Fortu- 
nately for  Texas,  the  loans  were  never  effected.  The  bane  so 
fatal  to.  Texan  finances  was  irredeemable  redbacks,  irredeem- 
able paper. 

There  was  not  a  dollar  in  the  treasury.  The  country  was  with- 
out credit  for  a  dollar.  Public  expectation  was  exhausted.  Our 
foreign  relations  were  as  cheerless  as  home  affairs.  England  had 
negotiated  treaties  with  Texas,  but,  from  fear  of  our  collapse,  held 
back  from  the  exchange  of  ratifications.  France  was  in  ill-con- 
cealed bad  humor  with  us  ;  her  minister  had  withdrawn  from  his 
post  at  Austin  to  the  United  States.  Gloomy  vaticinations  ruled 
the  hour  that  the  Republic  of  Texas  was  played  out. 

Sam  Houston  entered  upon  his  second  term  as  President  of 
Texas  in  the  midst  of  these  disastrous  surroundings.  He  was  in- 
augurated in  December,  1841.  Without  a  dollar  in  the  treasury, 
without  credit  for  a  dollar,  the  finances  nevertheless  compelled  at- 
tention as  a  condition  of  the  continued  existence  of  the  Republic. 
Something  must  be  done.  The  month  following  his  inauguration, 
to  wit,  on  the  ipth  January,  1842,  the  exchequer  act  was  passed. 


ed  to  $200,000  ;  gold  and  silver,  and  exchequers,  were  alone  re- 
ceivable for  customs-dues,  for  taxes  and  licenses.  They  could 
only  be  paid  out  from  the  treasury  on  specific  appropriations  by 
Congress.  For  several  months  scarcely  $40,000  had  been  paid  out. 
At  no  time  ever,  subsequently  to  the  passage  of  the  act,  was  there 
in  circulation  near  half  the  amount  provided  by  the  act.  As  for 
redbacks,  lavishly  issued  by  the  preceding  administration,  they 
were  as  utterly  ignored  as  if  not  a  dollar  of  them  had  ever  been 
heard  of. 

It  needs  scarcely  to  remind  any  one  that  the  exchequers  were  in 
all  essential  respects  the  same  as  the  first  treasury  notes  issued  in 
1837,  the  star  money  under  another  name. 

The  experience  of  the  redbacks  naturally  created  distrust  of  the 
exchequers.  It  was  loudly  asserted  that  these  were  only  redbacks 
under  the  thin  disguise  of  another  name,  and  their  utter  and  speedy 
depreciation,  like  their  redback  predecessor  of  unhappy  name,  was 
confidently  prophesied.  Speculators,  like  buzzards  watching  a 
sick  animal,  attacked  the  exchequers  and  entered  into  combina- 
tions to  destroy  their  value.  They  sunk  to  30  cents,  and  even  less, 
on  the  dollar.  President  Houston  was  equal  to  the  emergency. 
He  convened  Congress  in  extra  session,  June  27,  1842.  On  the 
23d  July  a  law  was  passed,  requiring  collectors  of  customs,  sheriffs, 
clerks,  and  postmasters,  to  receive  exchequers  only  at  the  current 
rates  at  which  they  were  sold  on  "  Change  "  in  open  market. 

It  would  be  natural  to  suppose  that  the  act  of  July  23d  would 
appreciate  promptly  the  exchequers.  Nevertheless,  they  appre- 
ciated very  slowly.  This  was  a  natural  consequence  of  distrust 
from  recent  experience  of  redback  treasury  notes.  Pecuniary  con- 
fidence is,  especially,  a  plant  of  slow  growth.  Besides,  being  re- 
ceivable only  at  their  cash  value  in  market,  and  worth  no  more  in 
payment  of  Government  dues  than  a  like  amount  of  gold  aiid  sil- 
ver, nothing  was  gained  by  purchasing  them.  As  a  consequence, 
gold  and  silver  flowed  into  the  treasury,  and  at  the  close  of 
President  Houston's  second  term  exchequers  were  on  a  par  with 
coin. 

The  foregoing  outline  of  the  financial  history  of  Gen.  Houston's 
administrations  would  be  incomplete  without  some  mention  of  the 
sequel.  Anson  Jones,  who  had  been  Secretary  of  State  under 
Houston,  and  who  was,  perhaps,  his  most  trusted  Cabinet  officer, 
succeeded  General  Houston  as  President  of  the  Republic  in  De- 
cember, 1844.  Anson  Jones,  too,  was  a  man  of  eminently  sound 
judgment ;  he  held  the  same  sound  opinions  as  General  Houston 
on  paper  currency  on  irredeemable  promises  to  pay,  on  the  sacred- 


ness  of  public  credit,  and  on  the  strictly  economic  administration 
of  Government.  President  Jones  closed  his  administration,  as 
Houston  had  done  before  him,  without  having  added  a  dime  to 
the  public  debt  or  leaving  an  unpaid  open  account.  In  his  admin- 
istration the  Republic  of  Texas  was  merged  by  annexation  in  the 
Federal  Union.  With  the  transfer  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  Re- 
public of  Texas  there  was  turned  over  to  the  State  of  Texas  its 
treasury,  with  thousands  of  gold  in  its  coffers  ;  which  gold  actually 
sufficed  for  all  the  expenses  of  government  of  the  State  of  Texas 
for  upwards  of  two  years. 

Sam  Houston  more  than  once  said  to  Ashbel  Smith  that  he  was 
the  author  of  the  plan  of  issuing  exchequers.  He  claimed  it  only 
as  a  "  succedaneum  "  for  gold  and  silver  when  these  were  not  in 
hand,  and  to  be  resorted  to  when,  as  at  the  commencement  of  his 
second  term,  the  Government  had  not  a  dollar,  and  was  utterly  des- 
titute of  credit.  Nor  did  he,  as  is  sometimes  dexterously  done, 
transfer  the  burdens  of  to-day  upon  the  future.  During  his  second 
term  not  a  dollar  was  added  to  the  public  debt,  except  the  accre- 
tions of  unpaid  interest  accruing  on  that  previously  existing.  Nor 
was  there  an  unliquidated  account  that  had  accrued  during  that 
period. 

I  have  thus  given,  perhaps  in  unnecessarily  minute  detail,  the 
financial  history  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  under  the  two  adminis- 
trations of  Sam  Houston,  embracing  the  leading  facts  in  the  prin- 
ciples and  action  of  Gen.  Houston  as  President,  in  the  legislation 
of  Congress,  in  the  administration  of  the  Department  of  the  Treas- 
ury under  him.  I  have  not  done  injustice  to  the  chivalrous  soldier 
and  patriot  Lamar.  I  have  paid  a  passing  tribute  of  justice  to  the 
profound  statesman,  Anson  Jones. 

I  turn  again  to  Houston  for  a  remark  or  two  on  closing.  Hous- 
ton's administrations  were  not  distinguished  alone  for  his  judicious 
management  of  the  revenues  of  the  Republic,  and,  consequently, 
of  the  taxes  of  the  people.  Honesty  was  characteristic  of  his 
whole  official  administration.  Not  one  of  his  Cabinet  or  staff  officers, 
not  one  of  his  high  officials,  amassed  even  an  inconsiderable  for- 
tune. Nearly  or  quite  every  one  of  them  left  office  poorer  than 
when  he  entered  it.  With  such  facts  patent,  it  is  not  surprising 
that,  amidst  all  the  mutations  of  superficial  and  newspaper  unpop- 
ularity, he  retained  the  solid  confidence,  the  firm  attachment,  of 
the  mass  of  the  citizens  of  the  Republic  of  Texas. 

It  is  well,  too,  for  the  citizens  of  Texas,  now  and  hereafter,  to 
bear  in  mind  that  such  was  the  true  condition  of  Texas  at  the  time 
when  it  was  maligned  as  the  country  where  was  rampant  the  worst 
form  of  barbarism,  the  barbarism  of  civilization. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

HOUSTON'S  ENTRANCE  INTO  THE  U.  S.  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  DECEMBER,  1823 
—His  CONTEMPORARIES,  AND  THE  QUESTIONS  OF  THE  HOUR. 


allusion  has  been  already  made  to  Houston's  election  to 
13  Congress  ;  it  is  proposed  now  to  give  a  connected  detail. 
Coleridge  said,  "  To  be  truly  great  is  to  be  great  in  little  things." 
Genius  now  flashes,  now  flickers  ;  but  greatness  does  its  best,  and 
triumphs  every  day.  Washington  was  "  first  in  peace  and  first  in 
war  "  because  his  balanced  mind  saw  what  was  best  to  be  done, 
and  his  appreciative  spirit  selected  the  best  man  for  each  post. 
Houston  had  shown  as  a  soldier  brilliant  daring  in  emergency,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  steady  discipline  essential  to  camp  routine. 
If  there  is  any  place  where  these  united  qualities,  French  dash  and 
English  pluck,  are  called  unitedly  into  requisition,  it  is  in  the  U.  S. 
House  of  Representatives.  Houston  was  to  be  tested  in  this  new 
sphere. 

Elected  in  1823  from  the  ninth,  or  last  formed,  district  of  Ten 
nessee  to  a  seat  in  the  U.  S.  House  of  Representatives  at  the  First 
Session  of  the  Eighteenth  Congress,  three  special  circumstances 
were  likely  to  test  the  capacity  and  character  of  a  young  man  of 
mark.  These  were  :  first,  the  fresh  energy  of  the  people  forming 
a  new  State  ;  second,  the  vital  interests,  affecting  all  the  States, 
xvhose  issues  were  to  be  debated  and  settled  at  that  era  ;  third,  the 
exceptionally  able  statesmen  now  associated  to  meet  an  emergency 
in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

At  an  early  period,  under  colonial  administration,  the  rich  lands 
west  of  the  Alleghany  range  had  tempted  enterprising  settlers  ; 
and  the  region  now  called  East  Tennessee  was  occupied  prior  to  1  750. 
The  attempt  to  push  settlements  farther  westward  was  resisted  by 
the  Indians.  Fort  London,  built  in  1757,  on  the  Little  Tennessee, 
was  captured  in  1760,  and  its  garrison  were  massacred  ;  and  for 
forty  years  few  settlers  went  into  Central  Tennessee.  When  the 
Atlantic  colonies  declared  themselves  independent,  though  too  far 
from  the  seat  of  war  to  be  brought  into  action,  the  settlers  armed 
to  meet  the  emergency  ;  and  they  declared  their  adhesion  to  the 
struggle  for  independence.  When  the  war  closed,  the  State  of 
North  Carolina,  which  claimed'  that  her  boundaries  extended  to  the 
(166) 


Exciting  National  Questions  of  1823-24.         16? 

Mississippi,  at  first  agreed  to  cede  to  the  United  States  her  claim 
to  territory  west  of  the  Alleghanies  ;  then  withdrew  that  assent ; 
but  finally  ratified  the  cession  in  1789,  when  the  Federal  Constitu- 
tion was  framed.  In  1796,  while  Washington  was  yet  President, 
Tennessee  was  admitted  as  a  State  into  the  Union,  Vermont  in  1791, 
and  Kentucky  in  1792  having  preceded  it.  Unlike  those  two 
States,  however,  a  large  part  of  its  territory  was  occupied  by  In- 
dians in  undisturbed  possession  ;  the  Chickasaw  tribe  occupying 
Western  Tennessee  until  1819.  It  was  in  this  condition  of  the 
country  that  young  Houston  had  come  into  the  territory  ;  his  boy 
hood  being  spent  at  the  Indian  agency,  his  youth  in  Indian  wars, 
and  his  early  manhood  on  the  border  of  Indian  settlements.  It 
was  amid  the  rush  of  fresh  settlers,  coming  in  from  every  section, 
and  dependent  on  their  own  hands'-toil  and  personal  enterprise  for 
success,  that  Houston  came  to  the  Federal  City  to  represent  a 
hardy  and  independent  yeomanry. 

The  spirit  of  the  people  of  Tennessee  at  the  time  of  Houston's 
election  to  Congress  is  indicated  by  this  coincidence.  Houston 
had  been  elected  in  a  new  district,  September  13,  1823.  At  the 
September  term  of  the  Blount  County  Court  the  grand  jury 
brought  in  a  presentment  against  certain  parties  for  "  treating " 
voters  with  intoxicating  liquors  at  the  recent  election,  in  which 
presentment  this  sententious  statement  appears  :  "  That  the  custom 
complained  of  brings  into  offices  of  trust  'men  who  are  not  pre- 
ferred for  their  virtues,  and  who  consequently  prefer  not  virtue.' " 
It  was  under  quite  another  heading  that  Houston's  election  was 
classed.  While  in  the  Seventeenth  Congress  Tennessee  had  but 
six  representatives  in  the  House,  the  new  apportionment,  which 
suddenly  added  three  more  Congressional  districts,  seemed  to 
have  had  a  more  demoralizing  influence  in  the  old  counties  under 
the  mountains  than  upon  the  new  section,  whose  centre,  at  Nash- 
ville, Houston  represented. 

There  were  at  this  era  five  specially  exciting  questions  which  had 
agitated  and  were  still  dividing  the  people  of  the  east  and  west,  of 
the  north  and  south  ;  which  questions  not  only  awakened  conflict- 
ing opinions  in  the  different  sections,  but  which  in  the  same  section, 
made  up  as  was  the  population  of  the  new  States,  aroused  warm 
debate  in  Tennessee.  These  related  to  governmental  policy  ;  first, 
as  to  efforts  to  civilize  the  Indians  ;  second,  as  to  a  tariff  for  pro- 
tection of  home  manufactures  ;  third,  as  to  internal  improve- 
ments ;  fourth,  as  to  the  restriction  of  slave  labor  as  opposed  to 
free  labor  ;  fifth,  as  to  armed  interference  of  European  Govern- 
ments in  Mexico  to  recover  political  power  over  former  colonists 
who  had  secured  their  independence.  The  heat  and  violence  of 


168  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

party  spirit  on  these  varied  issues  were  brought  to  a  focus  in  the 
canvass  for  the  Presidential  election,  which  occurred  in  the  same 
autumn  as  the  election  of  Houston  to  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives. 

From  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  country  opinion  was  divided 
as  to  the  possibility  of  inspiring  the  roving  Indian  tribes  with  a 
love  for  civilized  life,  so  that  the  two  races,  the  red  and  the  white, 
might  dwell  together  in  quiet  side  by  side.  The  religious  spirit, 
seen  to  be  effective  in  the  efforts  of  John  Eliot  in  Massachusetts,  of 
William  Penn  in  Pennsylvania,  of  James  Edward  Oglethorpe  and 
of  the  Wesleys  in  Georgia,  maintained  this  doctrine  :  that  the  In- 
dians, like  the  red  races  who  peopled  India  and  China,  might  be 
won  over  to  the  habits  of  industry  and  culture  found  among  the 
people  of  Mexico  held  in  subjection  a  century  earlier  by  the  Span- 
iards ;  as  had  been  tested  also  by  Jesuit  missionaries  already 
in  the  French  provinces.  On  the  other  hand,  as  Bancroft  has 
traced,  the  spirit  of  secular  appropriation  brought  the  white  race 
into  'constant  competition  with  the  Indians  in  every  experiment  at 
agriculture  ;  the  superior  race  could  not  amalgamate  or  live  in 
society  with  the  inferior  ;  some  in  Massachusetts,  as  well  as  in 
Virginia,  favored  the  enslaving  or  extirpation  of  the  Indian  tribes 
on  the  precedent  of  the  Israelites  among  the  tribes  of  Canaan  ;  and 
the  result  proved  that  constant  war  on  the  border  and  constant 
forcible  removal  of  the  Indians  westward  was  "  the  law "  that 
would  rule.  No  man  in  the  United  States  was  better  prepared  by 
his  wide  experience  to  judge  wisely  on  this  question  than  Hous- 
ton, and  no  more  magnanimous  spirit  had  ever  been  shown  than 
Houston  had  exhibited,  first  in  his  intercourse  as  an  agent's  clerk, 
then  as  a  soldier,  then  again  as  an  army  agent  among  them.  His 
long  apprenticeship  among  the  Chickasaws  in  Western  Tennessee 
before  his  enlistment  as  a  soldier  under  Jackson,  and  his  detail  as 
a  lieutenant  after  the  war  to  serve  as  military  agent  among  the 
Seminoles  of  Georgia,  were  reminiscences  always  fresh  and  fragrant 
in  his  after-life  ;  and  no  man  more  than  Houston  appreciated  the 
virtues  of  the  Indian  character  which  were  to  be  fostered,  and  their 
vices  which  were  to  be  forcibly  restrained.  This  was  the  earliest 
question  before  the  American  people,  and  it  will  be  one  of  the  last 
to  call  forth  balanced  judgment  and  modified  action.  At  the 
period  of  Houston's  entrance  into  the  House  of  Representatives 
there  were  two  fields  for  the  practical  application  of  these  princi- 
ples. In  the  West  the  Indian  tribes  had  consented  to  removal  to 
their  new  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi,  but  two  causes  still 
created  difficulty  ;  first,  disputes  among  the  Indian  tribes  them- 
selves as  to  their  several  allotments  and  as  to  mutual  encroach- 


Relation  of  United  States  to  African  Race.       169 

ments  of  the  tribes  on  the  border  territory  of  other  tribes  ;  second, 
encroachments  of  white  settlers  on  the  territory  ceded  to  the  tribes 
west  of  the  Mississippi,  especially  in  Arkansas  Territory.  The 
main  difficulty  was  in  the  Gulf  States  and  territory,  especially  in 
Georgia  and  Florida.  There  the  humane  efforts  of  young  Hous- 
ton, commended  by  Jackson  as  his  military  commander,  were  fresh 
in  memory  ;  but  yet  fresher  was  the  subsequent  military  campaign 
of  Jackson,  when  he  not  only  drove  the  Seminoles  from  Georgia 
into  Florida,  then  a  Spanish  possession,  but  pursued  them  even  to 
the  capture  of  St.  Augustine,  leaving  thus  a  work  of  mingled  efforts 
at  forcible  suppression  and  at  treaty  stipulation,  for  future  admin- 
istrations to  complete.  In  this  work  the  counsel  of  Houston  be- 
came of  special  value. 

The  relation  of  the  several  States  and  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  to  the  African  race  was  the  second  question  to  be  met. 
Their  ready  admission  by  the  policy  of  the  mother  country  into  all 
the  colonies  except  those  of  Pennsylvania  and  Georgia,  the  check 
put  upon  that  introduction  when,  after  the  war  of  Independence, 
the  New  England  States  emancipated  their  slaves,  and  were  filled 
with  European  laborers  in  their  place,  when  Virginia  ceded  all  her 
territory  north  of  the  Ohio  and  westward  to  the  Mississippi  to  the 
Union,  to  be  occupied  only  by  free  white  settlers,  and  when  the 
Federal  Constitution  forbid  further  importation  after  twenty-one 
years — this  mixed  and  conflicting  system  of  admission  and  exclu- 
sion had  reached  its  crisis  and  apparent  settlement  in  the  Missouri 
Compromise  of  1820.  At  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  there 
was  a  virtual  balance  of  the  slave-holding  and  non-slave-holding 
interests  in  the  Senate  which  represented  the  States  ;  since,  while 
there  were  among  the  thirteen  original  States  only  six  that  were 
decidedly  slave-holding  States,  two  or  three  others  had  passed  no 
formal  acts  of  emancipation.  The  admission  subsequently  of  new 
States,  as  of  Vermont  in  1791  and  of  Kentucky  in  1792,  of  Tennes- 
see in  1796  and  of  Ohio  in  1802,  of  Louisiana  in  1812  and  of  In- 
diana in  1816,  of  Mississippi  in  1817  and  of  Illinois  in  1818,  of 
Alabama  in  1819  and  of  Maine  in  1820,  seemed  to  indicate  that 
these  two  interests  were,  in  the  conservative  branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  remain  balanced.  When,  however,  in  1817,  Missouri  ap- 
plied for  admission  a  new  question  arose.  As  a  part  of  the  French 
purchase  of  1803,  which  included  all  the  territory  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, from  Louisiana  northward,  it  seemed  natural  that  African 
slavery,  already  introduced,  should  continue.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  fact  that  it  lay  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  fixed  by  Vir- 
ginia as  the  limit  of  slave-holding  States,  and  that  it  was  border- 
ing all  along  the  Mississippi  on  Illinois,  which  was  entitled  to  come 


170  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

into  the  Union  as  a  free  State,  thus  counterpoising  Mississippi 
just  admitted  as  a  slave  State— these  facts  had  led  to  a  discussion 
which  lasted  for  four  years.  At  the  first  application  for  admission, 
during  the  session  of  1818-19,  an  enabling  act  was  to  be  provided 
by  Congress.  In  this  enabling  act  the  House  of  Representatives 
provided  that  the  new  State  should  come  into  the  Union  as  non- 
slave-holding  ;  but,  as  the  Senate  dissented,  no  action  could  be 
taken.  When  the  application  was  presented  next  session,  that  of 
1819-20,  after  long  debate  both  Houses  of  Congress  .concurred  in 
Mr.  Clay's  compromise,  that  Missouri,  where  slavery  already  ex- 
isted, should  be  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  slave-holding  State, 
but  that  after  that  period  all  States  north  of  the  parallel  of  36°  30' 
north  latitude,  or  the  southern  boundary  line  of  the  new  State 
should  be  non-slave-holding  States.  This  arrangement  seemed 
likely  to  meet  and  adjust  the  difficulty.  When,  however,  the  State 
Constitution,  framed  under  this  enabling  act,  was  found,  at  the 
reassembling  of  Congress  in  1820-21,  to  embody  a  provision  re- 
quiring the  Legislature  of  the  new  State  to  pass  laws  "  to  prevent 
free  negroes  and  mulattoes  from  coming  to  and  settling  in  the  State," 
a  new  and  more  exciting  debate  followed  ;  which  debate  lasted 
through  the  short  winter  session  that  ushered  in  President  Monroe  to 
a  second  term  of  office,  March  4,  1821.  For,  though  since  that  period 
other  States  formed  further  north  and  in  that  same  territory,  have 
acted  upon  that  same  provision, — as  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  admitted 
in  1848, — its  embodiment  in  the  Constitution  of  Missouri,  brought 
into  the  Union  under  such  circumstances,  awakened  strenuous  op- 
position. At  that  time  the  idea  of  free  labor  had  not  taken  shape 
as  implying  the  prohibition  of  a  competition  between  white  and 
colored  laborers  ;  and  the  provision  seemed  in  conflict  with  the  ad- 
mission of  free  as  opposed  to  slave  labor  in  the  new  State.  Both 
Houses  of  Congress  agreed  in  requiring  the  expunging  of  this  pro- 
vision from  the  Constitution  submitted  ;  ttie  people  of  Missouri 
yielded  ;  and,  as  authorized,  the  President,  in  view  of  the  action  of 
the  State  Convention  called  June  24th,  declared  by  proclamation 
Aug.  10,  1821,  that  the  State  of  Missouri  was  admitted  to  the  Union 
and  entitled  to  representation  in  the  next  Congress.  It  was  just 
two  years  after  this  crisis  that  Houston  came  into  Congress  ;  where 
as  representative  from  Tennessee  for  four  years,  and  as  Senator 
from  Texas  for  fourteen  years,  he  was  destined  to  take  such  a 
course  as  was  not  the  privilege  or  honor  of  any  previous  or  subse 
quent  American  statesman. 

As  to  the  tariff,  the  old  question  of  duties  on  imports  as  a  ready 
and  effectual  method  of  collecting  taxes  for  the  support  of  the 
Federal  Government,  had  up  to  1823  not  been  specially  compro- 


Early  Induction  of  the  Tariff  System.  171 

mised  and  complicated  as  part  of  a  system  for  promoting  home 
manufactures  by  placing  a  heavy  duty  on  manufactured  goods 
brought  into  the  country  from  European  countries,  especially  from 
England.  Nor,  again,  was  the  importation  of  the  States,  then  as 
now,  restricted  to  a  few  all-absorbing  centers,  such  as  New  York 
now  is  ;  for  imports  came  into  all  the  Southern  as  well  as  Northern 
ports,  from  Portland,  Me.,  to  Charleston,  S.  C.  ;  and  even  into  the 
ports  on  the  Gulf.  The  New  England  States,  it  is  true,  were  the 
chief  manufacturing  States  ;  but  as  the  raw  material,  especially 
wool  and  cotton,  used  in  the  factory,  was  purchased  from  the  wool 
breeding  and  cotton-growing  sections,  their  manufacturing  inter- 
ests were  greatly  overbalanced  by  their  commercial  interests  ;  the 
interference  with  which,  caused  the  prospect  of  a  war  with  Great 
Britain,  and  led  to  the  call  of  the  Hartford  Convention,  December 
15,  1814.  The  main  moving  interest  which  led  to  that  convention, 
as  any  careful  student  of  its  records,  and  of  Dr.  T.  D.  Woolsey's 
admirable  analysis,  must  perceive,  is  that  which  is  made  last  to  ap- 
pear ;  in  the  suggestion  that  the  Constitution  be  so  amended  as  to 
provide  :  "that  Congress  should  lay  no  embargo  on  vessels  belong- 
ing to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  more  than  sixty  days  ;  nor, 
except  by  vote  of  two-thirds,  interdict  commercial  intercourse  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  foreign  nations."  The  return  of 
Daniel  Webster  to  Congress  in  1823,  and  his  retention  there  dur- 
ing the  very  four  years  spent  by  Houston,  was  significant  of  a 
transition  era  which  culminated  eight  years  later  in  South  Carolina 
nullification  acts.  Sent  from  Massachusetts  to  the  special  session 
of  Congress  met  in  May,  1813,  as  an  opposer  of  the  war  with  Great 
Britain,  he  made  that  maiden  speech,  on  June  loth,  which  brought 
out  his  leadership  on  questions  of  international  law.  Remaining  till 
the  close  of  the  war,  to  accomplish  the  great  end  of.  a  return  to 
specie  payments  and  of  a  national  banking  system  which  should 
overcome  the  commercial  losses  of  a  purely  State  bank  currency, 
Webster  retired  from  public  office,  to  devote  himself  to  private  busi- 
ness. Though  urged  to  take  a  place  in  the  Senate,  he  declined  ; 
when  in  1823,  he,  by  preference,  entered  the  House,  as  the  branch  of 
the  Government  where  bills  providing  revenue  must  originate. 
There  he  showed  such  a  knowledge  of  the  import  trade,  and  such  a 
mastery  of  the  consequences  of  laying  duties  for  revenue  on  vari- 
ous articles,  that  he  was  able  to  give  shape  to  the  tariff,  so  as  to 
promote  at  once  the  ends  of  commerce  and  of  revenue.  It  was  not 
until  he  entered  the  Senate,  in  1827,  that  this  mastery  of  the  tariff 
system  was  turned  to  the  promotion  of  manufacturing  as  distinct 
from  commercial  interests.  All  this  part  of  legislation  was  of 
course  new  to  young  Houston,  as  he  sat  for  the  same  four  years 


172  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

in  the  same  body  with  Webster.  His  course  showed  that  he  was 
both  an  apt  and  a  discriminating  learner. 

It  was  naturally  at  a  late  period  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment turned  its  attention  to  internal  improvements  as  a  part  of  its 
necessary  and  legitimate  province.  The  improvement  as  well  as 
the  defence  of  the  ports  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  doubtless  limited 
the  views  of  many  at  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  The  duty 
of  laying  out  military  and  postal  roads  necessarily  involved  the 
construction  of  roads  for  the  transportation  of  inter-State  com- 
mercial products.  When  at  last  the  Mississippi  River,  as  well  as 
the  line  of  northern  lakes,  became  as  much  as  inland  roads,  high- 
ways for  commerce,  it  was  time  that  the  partial  system — in  a  double 
sense  of  that  term — become  both  a  general  and  an  equable  system. 
Houston  came  into  Congress  just  at  the  time  when  such  a  system 
was  to  be  considered  and  inaugurated.  While  Tennessee  had  her 
special  claims  as  a  sharer  in  this  general  provision,  it  was  for  other 
States  that  the  legislation  first  called  for  was  to  be  made  ;  and 
Houston's  mind  from  the  first  embraced  at  once  the  whole  coun- 
try in  which,  as  a  soldier  during  the  second  war,  he  served,  from  the 
junction  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi,  to  the  swamps  of  Florida. 

The  latest  question  to  arise,  that  of  resistance  to  the  planting  ol 
monarchical  governments  through  European  influence,  on  the 
North  American  Continent,  was  nevertheless  an  old  issue  ;  though 
under  Monroe  it  took  the  form  of  a  declared  policy.  When  the 
Colonies  declared  themselves  independent,  the  resistance  to  Euro- 
pean supremacy  began  ;  but  it  was  an  afterthought  which  framed 
the  Federal  Republic,  distinct  from  the  aristocratic  governments 
of  Spain  in  Mexico  and  Florida,  of  France  in  Louisiana,  and  of 
England  in  Canada.  When,  however,  the  States  formed  out  of  the 
ceded  French  and  Spanish  territory,  acquired  in  1803  and  1819, 
came  into  the  Union,  it  was  essential  that,  under  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, they  should  be  Republican.  When,  again,  Mexico,  in 
1821,  after  a  struggle  of  years,  became  independent  of  Spain,  and 
when  the  next  year,  1822,  it  adopted  a  Republican  Constitution, 
the  action  of  European  monarchies  adverse  to  the  Republic,  which 
would,  if  recognized  as  legitimate,  have  justified  alike  European 
intervention  to  overthrow  the  United  States  Government,  brought 
about  a  crisis  which  compelled  for  self-preservation  the  enunciation  of 
the  Monroe  doctrine.  In  July,  1822,  led  by  France  under  the  restored 
Bourbon  rule,  representatives  of  several  continental  powers,  met  at 
Verona,  Italy,  determined  to  unite  in  aiding  Spain  to  recover  her 
power  in  Mexico.  Inasmuch  as  England's  sway  in  Canada,  once  a 
French  possession,  was  threatened,  Mr.  Canning,  then  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  privately  invited  the  President  of  the  United  States 


The  Presidential  Election  of  1823-4.  173 

to  join  England  in  resisting  this  French  movement.  President 
Monroe  consulted  ex-President  Jefferson  ;  and  in  his  Message  to 
Congress,  December,  1823,  he  advised  that  the  following  two  decla- 
rations should  be  adopted  as  the  foreign  policy  of  the  United  States 
in  meeting  European  interposition  to  regain  lost  rule  in  America  : 
"The  first  principle  appears  in  this  clause,  'That  we  should  con- 
sider any  attempt  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this 
hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety';  a  principle 
which,  now  that  it  includes  Central  and  South  America,  was  too 
broadly  stated  to  become  in  subsequent  time  a  rule  for  general 
action  ;  though  in  the  special  case  of  intervention  threatened  at 
the  time,  it  had  enough  of  purpose  to  secure  its  end.  The  second 
principle  announced  expressed  also  more  than  was  intended,  since 
it  was  in  violation  of  the  very  principle  of  the  right  of  foreign  col- 
onization, which  has  governed  all  nations  in  all  ages,  and  on  which 
rests  the  foundation  of  the  American  Republic.  It  was  in  these 
words  :  '  That  the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and  independ- 
ent condition  which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are  hence- 
forth not  to  be  considered  as  subjects  for  future  colonization 
by  any  European  power.' "  Since  the  extreme  utterances  of  Mr. 
Webster,  shortly  after  Houston's  entrance  into  Congress,  and 
Houston's  position  as  to  Mexico  subsequent  to  Texan  independ- 
ence and  annexation  had  their  origin  and  seeming  propriety  in 
these  declarations,  their  consideration  becomes  vital  at  the  open- 
ing of  Houston's  national  career. 

The  controlling  question  which  agitated  public  sentiment  and 
gave  intensity  to  debate  in  Congress  at  this  era,  was  the  course 
taken  in  the  Presidential  election.  The  entire  history  of  previous 
elections,  even  when  Washington,  the  leader  in  the  war  for  "national 
independence,"  was  a  candidate  the  second  time,  showed  how  the 
ambition  for  place  and  power  can  blind  men  to  self-respect,  and 
make  them  incapable  of  self-control.  The  election  of  the  first 
Adams,  and  then  of  Jefferson,  had  brought  out  a  spirit  of  rancor 
that  threatened  for  a  time  violence  and  anarchy.  Madison's  elec- 
tion was  on  issues  that  involved  sectional  interests  connected  with 
the  war  for  "  national  equality  " — an  issue  as  vital  as  that  of  "  na- 
tional independence"  The  two  terms  of  President  Monroe,  from  1817 
to  1825,  characterized  then  and  since  as  "the  era  of  good  feeling," 
was,  in  spite  of  the  agitation  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  a 
triumph  of  the  spirit  of  conciliation.  When,  however,  during 
1823-4,  four  Presidential  candidates  were  in  the  field  ;  when,  be- 
cause of  the  divided  vote  the  people  failed  to  elect,  and  politicians 
were  free  to  employ  their  arts  ;  when  by  the  management  of  men 
supposed  to  have  their  personal  ambition,  John  Quincy  Adams, 
supported  by  a  small  section  of  the  country,  was  elected  by  Con- 


174  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

gress  over  Gen.  Andrew  Jackson,  the  popular  favorite,  who  had  re- 
ceived much  the  larger  vote  from  the  people,  a  new  experience  was 
to  be  met,  and  a  storm  of  indignation  at  what  seemed  to  be  the 
deceit  of  political  aspirants  in  thwarting  the  wishes  of  the  people. 
The  House  of  Representatives  became  at  this  time  a  school  to  its 
young  members  ;  and  Houston  would  have  been  a  dull  scholar  if 
he  had  learned  nothing  to  serve  as  a  guide  in  his  eventful  future. 

While  Congress,  with  such  hinging  questions  before  it,  was  the 
school  to  train  its  younger  members,  among  the  older  was  gath- 
ered such  a  galaxy  as  never  before  or  since  has  met  together  ;  and 
these  were  to  be  Houston's  teachers.  The  veteran  in  the  House 
was  John  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  who  first  came  into  the  House  in 
1799,  where  he  had  proved  a  star  of  rare  brilliance  for  more  than  a 
score  of  years,  and  where  his  declining  health  in  his  last  years  of 
service  could  not  check  his  youthful  fire  when  roused  by  some 
crisis.  Next  in  point  of  time  came  Henry  Clay,  who  had  been  in 
the  Senate  as  early  as  1806  ;  while  in  the  House  he  had  lately 
gained  his  great  triumph  in  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  and 
was  now,  in  1823,  Speaker.  Another  veteran  was  Edward  Living- 
ston, one  of  the  brilliant  lights  of  New  York  in  youth,  then  one  of 
the  earliest  and  ablest  in  shaping  the  new  foreign  State  of  Louisi- 
ana. Among  the  men  of  about  the  same  age  with  Houston  were 
Webster,  of  Massachusetts,  already  mentioned  ;  W.  C.  Rives,  of 
Virginia,  afterward  Senator  ;  W.  P.  Maugma,  of  North  Carolina, 
afterward  Senator ;  George  McDuffie,  of  South  Carolina,  after- 
ward Senator ;  C.  A.  Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky,  afterward  Post- 
master-General ;  Elisha  Whittlesey,  of  Ohio,  afterward  First  Audi- 
tor of  the  Treasury  ;  and  John  McLean,  afterward  Postmaster- 
General,  and  also  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  the  Senate, 
the  veteran  of  veterans  was  Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina, 
in  the  House  and  Senate  from  1791  to  1828,  thirty-seven  years; 
who  for  his  firm  integrity  Jefferson  styled  "  the  last  of  the  Romans  "; 
whom  John  Randolph,  mentioning  him  in  his  speech,  declared  to  be 
"  the  wisest  man  "  he  had  ever  met.  Among  the  younger  Senators 
were  R.  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky  ;  R.  G.  Hayne,  of  South  Caro- 
lina ;  Thos.  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri ;  M.  Van  Buren  with  the 
veteran  Rufus  King,  of  New  York ;  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New 
Hampshire  ;  Wm.  H.  Harrison,  of  Ohio  ;  and  Andrew  Jackson,  of 
Tennessee  ;  the  three  among  whom  were  to  attain  the  Presidency. 
Into  the  Nineteenth  Congress  there  came,  in  1825,  as  members  of 
the  House,  Edward  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  and  James  K.  Polk, 
of  Tennessee ;  and  into  the  Senate,  J.  M.  Berrien,  of  Georgia,  and 
Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire.  Young  Houston  had  thus  a 
circle  of  training  teachers  worthy  of  him,  every  one  of  whom  came 
afterward  to  admire  his  brilliant  career. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

HOUSTON'S  FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  U.  S.  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  1823  TO  1827, 

THE  fortunes  of  Jackson  and  Houston  were  reunited  on  enter- 
ing Congress.  Houston  had  been  elected  a  Representative 
from  Tennessee,  September  13,  1823,  by  the  people  of  the  Ninth 
District ;  and  Jackson  had  been  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  Ten- 
nessee on  the  25th  October  following,  amid  all  the  excitement  that 
followed  his  act  in  June  previous  in  pursuing  the  Seminoles  into 
Florida,  and  hanging  at  St.  Augustine  two  English  abettors  of 
their  barbarities  in  Georgia.  Jackson  was  immediately  made  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  in  the  Senate  ;  while 
Houston,  his  former  favorite  lieutenant,  was  on  the  5th  December 
made  a  member  of  the  same  committee  in  the  House.  The  session 
opened  with  exciting  issues  before  it,  and  while  Jackson,  not  gifted 
as  a  speaker,  was  firm  in  action,  Houston  was  for  full  two  years 
studying  the  situation  and  shaping  his  course  on  varied  issues  as 
experience  should  dictate.  On  the  i2th  December  Mr.  Hayne  in 
the  Senate  offered  a  resolution  providing  for  a  new  election  and  a 
future  change  of  the  Constitution  as  to  its  provisions  for  the  elec- 
tion of  President  and  Vice-President ;  and  on  the  22d  December 
Mr.  McDuffie  in  the  House  moved  the  same,  thus  indicating  the 
sentiment  of  South  Carolina  on  this  issue.  Houston's  first  recorded 
vote  was  in  the  case  of  a  contested  election,  where  an  error  in  the 
count  was  claimed.  On  the  i6th  January,  1824,  the  question  of 
preemption  by  settlers  on  lands  west  of  the  Mississippi  was  up  for 
debate.  On  the  igih  January,  Jackson,  from  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs,  introduced  a  resolution  for  payment  of  losses 
of  horses  and  private  property,  met  by  volunteers  in  the  Seminole 
war  ;  the  views  of  Jackson  and  Houston  leading  to  the  immediate 
passage  of  the  resolution.  On  the  ipth  of  January,  again,  Webster 
in  the  House  introduced  his  resolution  to  send  an  agent  to  Greece, 
then  struggling  to  gain  independence  ;  on  the  same  day  Mr.  Mitchell 
moved  an  invitation  to  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette  to  a  reception 
hy  the  House  ;  and  on  the  $ame  day  Clay  brought  in  a  bill  provid- 
ing for  resistance  to  the  interposition  of  Spain  to  recover  her  lost 
Mexican  possessions.  The  able,  earnest  antagonistic  views,  brought 
out  by  this  array  of  questions,  stimulated  thought  and  compelled 

(175) 


176  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

independent  judgment  in  young  minds.  In  these  debates  Mr. 
Webster  made  that  celebrated  speech,  rich  with  old  Grecian  and 
Roman  principles  of  international  and  inter-State  alliance,  which, 
though  it  failed  to  accomplish  the  advocate's  special  end,  revived 
the  like  sentiment  of  Henry  of  Virginia  and  Otis  of  Massachusetts, 
brought  out  at  the  Revolutionary  era.  Mr.  Clay,  again,  uttered 
the  general  spirit  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  of  the  following  ad- 
ministration, that  of  the  second  Adams,  in  which  he  was  to  be,  as 
Secretary  of  State,  the  shaper  of  foreign  policy.  The  veteran  Ran- 
dolph, in  whom  the  ambition  of  foreign  crusade  was  tempered, 
though  the  fire  of  chivalry  was  not  quenched,  opposed  both  Mr. 
Webster  and  Clay  ;  while  to  a  lady  friend  who  remonstrated  he 
exclaimed,  in  view  of  the  needy  at  home,  "  Madam,  the  Greeks  are 
at  your  door." 

The  disposition  to  reach  ends  suggested  as  mere  questions  of  the 
day,  by  new  constitutional  provisions,  appeared  in  a  suggestion  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren  on  the  226.  January,  that  the  Constitution  provide 
an  equitable  scale  of  appropriations  for  internal  improvements  in 
the  different  States.  This  action  arose  because  the  State  of  New 
York  had  already,  at  her  own  expense,  built  her  canal  through  the 
State  to.  the  lakes.  In  the  House  the  main  question  arose  on  a 
proposition  to  employ  engineers  to  make  surveys  for  canals  from 
the  Delaware  to  the  Chesapeake,  from  the  Chesapeake  to  the  Ohio, 
and  again  for  the  removal  of  obstructions  in  the  Mississippi  ;  a 
series  of  measures  involving  inter-State  action,  and  interesting 
many  of  the  Atlantic,  as  well  as  all  the  valley  States.  Mr.  Webster, 
from  the  least  interested,  and  Mr.  Clay,  from  the  most  interested 
section,  advocated  the  measure  ;  Randolph  threw  all  his  decaying 
energy  into  the  opposition  ;  while  Houston  went  with  the  majority, 
both  from  interest  and  principle. 

Among  other  issues  debated  during  the  session  of  1823-4  were 
the  following  :  In  view  of  the  fact  that  colored  sailors  from  British, 
as  well  as  northern  ports,  came  into  southern  ports,  Mr.  Abbot,  of 
Georgia,  introduced  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  the  United  States 
Constitution  was  not  to  be  construed  as  authorizing  the  importa- 
tion or  ingress  of  persons  of  color  in  contravention  of  State  laws — 
a  subject  which,  under  the  administration  of  Adams,  led  to  a  re- 
monstrance of  Sir  Stratford  Canning  on  the  part  of  the  British 
Government.  The  bill  for  the  purchase  of  lands  at  West  Point 
brought  out  sectional  views  as  to  State  rights.  Randolph  proposed 
that  the  State  of  New  York  be  first  consulted.  Macon  opposed  it 
because  a  large  sum  was  to  be  given  for  a  farm  of  moderate  value, 
close  to  which  was  a  grog-shop  as  a  lure  to  cadets,  and  because  no 
limit  could  be  fixed  to  future  outlay  arising  from  the  purchase. 


The  Honors  paid  to  Lafayette.  177 

Though  not  acting  with  Macon  as  to  West  Point,  Houston  fol- 
lowed Macon  in  opposing  an  outlay  of  $26,000  on  the  Presidential 
mansion. 

The  question  of  the  tariff,  opened  during  the  session  of  1823-4, 
was  pursued  in  the  session  of  1824-5.  Mr.  Webster's  cast  of  mind, 
as  well  as  the  interests  of  his  Boston  constituency,  enabled  him  to 
present  facts  and  figures  which  were  all-controlling,  especially  as 
they  were  based  on  commercial  and  common,  rather  than  on  manu- 
facturing or  local  interests.  In  December,  1824,  from  the  South 
Carolina  Legislature  were  introduced  resolutions  on  the  tariff,  and 
on  internal  improvements  to  this  effect :  that  it  was  unconstitu- 
tional to  tax  one  State  for  improvements  in  another  State  ;  or  to 
levy  duties  other  than  for  revenue  on  foreign  imports  ;  or  to  levy 
a  tax  for  the  support  of  domestic  manufactures.  Thus  was  opened 
the  issue  which  culminated  eight  years  later,  at  a  period  when  the 
influence  of  Mr.  Webster  went  counter  to  the  last  proposition  of 
South  Carolina  ;  though  the  distinct  position  of  antagonism  was 
not  taken  during  the  four  years  that  Houston,  in  common  with 
Webster,  was  in  the  House.  In  the  final  action,  testing  the  merits 
of  the  bill,  two  of  the  Tennessee  Representatives,  one  of  whom  was 
Houston,  voted  for,  while  seven  voted  against  the  measure  ;  a  vote 
which  tested  the  intelligent  and  independent  judgment  which 
ruled  Houston  as  a  young  member. 

The  honors  paid  to  Lafayette  brought  out  the  peculiar  cast  of 
different  leading  minds,  both  in  the  Senate  and  the  House.  Two 
propositions  were  brought  forward  :  the  former  to  give  Lafayette  a 
formal  reception  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  the  latter  to  give  him  a 
grant  of  lands  in  the  territory  formerly  belonging  to  France. 
Macon,  the  veteran  North  Carolina  Senator,  opposed  both  as  a  de- 
parture, the  one  from  the  simplicity,  the  other  from  the  unselfish- 
ness which  should  characterize  Republican  leaders.  In  the  House 
the  vote  for  giving  the  public  reception  was  carried  by  166  to  26, 
Houston  voting  with  the  majority.  The  resolution  to  make  the 
grant  of  lands  also  was  passed  by  overwhelming  majorities  on 
these  grounds  :  that  the  lands  donated  in  1803  to  Lafayette  in  the 
Territory  of  Louisiana,  directly  after  its  purchase  from  France, 
whose  value  was  regarded  only  a  fair  equivalent  for  actual  money 
expenditures  made  by  Lafayette  in  his  long  service  rendered  to 
the  United  States,  had  subsequently  been  claimed  by  a  French 
resident  as  his  property,  and  that  Lafayette  had  relinquished  the 
grant  as  a  matter  of  individual  justice.  In  addition  to  this  grant 
Congress  voted  to  refund  to  Lafayette  his  travelling  expenses  in- 
curred on  his  visit  as  the  guest  of  the  nation.  It  was  at  St.  Louis, 
the  ancient  center  of  the  line  of  French  settlements  which  ex- 
12 


178  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

tended  through  Canada  down  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans  and 
it  was  in  view  of  the  French  attempt  under  Washington,  and  then 
under  Jefferson,  to  sever  first  the  West  and  then  the  Southwest  from 
the  English-speaking  States  of  the  North  and  East, — it  was  at  such 
a  center,  and  in  memory  of  these  attempts  at  disunion,  that  La- 
fayette uttered  these  memorable  words,  addressing  the  Mayor  of 
St.  Louis,  August,  1825  :  "An  union,  sir,  so  essential,  not  only  to 
the  fate  of  each  member  of  the  confederacy,  but  also  to  the  gen- 
eral fate  of  mankind,  that  the  least  breach  of  it  would  be  hailed 
with  barbarian  joy,  by  an  universal  war-whoop  of  European  aris- 
tocracy and  despotism."  No  man  in  the  country  more  appreciated 
these  words  than  Houston.  It  was  also  during  this  visit,  that,  at 
Washington  city,  Lafayette  predicted  the  gradual  complete  opera- 
tion of  natural  laws  tending  to  the  emancipation  of  African  slaves  ; 
as  was  recorded  by  G.  W.  Parke  Custis,  and  published  at  the  time 
in  the  "  African  Repository."  From  the  rapid  spread  of  emanci- 
pation measures  advancing  southward  from  New  England,  meas- 
ures compelled  by  interest  as  well  as  principle,  since  a  more  pro- 
ductive class  of  labor  was  brought  into  competition  with  slave 
labor,  Lafayette  predicted  that  at  an  era  not  remote  emancipation 
would  gradually  extend  to  the  Gulf  ;  that  thus  the  old  French 
settlements  would  be  overstocked  with  the  colored  population 
brought  in  from  the  North  ;  and,  as  a  Frenchman  anxious  for  his 
countrymen,  he  expressed  the  gravest  apprehension  for  the  future 
of  the  Gulf  States.  Trained  as  Sam  Houston  from  childhood  had 
been,  sometimes  side  by  side  with  negro  and  Indian  laborers,  as  a 
hard-working  yeoman,  his  whole  heart  from  youth  to  old  age  cen- 
tred on  the  interests  of  the  agricultural  yeomanry  who  tilled  their 
own  lands  ;  and  every  one  of  his  life-long  appeals  for  union  was 
inspired  by  the  fact  that  the  people  at  large  wished  to  be  left  in 
peace  to  enjoy  their  homes,  and  not  to  be  dragged  against  their 
will  into  what  he  to  the  last  maintained  were  schemes  of  heartless 
politicians,  only  seeking  personal  ends  of  aggrandizement. 

During  this  early  history  of  the  United  States,  and  amid  this 
early  civil  training  of  Houston  and  of  his  compatriots,  the  modern 
questions  of  Civil  Service,  in  both  the  fields  now  discussed,  were  al- 
ready debated.  Attempts  to  civilize  and  educate  the  Indians  in 
the  Gulf  States  and  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  inaugurated  under 
Mr.  Monroe  in  1819,  and  specially  advanced  by  Mr.  Calhoun  as 
Secretary  of  War,  before  the  organization  of  the  Department  of 
the  Interior,  were  virtually  a  part  of  the  Civil  Service.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1824,  the  Secretary  reported  32  schools,  with  916  pupils,  in 
successful  operation  ;  a  work  only  nominally  connected  with  the 
War  Department.  Then,  as  now,  the  question  was :  Does  the 


Houston's  Circular  on  Congress  as  a  "Court?       179 

genius  of  American  institutions  apply  to  other  than  white  men, 
and  is  it  the  soldier  or  the  teacher  that  is  to  civilize  the  red  races  ? . 
Houston  believed,  because  he  had  means  of  judging,  that  the  In- 
dian, as  well  as  the  white  man,  was  to  be  trusted  in  civil  service. 
Yet  more,  Civil  Service  Reform  Was  urged  in  precisely  the  same 
form,  and  on  the  same  grounds  as  now.  The  venerated  Macon,  in 
February,  1823,  as  chairman  of  a  committee  of  the  Senate  on  Con- 
stitutional Reforms,  prop'osed  measures  for  diminishing  and  regu- 
lating the  patronage  of  the  Executive.  Though  the  system  of  fill- 
ing subordinate  offices  with  partisan  political  aspirants,  irrespective 
of  fitness,  was  not  then,  as  under  a  later  administration,  inaugu- 
rated, the  whole  history  of  the  Government,  observed  by  himself 
personally,  led  Macon  to  see  that  only  fixed  tenure  in  office  could 
secure  the  service  of  men  devoted,  not  to  a  party,  but  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people.  No  man  in  Congress  was  more  firm  and  faith- 
ful than  Houston  in  uncovering,  irrespective  of  party,  malfeasance 
in  office,  as  appeared  in  the  next,  the  Nineteenth  Congress,  to 
which  he  was  elected. 

The  Presidential  election,  which  was  held  in  the  autumn  of 
1824,  and  reported  to  Congress  in  December,  created  divisions  un- 
known before.  Besides  the  candidates  of  the  two  great  parties, 
two  other  candidates  were  in  the  field.  General  Jackson,  put  for- 
ward by  the  Democrats,  received  97  electoral  votes,  having  sup- 
porters in  all  sections  of  the  country;  Adams,  the  Whig  candi- 
date, received  84  votes,  chiefly  in  New  York  ;  Crawford,  an.  Inde- 
pendent, received  41  votes,  chiefly  from  Whigs,  especially  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  while  Clay  received  37  votes,  mainly  from  the  West,  and, 
as  was  supposed,  as  a  Democratic  candidate.  The  election  being 
thus  thrown  into  Congress,  as  neither  candidate  had  a  majority  of 
the  votes  cast,  a  union  of  the  friends  of  Mr.  Adams  and  Clay  was 
formed  ;  Mr.  Adams  was  elected  to  the  Presidency,  while  Mr.  Clay 
became  Secretary  of  State.  As  this  implied  in  Mr.  Clay  a  virtual 
change  in  political  principles,  charges  of  corruption  were  of  course 
naturally  suggested,  and  Mr.  Clay,  late  in  the  session,  asked  an  in- 
vestigation. This  Houston  opposed.  His  reasons  were  given  in  a 
circular  to  his  constituents,  dated  March  3,  1825.  The  substance 
of  this  circular,  afterward  published  in  Niles'  Register,  at  Balti- 
more, May  28th,  is  worthy  of  reproduction,  as  it  gives  the  balanced 
judgment  of  Houston  on  matters  of  civil  and  constitutional  law. 
It  is  as  follows  : 

"  Extract  from  a  Circular  of  Mr.  Houston  to  the  Freemen  of  the  Ninth  Con- 
gressional District  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  dated  Washington,  D.  C., 
March  3,  1825  : 
"  At  a  late  day  of  the  present  session  an  appeal  was  made  by  the  Speaker  of  the 


180  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

House  of  Representatives,  in  his  official  character,  requesting  an  investigation 
of  some  charges  that  had  been  made  against  him  by  a  member  of  Congress 
from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  which  appeared  in  the  character  of  a  letter  in 
one  of  the  public  journals  of  that  State.  A  motion  was  submitted  to  appoint  a 
special  committee  for  the  investigation  of  the  subject,  which,  after  consuming 
two  days  in  discussion,  was  adopted.  To  this  course  I  was  opposed,  because  I 
did  not  think  that  Congress  had  anything  to  do  with  a  difference  which  had 
been  made  persona"!  by  the  course  pursued  by  the  Speaker  himself.  The  impos- 
ing situation  of  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  such,  that  I  am 
never  willing  to  give  my  vote  for  an  extension  of  his  power  when  I  can  either 
suspect  the  existence  of  personal  feelings,  or  that  there  is  even  a  remote  possi- 
bility of  rendering  Congress  a  court  of  inquisition,  or  that  it  may  become  an  en- 
gine of  oppression  to  either  members  of  the  House  or  individuals  in  society  who 
may  choose  to  exercise  their  constitutional  privileges  in  the  expression  of  their 
opinions. 

"  The  courts  in  our  country  are  open  at  all  times  to  the  redress  of  grievances, 
and  to  them  individuals  can  have  recourse,  where  justice  can  be  administered  to 
the  party  aggrieved.  There,  every  man  is  presented  upon  a  footing  of  equality, 
stripped  of  power  and  patronage  ;  no  adventitious  circumstances  of  official  char- 
acter or  extensive  influence  can  bias  the  minds  of  an  impartial  jury.  The  case 
is  then  determined  upon  its  merits.  There  is  no  danger  in  this  course ;  the  Con- 
stitution has  prescribed  it.  There  is  no  danger  of  rendering  it  the  fire-brand  oi 
partisan  zeal. 

"  But  it  will  assume  a  very  different  aspect  if  Congress  is  to  become  a  court 
for  the  trial  of  personal  altercation  and  disputes.  It  will  render  it  a  scene  ol 
confusion,  and  the  whole  of  legislation  will  become  a  scene  of  uproar,  party 
rancor,  and  personal  animosity. 

"  The  subject  of  the  Presidential  election,  which  agitated  the  American  com- 
munity so  long,  and  was  of  so  muph  interest  to  the  nation,  has  resulted  in  the 
election  of  a  candidate  who  had  not  a  majority  of  the  votes  in  the  Electoral  Col- 
lege. Nor  had  he  a  majority  of  the  members  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
but  only  a  majority  of  the  States.  As  our  Government  is,  in  all  other  respects, 
a  representative  Republic  where  the  voice  of  the  people  governs,  there  must  be 
a  manifest  defect  of  the  Constitution  in  relation  to  the  election  of  President. 
During  the  present  Congress,  various  resolutions  have  been  submitted  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  proposing  amendment,  but  none  have  yet  been  adopt- 
ed. That  there  is  need  for  amendment  of  the  Constitution  we  can  not  doubt, 
when  we  advert  to  the  facts  in  the  last  election.  One  candidate  had  a  decided 
preference  in'  eleven  out  of  twenty-four  States  by  the  people  ;  yet,  when  the 
power  passed  from  their  hands  and  devolved  on  the  House  of  Representatives, 
the  voice  of  the  people  was  not,  in  many  instances,  regarded  by  their  represent- 
atives, but  their  individual  inclinations  were,  for  some  cause  or  other,  pursued 
without  reference  to  the  will  of  their  constituents. 

"  The  individual  who  was  manifestly  the  choice  of  the  majority  of  the  people 
was  not  elevated  to  that  distinguished  situation  for  which  his  qualifications  so 
pre-eminently  fitted  him,  and  to  which  the  important  services  he  had  rendered 
to  his  country  so  richly  entitled  him.  Another  was  chosen  by  the  House  of 
Representatives  who  had  in  his  favor  less  expressions  of  national  confidence,  as 
manifested  in  the  Electoral  Colleges.  This  is  a  subject  of  serious  consideration 


Houston  on  the  House  Military  Committee.        181 

for  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  it  will  be  for  them  to  say,  on  some  sub- 
sequent occasion,  whether  their  voice  shall  be  heard  and  their  rights  respected, 
or  whether  they  will  tamely  yield  those  inestimable  rights  to  the  unhallowed  die-  ' 
tation  of  politicians,  who  may  choose  to  barter  them  for  their  own  individual  ag- 
grandizement, or  otherwise  dispose  of  them  contrary  to  the  known  will  of  their 
constituents." 

At  the  opening  of  the  Nineteenth  Congress,  December,  1825,  Hous- 
ton, having  been  re-elected,  was  again  placed  on  the  Military  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  ;  and  soon  he  was  drawn  out  in  this  and  other 
relations.  A  widow  of  New  Hampshire,  who  had  lost  a  son  in  the  In- 
dian wars,  asked  a  pension,  and  Houston  became  her  advocate.  Mr. 
Webster  called  for  information  as  to  diplomatic  relations  with  Cen- 
tral America  ;  and  Houston  sustained  him.  Mr.  Calhoun,  now  out 
of  office,  asked,  through  representatives  from  South  Carolina,  an 
investigation  as  to  charges  of  fraud  in  the  War  Department  while 
he  was  Secretary  under  President  Monroe  ;  Mr.  Floyd,  of  Virginia, 
his  friend,  favored  the  request  ;  while  Houston,  though  subjected 
himself  while  a  lieutenant  to  unjust  aspersion,  showed  himself  im- 
partial toward  the<  former  Secretary.  Mr.  Webster,  still  pressing 
the  claims  of  the  Greeks,  asked  an  appropriation  of  $50,000  to  sup- 
plement private  contributions  sent  them  ;  but  Houston,  with  a 
large  majority,  voted  against  it  as  a  matter  for  individual  charity, 
not  to  be  taken  from  the  people  at  large.  When  final  action  on 
Mr.  Webster's  tariff  provisions  came  up,  though  passed  by  106  to 
95,  Houston  was  with  the  opposers. 

Among  resolutions  expressive  of  censure  on  the  course  of.  the 
new  Administration,  was  one  specially  touching  the  interests  of 
the  people  ;  which  called  out  Houston's  sustained  and  earnest  op- 
position, and  brought  him  before  the  country  as  an  able  debater. 
On  the  i2th  of  February,  1827,  Gen.  Saunders,  of  North  Carolina, 
offered  a  resolution  directing  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Clay,  to 
communicate  to  the  House  "  a  list  of  all  the  newspapers  in  each 
State  of  the  Union  in  which  the  laws  of  Congress  were  directed  to 
be  published  in  1825-6  ;  also,  a  list  of  such  in  which  the  laws  are 
directed  to  be  published  in  1826-7,  designating  the  changes  which 
have  been  made,  and  the  reasons  for  such  changes."  Gen.  Saun- 
ders spoke  at  length  on  presenting  the  resolution;  and  occupied 
the  hour  given  to  resolutions  also  on  the  i2th,  and  again  on  the 
i4th  and  i5th.  On  the  i7th  Mr.  Johnson,  of  New  York,  replied, 
opposing  the  resolution.  His  time  having  expired,  Houston,  who 
purposed  to  reply,  asked  an  extension  of  Mr.  Johnson's  privilege, 
which  was  granted  ;  and  he  completed  his  argument  on  the  2oth. 
On  the  22d,  Houston  got  the  floor  ;  also  again  on  the  24th  ;  when, 
not  having  fully  completed  his  reply,  the  rare  courtesy  of  suspend- 


182  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ing  the  rule  was  accorded,  that  he  might  finish.  No  record  of  th* 
course  of  argument  which  he  pursued  is  found  ;  it  was,  doubtless, 
filled,  like  his  reported  speeches,  with  details  of  facts  as  well  as 
with  discussion  of  principles  involved  ;  but  Houston  won  a  reputa- 
tion as  a  public  speaker  which  he  ever  after  maintained.  The  force 
of  his  reasoning  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that,  on  the  28th,  Mr. 
Wright,  of  Ohio,  felt  called  on,  not  only  to  reply  to  Gen.  Saunders, 
but  also  to  Houston. 

The  session  of  Congress  having  ended  March  4,  1827,  an  event 
occurred  whose  like  had  been  avoided  in  all  his  former  life,  as  it  was 
also  avoided  in  all  his  subsequent  life.  This  event  brought  out 
in  a  new  light  the  character  of  Houston,  and  gave  him  a  place  in 
the  esteem  of  the  whole  people  of  Tennessee,  one  of  whose  Con- 
gressional districts  he  had  represented.  The  obnoxious  Federal 
appointments  in  the  new  States,  reaching  to  the  removal  of  post- 
masters respected  in  the  communities  they  served,  and  the  substi- 
tution of  mere  political  partisans  in  whom  the  people  had  no  con- 
fidence, led  from  warm  debate  to  personal  collisions;  into  one  of 
which  Houston,  despite  his  fixed  rule  of  action,  was  drawn  against 
his  will. 

On  the  2d  June,  1827,  the  grand  jury  of  Simpson  County,  Ken- 
tucky, found  bills  against  C.  M.  Smith  and  Samuel  Houston,  both 
of  Tennessee  ;  the  former  for  murder,  in  killing  Mr.  Bank,  of  Ten- 
nessee ;  and  the  latter  for  shooting,  with  intent  to  kill,  Gen.  White, 
of  Tennessee  ;  which  act,  under  the  laws  of  Kentucky,  was  "felony." 

The  Governor  of  Kentucky  demanded  the  surrender  of  both  from 
the  Governor  of  Tennessee.  As  the  shooting  was  the  result  of  a 
duel  agreed  on  by  both  parties,  obedience  to  the  summons  was  not 
expected.  As  Houston  had  acted  only  in  self-defence,  the  tide  of 
popular  sentiment  not  only  sustained  him,  but  led  to  his  nomina- 
tion and  election  as  Governor.  His  popularity  throughout  the 
country  is  indicated  in  the  fact  that  Niles'  Register,  of  May  i8th, 
Baltimore,  Md.,  then  the  chief  reporter  of  national  events,  gives  a 
full  report  of  Houston's  speech  previously  made  at  Telico,  Tennes- 
see, when  called  out  by  the  people  as  their  favorite.  Replying  to 
the  charge  that  he  was  a  duellist,  he  said  "  that  he  never  could  re- 
cur to  the  late  exceptional  event  in  his  life  but  with  mingled  pain 
and  thankfulness  to  that  Providence  which  enabled  him  to  save 
his  person  and  his  honor,  and  that  without  injury  to  his  assailant. 
He  had  been,  and  still  was,  opposed  to  the  practice  of  duelling.  He 
had  passed  through  the  army  without  any  act  to  sanction  it.  He 
had  hoped  to  be  as  successful  in  civil  life.  The  Federal  Govern- 
ment, however,  had  made  appointment  of  a  postmaster  opposed 
to  the  wishes  of  all  the  people,  and  of  ten  out  of  eleven  repre- 


Houston's  Early  Ability  in  Debate.  183 

sentatives  of  the  State  in  the  two  Houses  of  Congress.  His  re- 
monstrance was  warm  ;  and  hence  the  challenge,  presented  in  pub- 
lic. He  had  risked  his  life  in  defence  of  his  country,  and  he  could 
do  no  less  in  defence  of  his  honor.  Thank  God,"  he  added,  "  that 
my  adversary  was  injured  no  worse." 

This  closing  of  the  first  stage  of  Houston's  national  career,  as  a 
calm  review  of  the  facts,  indicated  a  moral  courage  and  a  true 
conscientiousness  in  his  public  bearing  which  reached  a  higher 
development  in  a  future  field.  With  noble  impulses,  with  a  daring 
and  devotion  equal  to  every  emergency,  his  life,  from  thirty  years 
of  age  to  thirty-four,  developed  amid  the  turbulence  of  a  new  set- 
tlement, showed  him  worthy  at  this  early  age  of  being  placed  in 
the  position  of  chief  magistrate  in  a  State  crowded  with  adventurers 
and  honored  by  the  residence  of  citizens  like  his  old  commander, 
Jackson. 

The  two  following  incidents  of  the  session  of  1825-6,  indicate 
the  marked  ability  of  Houston  as  a  young  Representative  from  a 
youthful  State.  In  the  pressure  and  heat  of  debate  of  a  bill  mak- 
ing appropriations  for  public  buildings,  discussion  had  continued 
till  near  midnight.  Under  that  pressure  the  bill  had  passed  by  a 
bare  majority,  and  several  members  had  already  retired.  The 
Speaker  was  about  to  sign  the  bill  when,  as  -the  record  states,  Mr. 
Houston  objected  to  the  signing,  asking  if  a  quorum  were  present. 
The  Speaker  said  that,  as  there  was  a  quorum  when  it  passed  the 
House,  there  could  be  no  objection.  Mr.  Houston  urged  that  the 
rules  of  both  Houses  forbade  it.  Mr.  Everett,  of  Massachusetts,  to 
meet  the  emergency,  proposed  a  joint  resolution  that  the  rule  be 
set  aside  so  that  the  bill  might  be  signed.  A  call  of  the  roll  showed 
that  a  quorum  was  not  present.  Mr.  Polk,  of  Tennessee,  as  it  was 
Saturday,  May  27th,  and  past  midnight,  protested  against  any  far- 
ther legislation  as  an  infringement  of  the  Sabbath-day  and  of  statutes 
relating  to  it.  Mr.  McDuffie  appealed  to  Houston  to  withdraw  his 
objection,  as  it  was  but  a  matter  of  form.  Houston  assured  the 
House  that  no  desire  for  captious  obstruction,  but  "  conscientious 
scruples  "  as  to  the  violation  of  law  led  to  his  act ;  and  as  proof  of 
his  sincerity,  added,  "  I  will  with  pleasure  retire  from  the  chamber 
while  the  bill  is  signed."  Mr.  McDuffie  then  began  an  argument 
to  show  that  the  Speaker  might  with  propriety  sign  the  bill  ;  but 
the  Speaker,  having  examined  the  rule,  interrupted  him  to  state 
that  he  was  convinced  he  could  not  legally  sign  it.  The  efforts  of 
the  officers  of  the  House  had  meanwhile  secured  a  quorum  ;  Mr. 
Everett's  motion  prevailed,  the  Senate  concurred,  the  bill  was  signed 
according  to  law,  and  Houston's  -character  was  stamped  for  future 
success. 


184  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

The  second,  occurring  at  the  same  juncture,  is  thus  presented  in 
a  brief  article  prepared  by  the  writer  for  the  daily  press  as  these 
pages  of  Houston's  Congressional  career,  prepared  by  him,  are 
being  revised  for  publication  : 

"  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM  BEFORE  JACKSON'S  ADMINISTRATION. 

"  The  discussion  of  this  question  of  the  age  calls  for  two  demands  from  im- 
partial judges :  first,  that  the  voice  of  the  past  be  heard ;  second,  that  partisan 
bias  be  silenced  in  listening  to  that  voice.  It  is  a  common  impression  that 
Jackson  originated,  and  that  Marcy  first  formulated,  the  doctrine  as  to  Ameri- 
can civil  service,  that  '  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils.'  Facts,  however,  attest 
that  Jackson's  course  was  but  a  reaction  against  previous  abuses,  as  the  two 
following  testimonies  show. 

"  Under  the  genial  administrations  of  Mr.  Monroe,  '  the  era  of  good  feeling," 
the  Post-Office,  as  well  as  other  departments,  had  taken  on  those  corrupt  prac- 
tices which  Amos  Kendall,  P.  M.  General  under  Jackson,  was  so  efficient  in  cor- 
recting. The  accession  of  Adams,  by  attempted  changes  in  the  West  and  South, 
little  known  to  the  President,  only  aggravated  these  evils.  Sam  Houston,  then  a 
young  Representative  from  Tennessee,  so  won  popular  esteem  by  his  effort  to 
correct  improper  appointments  that  after  two  terms  in  Congress,  from  1823  to 
1827,  as  to  aid  largely  in  his  election  as  Governor.  In  one  case,  as  Houston 
stated,  a  postmaster  was  appointed  whom  all  the  people  whom  he  was  to  serve 
disapproved,  and  the  appointment  was  made  with  the  concurrence  of  only  one 
of  eleven  members  of  the  Senate  and  House  from  Tennessee.  On  the  8th  Feb- 
ruary, 1826,  the  following  resolution  was  introduced  into  the  Senate  by  Hon. 
Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  been  in  Congress  from  the  open- 
ing of  the  second  session  in  1791  : 

"  The  election  to  the  Presidency  of  J.  Q.  Adams  by  the  Houses  of  Congress 
led  to  such  a  popular  demand  that  a  '  grand  committee '  of  both  Houses  was 
appointed  to  recommend  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  which  should  here- 
after prevent  such  an  occurrence.  On  the  date  mentioned  Senator  Macon 
moved  the  following : 

" '  Resolved,  That  the  committee  to  whom  has  been  referred  the  several  reso- 
lutions to  amend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  be  instructed  to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  of  diminishing  or  regulating  the  patronage  of  the  Executive 
of  the  United  States,  with  leave  to  report  by  bill  or  otherwise.' 

"  The  resolution  was  referred  as  proposed.  On  the  28th  May  following,  the 
'  grand  committee  '  reported  through  their  chairman,  Mr,  McDuffie  :  that  they 
found  it  impossible  to  agree  on  any  common  plan  for  obviating  an  evil  generally 
admitted  ;  and  that  because  of  the  conflicting  interests  involved,  both  between 
the  larger  and  smaller  States,  and  between  Federal  and  State  rivalries.  That 
Marcy  in  his  oft-quoted  statement  had  a  spice  of  humor  is  manifest  from  his 
well-known  character,  and  from  the  following  incident :  On  the  evening  after 
his  appointment  as  Secretary  of  State  under  Gen.  Pierce,  in  a  company  who 
called  for  social  courtesy,  a  committee  of  political  aspirants  were  ushered  into 
the  Secretary's  parlor.  In  pressing  their  claim,  which  sought  removals  of  tried 
men  of  the  former  administration,  Marcy 's  famed  expression  was  quoted  to  him  • 


Civil  Service  Reform  and  "Plutocracy."          185 

when,  treating  it  as  a  joke,  he  humorously  exclaimed  :  '  But  I  never  proposed 
the  plundering  of  the  camp  of  an  ally.'  The  interests  of  the  great  question  of 
Civil  Service  Reform,  now  being  examined  from  various  points  of  view,  make  it 
wise  that  the  entire  history  of  the  recognized  demand  be  brought  into  review." 

In  these  movements  for  Civil  Service  Reform  Houston  sided  with 
Nathaniel  Macon,  whom  Jefferson  called  the  "last  of  the  Romans," 
and  of  whom  John  Randolph  said  :  "  He  is  the  wisest  man  I  ever 
knew." 

Houston's  relation  to  questions  dividing  the  South  and  North, 
claiming,  as  he  always  did,  to  be  a  Southern  man,  is  worthy  of  the 
more  note  because  the  result  has  proved  that  his  balanced  judg- 
ment saw  aright  the  principles  involved;  and,  that  judgment  was  in 
accord  with  the  views  of  Washington.  When  Washington  urged 
the  removal  of  the  seat  of  Government  from  New  York  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  then  again  to  the  unsettled  location  on  the  Potomac, 
that  it  might  be  removed  from  the  moral  control  of  a  city  where  were 
great  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests,  as  opposed  to  those 
of  the  quiet  rural  people  at  large,  he  had  learned  that  human  nat- 
ure was  the  same  in  the  American  States  as  at  European  courts. 
Urged  by  ambitious  men,  who  expected  to  be  lords,  to  form  an 
Imperial  Government,  or  one  of  force,  he  resisted  ;  for  monarchy 
was  not  for  Americans  any  more  than  for  Romans,  a  rule  to  be 
submitted  to.  Next  after  this,  as  Aristotle  in  ancient  philosophy, 
and  Montesquieu  in  more  modern  philosophy,  have  shown  both  in 
theory  and  historic  fact,  comes  the  more  subtle  and  successful 
effort  of  "plutocracy,"  or  of  landed  associations,  who  could  absorb 
by  commercial  monopolies  the  value  of  products  which  ought  to 
be  equalized  among  producers.  The  great  statesmen  of  Virginia 
and  of  the  South,  representing  an  agricultural  population,  such 
men  as  Macon  and  the  Barbours  saw  that  the  very  influence  Wash- 
ington sought  to  escape,  followed  the  Government  to  its  seat, 
wherever  located.  They  saw,  just  as  the  people  of  New  York  city 
and  State  now  see,  that  not  only  is  "  the  price  of  liberty  eternal 
vigilance,"  but  that  the  price  of  just  legislation  for  the  people  is 
more  than  eternal  vigilance  can  meet.  The  cool,  unsuspecting 
people  at  large,  and  their  representatives  unschooled  in  the  schemes 
of  moneyed  centers  by  which  tariffs,  or  the  disposal  of  public 
offices,  are  made  to  promote  their  mojiey  schemes,  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  are  out-manoeu- 
vered  by  the  wily  politicians  who  represent  moneyed  aristocra- 
cies. The  Southern  representatives  saw  this  evil  growing  to 
gigantic  proportions,  when,  under  Monroe,  in  his  second  admin- 
istration, the  power  of  a  Webster  was  thrown  into  the  scale  to 
make  the  interests  of  the  agricultural  districts  pay  for  internal 


186  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

improvements  and  for  revenue  what  indeed  benefited  all,  while, 
nevertheless,  the  great  resources  were  absorbed  at  a  few  commer- 
cial centers.  Moreover,  it  was  in  the  administration  that  preceded 
that  of  Jackson  that  the  system  of  placing  men  in  office  who  would 
aid  these  monopolies  was  inaugurated  and  pushed  to  an  extreme  ; 
and  the  revolution  which  led  to  the  interested  party-cry  that  Jack- 
son was  the  author  of  the  "  spoils  system  "  in  national  offices,  was 
but  the  doubtful  policy  of  fighting  an  enemy  with  his  own 
weapons.  The  Southern  States  were  wronged  by  the  measures 
against  which  South  Carolina  led  her  sister  States  in  resisting. 
How  to  resist  wisely,  safely,  and  successfully  was  the  vital  ques 
tion.  Neither  Jackson  nor  Houston  believed  that  disunion  was  the 
true  and  sure  way  to  rectify  the  wrong.  As  Washington  preserved 
a  balanced  mind  and  a  steady  hand  amid  baffling  gales,  so,  as  the 
result  has  shown,  safety  and  success  were  to  be  secured  by  other 
means  than  force.  Jackson  only  hinted,  in  the  crisis  of  1830-33, 
what  Houston  was  called  to  maintain,  from  that  period  till  the 
bloodv  catastrophe  of  1 860-61. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

HOUSTON'S  ENTRANCE  INTO  THE  U.  S.  SENATE,  MARCH,  1846— QUESTIONS  OF  THE  DAV 
—MOVEMENTS  OF  INTEREST. 

IN  the  diary  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  recently  published,  is  this 
record  under  date  of  March  29,  1843;  at  which  time,  as  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Massachusetts,  he, 
as  ex-President,  was  opposing  President  Tyler's  plan  for  the  an- 
nexation of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  Mr.  Adams  says  :  "With 
the  commencement  of  my  administration  I  appointed  Poinsett 
Minister  to  Mexico,  and  Mr.  Clay  instructed  him  to  propose  the 
purchase  of  Texas.  This  they  declined  ;  but  two  years  after,  the 
proposition  was  renewed."  In  the  same  diary,  under  date  of  April 
1 8th,  three  weeks  later,  Mr.  Adams  records,  as  to  an  act  of  his  ad- 
ministration :  "  Poinsett,  under  instruction  from  H.  Clay,  approved 
by  me,  had  proposed  and  urged  the  purchase  of  Mexico  for  one 
million  dollars."  Another  record  states  that  Spain  was  sounded 
as  to  the  purchase  of  Cuba,  but  that  the  Spanish  Government, 
taking  alarm,  secured  the  remonstrance  of  England,  and  the  threat 
of  war,  should  forcible  means  be  used  to  bring  Cuba  into  the 
American  Union.  This  revelation  of  what  was  in  the  mind  of 
President  Monroe  when  through  Adams,  as  his  Secretary  of  State, 
he  announced  the  Monroe  doctrine,  or  rather  what  was  in  the  mind 
of  Mr.  Adams,  is  most  suggestive  as  to  the  distinction  between  the 
statesman  and  the  politician.  It  certainly  prepares  the  student  of 
Houston's  life  to  judge  his  character  for  wisdom  and  integrity  in 
the  history  of  events  which  brought  that  same  Texas  twenty  years 
later  into  the  Union,  with  Sam  Houston  as  its  special  representa- 
tive in  the  Senate. 

For  eighteen  years,  closing  with  his  second  term  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  March,  1827,  Houston,  becoming  first  Governor 
of  Tennessee,  then  an  exile  among  the  Indians  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  then  the  hero  of  Texas,  had  no  other  connection  with 
the  United  States  Government  than  as  a  delegate  from  the  Arkan- 
sas Indians,  and  then  as  negotiator  for  the  annexatien  of  Texas. 
A  complicated  succession  of  events  must  have  come  over  the  affairs 
of  the  United  States  Government  during  that  brief  period,  in  order 
that  Mr.  Adams,  a  leading  actor  meanwhile  in  all  those  affairs, 
should  be  led  to  make  this  ingenuous  statement  of  facts  as  to  his 

(187) 


188  Life  of  Sam  Houston.  9 

own  changed  position.  In  order  that  Houston's  course  may  be 
accurately  viewed  on  his  entrance  into  the  Senate,  a  review  of  the 
progress  of  policy  as  to  the  leading  measures  before  Congress 
when  he  was  a  Representative  of  Tennessee  must  be  briefly 
traced. 

During  the  four  years  of  Houston  in  the  House,  from  1823  to 
1827,  as  we  have  observed,  the  five  agitating  questions  were  the 
tariff,  internal  improvements,  slavery,  Indian  policy,  and  foreign 
policy  as  to  North  American  territory  ;  while  the  Presidential  elec- 
tion wras  an  occasion  every  four  years  for  the  discussion  of  each 
and  every  question  as  it  affected  the  several  States.  As  observed, 
the  tariff  touched  chiefly  the  interests  of  the  New  England  manu- 
facturing States,  and  of  the  Gulf  or  cotton-growing  States  ;  inter- 
nal improvements  were  interests  affecting  mainly  the  advance  of 
the  Middle  and  Western  States  ;  slavery  was  a  question  of  senti- 
ment in  the  extreme  North,  and  of  practical  life  in  the  extreme 
South  ;  while  the  Indian  policy  and  foreign  policy  toward  the 
English  colonies  on  the  north  and  the  Spanish  settlements  at  the 
southwest,  was  a  question,  indeed,  of  national  sentiment,  while  it 
was  vital  mainly  on  border  territory. 

The  intense  excitement  following  the  election  of  President 
Adams  by  Congress,  which  led  to  the  election  of  President  Jack- 
son for  two  terms,  was  followed  by  a  new  era  in  Presidential 
elections.  During  forty-eight  years,  from  1799  to  1837,  there  had 
been  but  seven  distinct  administrations ;  the  double  terms  of 
Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  and  Jackson,  and  the 
single  terms  of  the  two  Adamses.  From  that  period,  while  Hous- 
ton was  prominent  in  national  affairs,  during  twenty-four  years,  or 
half  the  former  period,  from  1837  to  1861,  there  were  eight  distinct 
administrations,  the  single  terms  of  Presidents  Van  Buren,  Polk, 
Pierce,  and  Buchanan,  with  the  intervening  half  terms  of  Presi- 
dents Harrison  and  Tyler,  of  Taylor  and  Fillmore  ;  parties  sue 
ceeding  each  other,  not  only  each  four  years,  but  intermediate  be 
tween  these  successive  elections.  Since  Houston  left  the  House  in 
1827  the  eighteen  years  of  his  absence  from  the  Capitol  had  wit- 
nessed the  administration  of  six  successive  occupants  of  the  Presi- 
dential chair. 

Meanwhile,  the  policy  as  to  internal  improvements  had  become 
so  common  an  interest  as  to  be  generally  accepted  ;  the  removal  of 
the  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi  had  quieted  border  agitation  ; 
the  foreign  relations  of  Canada  and  Mexico  had  little  to  enlist  pub- 
lic interest;  and  the  Missouri  Compromise  had,  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  accomplished  an  end  of  deferring  conflicting  issues  till  the 
occupation  and  annexation  of  new  territory  should  revive  it.  As 


Webster  and  Nullification.  189 

we  shall  see,  each  of  these  questions  that  had  in  turn  been  appar- 
ently settled,  were  only  deferred;  except  the  tariff  and  internal  im- 
provements. The  latter  of  these  was  practically  settled  during 
Houston's  connection  with  the  House,  and  the  latter  was  battled 
through  during  his  absence.  Each  of  the  three  remaining  ques- 
tions, relations  to  the  African,  Indian,  and  Mexican  races,  by  the 
annexation  of  Texas  and  the  entrance  of  Houston  again  into  Con- 
gress, were  to  be  rediscussed  under  new  circumstances,  and  to  be 
settled  under  new  complications. 

The  question  "  battled  through  "  during  Houston's  separation 
from  Congress,  as  intimated,  was  the  tariff.  As  already  noted, 
Daniel  Webster,  who  in  the  history  of  the  American  Union  will, 
from  the  force  of  succeeding  events,  be  regarded  the  exponent  of 
a  tariff  for  protection  rather  than  for  revenue,  was  really,  at  the 
commencement  and  to  the  close  of  his  career,  the  student  of  a 
revenue  system  which  should  promote  commerce  rather  than 
manufactures  ;  inviting,  instead  of  excluding,  the  purchase  of 
foreign  products,  and  seeking,  by  a  careful  observation  of  the 
effect  of  a  high  or  low  tariff,  to  so  adjust  the  amount  of  revenue 
levied  on  foreign  goods  as  to  promote  at  the  same  time  the  wish 
of  the  people  who  bought,  and  of  the  Treasury  whose  chief  sup- 
ply must  come  from  that  revenue.  No  man,  in  the  history  of  the 
American  Union,  brought  more  careful  observation  of  facts,  and 
more  sagacious  adaptation  of  legislation  to  this  end,  than  did  Mr. 
Webster;  and  that  this  was  his  ruling  aim  his  whole  course  in  Con- 
gress indicates.  Having  pursued  with  success  this  aim  in  the 
House,  from  1823  to  1827,  he  consented  to  come  into  the  Senate, 
where  he  was  prominent  from  1827  to  1841.  In  1828,  though  from 
expediency  personally  advocating  a  different  course,  he  gave  his 
adhesion  to  the  high  protective  tariff  which  bore  unfavorably  on 
the  interests  of  the  cotton-growing  States.  Elected  in  1828  as 
President,  aside  from  this  issue,  Jackson  was  understood  to  be  op- 
posed to  the  measures  fixed  under  the  administration  of  President 
Adams.  Submitting  for  two  or  three  years  to  its  depressing  influ- 
ence on  her  productive  industry,  South  Carolina  called  a  conven- 
tion of  her  citizens,  whose  representatives,  recurring  to  the  injuri- 
ous requirement  before  acted  upon,  that  the  State  should  be  taxed 
to  pay  for  internal  improvements  in  whose  benefits  she  had  no 
share,  now  urged  more  strongly  the  prostration  of  her  industries, 
which  the  high  tariff  for  the  protection  of  Northern  manufacturers 
had  produced.  In  November,  1832,  just  after  the  vote  which  was 
to  make  Jackson  President  for  a  second  term,  the  Convention  of 
South  Carolina  passed  the  ordinance  of  "  Nullification,"  so  called 
from  these  declarations  : — That  the  existing  ordinance  of  Con- 


190  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

gress  as  to  the  tariff  is  "  null  and  void,  and  no  law,  nor  binding  on 
this  State,  its  officers,  or  its  citizens";  and  farther  declaring  that 
no  " duties  on  imports"  were  to  be  "paid  within  the  State  after 
Feb.  i,  1833  ";  adding,  that  any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  enforce  such  collection  would  "  justify  the  State  in 
no  longer  regarding  herself  a  member  of  the  Union."  The  report 
of  this  action  led  ^President  Jackson  to  give  orders  to  the  revenue 
officers  which  should  prepare  them  for  action  should  occasion 
arise.  At  the  opening  of  Congress,  Dec.,  1832,  he  announced  his 
purpose  to  issue  a  proclamation,  declaring  the  resistance  to  a  col- 
lection of  the  revenue  at  the  ports  of  any  State  to  be  treason  to 
the  United  States  Government;  which  proclamation  soon  appeared. 
Through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Clay,  a  compromise  measure  modifying 
the  tariff  was  carried  through  Congress,  and  the  danger  of  armed 
hostility  was  avoided.  It  is  due  to  history,  and  to  an  impartial 
estimate  of  the  course  of  Sam  Houston  as  Senator  from  Texas,  to 
state  these  facts  :  Gen.  Jackson  in  his  Cabinet,  as  well  as  in  pri- 
vate, declared  as  his  belief  that  the  movement  for  separation  from 
the  Union,  debated  by  Mr.  Webster  and  Hayne  in  1830,  with  such 
ability  in  the  Senate,  precipitated  in  the  calling  and  action  of  the 
Convention  of  November,  1832,  was  not  a  suggestion  either  of  the 
statesmen  or  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina ;  but  that  it  was  the 
project  of  interested  political  leaders,  inflaming  public  sentiment 
for  their  own  personal  schemes  of  ambition.  President  Jackson 
believed  and  declared  that  the  real  end  sought  was  that  of  Genet, 
in  seeking  in  1793  to  form  a  Western  French  Republic,  uniting 
Louisiana,  along  the  Mississippi  Valley,  to  Canada  ;  an  end  again 
attributed  to  Aaron  Burr,  in  seeking  to  form  a  Spanish  and 
French  empire,  in  which  the  Floridas,  Louisiana,  and  Mexico,  in 
1806  ;  and,  though  a  Carolinian  by  birth,  he  went  so  far  as  to  utter 
privately  the  prediction  that,  having  failed  of  its  end  in  1832  on  the 
issue  of  the  tariff,  the  slavery  issue  would  be  resorted  to  by  the 
same  spirit  of  dissatisfied  political  ambition  to  secure  a  separate 
confederacy  of  the  Gulf  States.  This  prediction,  known  to  Hous- 
ton, was  certainly,  in  him,  a  deep  and  the  ruling  conviction,  while 
the  duty  which  guided  Jackson,  in  1832,  seemed  to  him  duty 
in  1860. 

The  proposition  for  the  annexation  of  Texas,  privately  and  pub- 
licly discussed  under  the  administration  of  President  Tyler,  had 
awakened  throughout  the  country  a  controversy  whose  considera- 
tion belongs  rather  to  the  history  of  Texas  than  of  Houston  ;  the 
Washington  who  as  "  first  in  war "  had  already  proved  himself 
"  first  in  peace  "  in  the  new  and  independent  Republic.  All  the 


Texas  Annexation  under  Polk.  191 

exciting  questions,  before  partially  settled,  became  unsettled. 
When,  at  last,  in  March,  1845,  just  at  the  close  of  President  Tyler's 
term,  Texas  was  proffered  terms  of  proposed  union,  among 
the  objections  of  the  opposers,  that  of  the  increase  of  slave  ter- 
ritory was  prominent.  On  this  Webster  planted  himself;  and 
during  the  debate  uttered  that  memorable  foreboding,  framed  in 
the  words  of  the  Hebrew  prophet  (Hos.  vii.  9),  as  to  the  premature 
old  age  of  Ephraim,  as  the  representative  of  the  divided  kingdom 
of  Israel  ;  exclaiming,  as  he  pictured  what  he  regarded  the  weak- 
ness of  the  American  Union — "  Yea,  gray  hairs  are  here  and  there 
upon  her,  and  she  knoweth  it  not."  Yet  more,  the  annexation 
brought  new  Indian  tribes  bordering  on  Texas,  before  a  virtual 
part  of  the  constituency  of  the  Mexican  States,  into  a  relation  new 
to  them,  as  wards  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Republic.  Most  of  all,  diffi- 
culties before  existing  with  the  Mexican  Government  were  magni- 
fied by  Texan  annexation  ;  so  that  the  flames  of  open  hostility 
broke  out. 

For  an  entire  year  before  Houston  entered  the  United  States 
Senate  virtual  annexation,  under  President  Polk,  had  existed.  As 
a  Representative  from  Tennessee,  entering  the  House  in  1824,  one 
year  later  than  Houston,  Mr.  Polk,  among  the  most  decided  of  op- 
ponents of  internal  improvements,  of  a  protective  tariff,  and  of 
restriction  of  slave  territory,  had  been  elected  specially  as  an  advo- 
cate of  Texan  annexation  in  its  bearings  on  the  questions  then  di- 
viding political  parties.  The  issue  of  extended  slave  territory  was 
settled  for  a  time  when  Texas  was  annexed  ;  but  it  lived  in  mem 
ory,  and  would  come  up  again  in  discussion  when  other  issues, 
resulting  from  annexation,  arose.  The  new  Indian  relations,  since 
they  were  local,  affecting  chiefly  the  people  of  the  new  State,  and 
calling  for  the  intervention  only  of  the  regular  army,  awakened 
very  limited  popular  interest.  The  vital  issue  was  a  threatened 
war  with  Mexico,  which  called  forth  discussion  throughout  all  the 
States,  since  volunteers,  as  well  as  regular  troops,  were  demanded 
to  meet  the  exigency.  At  this  juncture  Gen.  Z.  Taylor,  who  proved 
to  be  successor  to  Mr.  Polk  in  the  Presidency,  and  who  since  1812 
had  risen  in  esteem  as  a  soldier  and  commander  on  the  western 
and  southern  frontier,  especially  in  Indian  wars,  was  in  Arkansas. 
On  the  28th  May,  1845,  he  had  received  instructions  from  the  War 
Department,  then  presided  over  by  Gov.  Wm.  L.  Marcy,  "  that 
Texas  would  shortly  accede  to  the  terms  of  annexation,"  and  was 
ordered  to  collect  and  dispose  the  troops  in  the  Southwest,  so  as 
to  be  in  readiness  to  protect  the  border  from  "  foreign  invasion 
and  Indian  incursions."  In  March,  1846,  he  was  ordered  to  ad- 


192  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

vance  to  the  Rio  Grande,  which  river  was  claimed  as  the  border 
line  between  the  State  of  Texas  and  Mexican  territory.  When 
ordered  by  the  Mexican  General  Ampudia  to  retire  beyond  the 
Nueces,  a  river  running  to  the  Gulf  some  fifty  to  one  hundred 
miles  farther  north,  the  succession  of  hostilities  began  which 
formed  the  opening  stage  of  the  Mexican  war.  It  was  during  that 
same  month  of  March  that  Houston  took  his  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

HOUSTON  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  SENATE  UNDER  PRESIDENT  POLK,  MARCH,  1846,  TO 

MARCH  4,  1849. 

THE  records  of  the  Twenty-ninth  Congress,  whose  first  session 
was  held  from  December  i,  1845,  to  August  10,  1846,  have 
these  entries  :  "  Texas  :  Senators,  Samuel  Houston,  took  his  seat 
March  30,  1846  ;  Thomas  J.  Rusk,  took  his  seat  March  26,  1846. 
Representatives  :  David  S.  Kaufman,  took  his  seat  June  i,  1846  ; 
Timothy  Pillsbury,  took  his  seat  June  10,  1846."  As  Senator 
Rusk  was  the  first  to  arrive,  four  days  after  he  had  been  intro- 
duced to  the  Senate  and  had  been  qualified,  it  was  his  office  to 
introduce  his  colleague,  who  likewise  took  his  oath  a  second  time 
to  defend  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  ;  an  oath 
never  to  be  abjured  till  his  quiet  death  at  home  in  1863. 

It  was  a  marked  coincidence  that  Houston  should  have  entered 
Congress  again  after  eighteen  years  with  these  three  suggestive 
confirmations  of  the  principles  he  had  unswervingly  maintained  : 
first,  to  be  associated  with  the  same  great  leaders  whom  he  had 
met  in  the  House  ;  second,  to  meet  them  when,  after  the  tests  of 
their  extreme  principles  resulting  from  the  experience  of  twenty 
years,  the  ardor  of  youthful  convictions  was  tempered  by  age  ;  and 
third,  to  find  the  Union  of  the  States  such  that  no  conflicts  of  po- 
litical leaders,  then  met  in  Congress,  and  afterward  met  on  the 
field  of  battle,  could  overthrow  the  equilibrium  of  balanced  rights. 
As  we  have  observed,  James  K.  Polk,  then  a  fresh  Representative 
irom  Tennessee,  was  now  Chief  Magistrate.  In  the  Senate  were 
the  three  great  leaders,  Webster,  Clay,  and  Calhoun  ;  the  first 
made  to  yield  to  a  low  tariff,  and  specially  conciliatory  on  the 
question  of  slavery  ;  the  latter  after  the  honors  of  a  War  Secretary, 
and  of  the  Vice-Presidency,  calm  and  courtly,  though  unchanged 
in  his  theoretical  convictions  ;  while  the  second  was,  as  twenty-five 
3^ears  before,  the  same  leader  in  compromise  and  pacification.  Be- 
sides these,  conspicuous  in  the  Senate  were  the  Claytons  of  Delaware, 
Yulee  and  Westcott  of  Florida,  Berrien  and  Colquitt  of  Georgia, 
Bright  of  Indiana,  Crittenden  of  Kentucky,  Soule  of  Louisiana, 
Evans  of  Maine,  Reverdy  Johnson  of  Maryland,  Davis  of  Massa- 
chusetts, Cass  of  Michigan,  Walker  of  Mississippi,  Woodbury  of 
New  Hampshire,  Dayton  of  New  Jersey,  Dickinson  and  Dix  of 
13  (193) 


194  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

New  York,  Badjer  and  Mangum  of  North  Carolina,  Buchanan  and 
Cameron  of  Pennsylvania,  Greene  of  Rhode  Island,  Butler  of 
South  Carolina,  and  Mason  of  Virginia.  In  the  House,  too,  were 
both  brilliant  and  balanced  men  ;  some  with  a  past  of  weight,  and 
some  with  a  future  of  promise ;  while  conspicuous  above  all  was 
ex-President  Adams,  styled  "the  old  man  eloquent,"  not  from  the 
grace,  but  from  the  fervor  of  his  utterances. 

The  questions  on  which  Houston  during  Folk's  administration 
was  called  to  take  decided  ground  were  the  Oregon  boundary 
treaty,  the  Mexican  war,  and  the  incorporation  of  the  Texan  navy 
into  that  of  the  United  States  ;  and  as  these  had  each  collateral 
and  associated  issues,  there  were  no  less  than  seven  different  occa- 
sions on  which  he  was  specially  called  out.  The  engrossing  ques- 
tion on  his  entrance  into  Congress  was  the  Oregon  boundary  ;  the 
discussion  involved  questions  of  territorial  extension  at  the  North, 
which  led  to  review  of  those  made  at  the  South  ;  and  yet  more,  the 
debate  brought  in  various  suggestions  as  to  armed  conflict  with 
England  and  other  European  powers  on  account  of  territory 
claimed  upon  the  American  continent  ;  this  again  to  criticisms  of 
men  and  measures,  especially  of  Mr.  Clay,  as  the  champion  of 
home  compromise,  and  of  Gen.  Jackson,  as  the  hero  of  foreign 
war.  The  first  set  speech  of  Houston  in  the  Senate,  reported  at 
length  in  the  Congressional  Globe,  though  its  connections  were  logi- 
cal to  his  fellow-Senators,  might  perhaps  seem  discursive  and  almost 
pointless  to  the  reader  unfamiliar  with  the  varied  issues  which  he 
was  called  to  meet.  The  pending  question  before  the  Senate  was 
the  message  from  the  President  asking  concurrence  in  his  purpose 
to  give  notice  to  Great  Britain  that  the  United  States  would  abro- 
gate on  a  certain  day  the  treaty  as  to  the  line  between  the  British 
and  American  territory  on  the  Pacific  coast.  The  recognized  princi- 
ples of  international  law  controlling  the  case  were  :  first,  the  right 
of  prior  discovery  ;  second,  of  military  occupation  ;  third,  of  colonial 
settlement.  In  modern,  as  in  ancient  diplomacy,  all  civilized  na- 
tions were  agreed  that,  first,  when  any  nation,  through  its  citizens 
has  discovered  unoccupied  territory,  the  prior  claim  to  future  oc- 
cupation belongs  to  that  nation  ;  that,  second,  this  claim  of  prior 
discovery  is  superseded  if,  before  the  territory  be  occupied,  an- 
other nation  has  taken  military  possession  by  planting  their  flag, 
and  leaving  a  permanent  military  force  in  charge  ;  and  that,  third, 
civil  occupation  by  a  colony  of  settlers  who  make  improvements  in 
cultivated  lands  and  permanent  dwellings,  may  supersede  the  claim 
of  military  occupation.  As  to  the  Oregon  territory,  all  agreed  that 
the  prior  discovery  was  that  of  Spain  ;  since  De  Fuca,  in  1592,  and 
Admiral  Fonte,  in  1640,  as  also  later  explorers,  had  traversed  and 


Houston  on  "  The  Oregon  Boundary?  195 

mapped  the  coast  nearly  up  to  55°  north  latitude  ;  tHat  the  cession 
by  Spain  of  the  Louisiana  Territory  to  France,  and  in  1803  the  ces- 
sion of  that  Territory  to  the  United  States  gave  all  Spanish  right 
on  the  Pacific  coast  north  of  42°  ;  a  cession  in  words  repeated 
when,  in  1819,  Florida  was  ceded  by  Spain  to  the  United  States. 
Passing  from  the  first  claim,  that  of  prior  discovery,  to  those  of 
military  and  civil  occupation,  the  United  States  Government  in 
1804-5  had  made,  through  Lewis  and  Clarke,  a  complete  survey  of 
the  Columbia  River  ;  in  1810  Captain  Winship,  of  New  England, 
had  erected  a  house  on  the  river  ;  in  1811  Astoria,  made  famous  by 
Irving,  was  planted  as  a  military  and  trading  post  by  the  eminent 
New  York  family  ;  these  had  been  captured  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company  during  the  war  with  Great  Britain  in  1813  ;  a  treaty  of 
joint  occupancy  had  been  concluded  in  the  interest  of  that  com- 
pany simply  as  a  hunting  ground  in  1818  ;  a  permanent  band  of 
settlers  from  the  United  States  began  to  plant  and  build  in  1832, 
against  which  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  set  up  a  claim  because 
of  slight  culture1  by  hunters,  not  by  families  ;  and  in  consideration 
of  all  these  facts  the  three  rights  of  possession  seemed  clear  to  the 
American  people.  Hence  the  popular  demand,  based  on  the 
Spanish  discovery  transferred  by  treaty  to  the  United  States,  found 
expression  in  the  rally-cry,  "Fifty-four-forty,  or  fight";  whose  in- 
genious alliteration  added  to  the  ingenuous  fervor  of  the  American 
claim.  It  was  in  view  of  these  established  principles  of  interna- 
tional law,  as  they  bore  on  Great  Britain's  claim,  as  well  as  in  view 
of  all  the  home  questions  brought  into  the  debate,  that  on  the  i3th 
April,  1846,  only  two  weeks  after  he  had  taken  his  seat  in  the  Sen- 
ate, Houston  arose  and  gave  notice,  as  was  necessary  in  order  to 
secure  the  floor,  of  his  purpose  to  discuss  the  questions  at  issue  in 
the  debate  to  which  he  had  listened.  On  the  i5th  April,  two  days 
later,  his  speech  was  delivered,  of  which  the  following  is  an  out- 
line. 

'  It  had  been  said  that  if  notice  were  given  it  might  lead  to  war  ; 
since  England  had  given  no  evidence  that  she  wished  to  negotiate. 
As  to  war,  it  is  a  state  of  things  to  which  every  nation  is  subjected 
that  has  advanced  as  rapidly  as  we  to  the  highest  rank.  It  is  our 
duty  to  follow  the  maxim  of  the  Father  of  his  Country:  In  time  of 
peace  prepare  for  war.  As  to  compromise,  the  suggestion  would 
make  Great  Britain  more  aggressive.  He  quoted  from  the  London 
Times  to  show  that  English  sentiment  was  but  apathy.  He  did  not 
agree  with  the  suggestion  that  public  sentiment  would  settle  on  49°. 
He  denied  that  the  annexation  of  Texas  was  aggression  on 
Mexico,  as  the  English  press  intimated.  The  English  press  paid 
little  respect  to  the  English  public  ;  which  is  without  power.  The 


196  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

American  public  is  , quite  another  thing.  Here  the  multitude  is 
omnipotent.  The  settlers  in  Oregon  have  a  strong  claim  to  protec- 
tion. He  gave  a  history  of  the  proceedings  of  the  United  States 
as  to  Texas,  and  said  :  "  While  she  was  poor  her  call  was  disre- 
garded, but  when  she  had  power  she  was  courted.  When  she  could 
bring  a  kingdom  for  her  dowry,  and  a  nation  for  her  jewels,  she 
was  received  on  an  equality  as  a  sister  State."  War,  it  had  been 
stated  by  Mr.  Macon,  is  necessary  once  in  every  generation,  or  thirty 
years.  It  has  some  advantages  ;  among  which  were  the  draining 
off  of  the  restless  and  dissatisfied,  who  might  be  killed  off  to  the 
benefit  of  the  remainder  of  society.  It  also  was  a  means  of  dis- 
ciplining men  to  habits  of  subordination,  to  rules  of  order.  He 
paid  a  passing  tribute  to  Gen  Jackson,  stating  that  whether  his 
policy  was,  in  the  abstract,  right  or  wrong,  he  had  built  up  the 
glory  of  the  country.  "Tell,"  he  exclaimed,  "the  hero  who  has 
fought  your  battles  victoriously,  that  he  shall  be  disqualified  for 
civil  office,  and  how  many  will  you  find  hereafter  willing  to  expose 
their  lives  on  the  field  of  death  !  "  He  would  never  encourage  the 
dread  of  military  chieftains.  They  are  men  like  others,  subject  to 
common  infirmities  ;  but  public  sentiment  would  apply  a  sure  cor- 
rective.' 

Mr.  Crittenden  next  day  continued  the  debate.  He  said  that  Mr. 
Jefferson,  in  1807,  wished  to  extend  settlements  beyond  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Mr.  C.  was  in  favor  from  history  of  giving  the  notice. 
The  danger  of  war  would  influence  both  nations.  If  any  princi- 
ple of  honor  was  at  stake,  as  the  Senator  from  Texas  had  intimated 
yesterday,  the  cost  of  war  ought  not  to  be  counted.  Yet  it  should 
be  avoided  if  possible.  He  smiled  at  the  attempt  of  the  Prussian 
king,  and  of  M.  Guizot,  the  French  statesman,  to  keep  the  balance 
of  power,  for  nature  will  give  us  the  dominion.  But  he  could  not 
go  with  the  Senator  from  Texas  in  declining  compromise. 

Here  Gen.  Houston  interposed  that  the  Senator  from  Kentucky 
had  improperly  committed  himself  to  an  unpatriotic  concession. 
Mr.  Crittenden  responded  :  "  The  Senator  from  Texas  does  not 
bring  back  to  the  brotherhood,  to  which  he  has  been  readmitted, 
warmer  American  feeling  than  he  found  here  around  him."  Vari- 
ous amendments  were  proposed  ;  Houston  adhering  to  strong 
statement.  The  final  vote  for  giving  the  notice  was  passed,  40  to 
14.  In  this  debate  Houston  showed  himself  the  peer  of  statesmen 
like  Crittenden  and  Webster  ;  the  military  spirit  only  adding  decis- 
ion to  the  cool  judgment  of  the  civilian^ 

On  May  28th  Houston  proposed  a  vote  of  thanks  and  a  sword  to 
Gen.  Taylor,  for  his  victory  at  Buena  Vista,  near  the  borders  of 
Texas.  It  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  • 


Houston  and  the  Texan  Navy.  197 

Houston  replying  to  objection  made  because  others  were  equally 
deserving,  that  while  States  had  given  swords  to  subordinate 
officers,  Congress  had  only  given  them  to  commanders-in-chief.  On 
June  1 8th,  Houston  reported  from  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs 
a  resolution,  which  passed  July  yth,  giving  a  vote  of  thanks  to  all 
the  troops  engaged,  and  a  medal  to  Gen.  Taylor.  He  also  recom- 
mended payment  to  volunteers  called  out  by  Gen.  Gaines  for  the 
Mexican  war.  On  June  24th  he  sustained  a  resolution,  proposed 
by  Mr.  Benton,  but  opposed  by  Mr.  Crittenden,  giving  the  Presi- 
dent authority  to  select  Brigadier-Generals  outside  of  the  State 
where  the  troops  were  raised  ;  a  measure  whose  wisdom  secured, 
after  long  debate,  the  concurrence  of  the  Senate.  Meanwhile  an 
elaborate  report  on  the  surveys  and  defence  of  Texas  was  brought 
out  under  Houston's  supervision. 

On  the  3ist  of  July  Houston  made  an  elaborate  speech  on 
incorporating  the  navy  of  Texas  into  that  of  the  United  States. 
He  dwelt  on  circumstances  of  the  annexation,  showing  from 
official  documents  that  the  overtures  originated  with  the  United 
States ;  he  declared  Texas  never  would  have  accepted  those 
overtures  if  she  had  supposed  her  navy  was  to  be  excluded  ;  and 
he  urged  that  the  Senate  see  to  it  that  the  honor  of  the  United 
States,  again  and  again  pledged,  be  redeemed.  Thus,*  in  every 
measure  relating  to  the  foreign  and  domestic  policy  proposed, 
Houston  showed  himself  at  the  outset  of  his  Senatorial  career,  in 
this,  his  first  session,  to  be  a  master  in  all  practical  matters  dis- 
cussed. In  this  first  session  also  he  renewed,  and  ever  afterward 
continued,  his  careful  scrutiny  of  bills  for  public  service  rendered  ; 
analyzing  items,  and  insisting  on  economy  in  the  accounts  pre- 
sented by  the  Committee  on  Printing. 

The  Thirtieth  Congress,  the  second  during  President  Polk's  ad- 
ministration, whose  first  session  lasted  from  December  6,  1847,  to 
August  14,  1848,  and  its  second  session  from  December  4,  1848,  to 
March  3,  1849,  brought  out  Houston  before  new  hearers,  and  to 
meet  new  issues.  As  new  Senators  came,  Jefferson  Davis,  of  Missis- 
sippi ;  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois  ;  R.  M.  T.  Hunter,  of  Vir- 
ginia ;  J.  P.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire ;  John  Bell,  of  Tennessee  ; 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  of  Maine  ;  and  the  two  Dodges,  father  and  son, 
the  former,  Henry,  and  the  latter,  A.  C.  Dodge,  representing  respect- 
ively the  newly-admitted  States  of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa.  In  the 
House,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  Massachusetts,  had  been  made 
Speaker  ;  while  also  Abraham  Lincoln,  then  giving  no  special 
promise  for  the  future,  came  to  spend  his  only  two  years  as  a  Repre- 
sentative of  Illinois.  The  entrance  of  these  men,  associated  with 
the  two  great  parties  which  were  becoming  more  and  more  antago- 


198  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

nistic,  as  the  ranks  of  earnest  champions  increased,  gave  a  new  field 
for  address  to  Houston  as  umpire  and  harmonizer.  The  occasion 
to  call  him  forth  did  not  long  delay.  The  Mexican  war  and  the 
Northwest  boundary  were  still  absorbing  questions.  The  British 
Government  had,  in  1846,  assented  to  a  treaty,  fixing  49°  N.  lat.  as 
the  boundary  westward  to  the  Straits  of  Fuca  ;  but  the  running  of 
the  line  thence  to  the  sea-coast  was  still  in  dispute.  The  advance 
of  Gen.  Taylor  into  Mexico,  on  the  Texan  border,  had  been  found 
to  be  impracticable,  because  of  the  impassable  roads  and  supplies  ; 
Gen.  Scott  had,  in  November,  1846,  been  ordered  to  enter  on  a  cam- 
paign from  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz,  to  the  City  of  Mexico.  Bills  for 
raising  troops  for  temporary  service,  and  for  an  appropriation  of 
§3,000,000,  to  secure  a  just  peace  with  Mexico,  were  discussed  in 
January  and  February,  1848,  in  the  Senate.  The  debate  took  a 
wide  latitude,  bringing  in  side  issues  relating  to  the  integrity  of 
the  administration  ;  the  President  and  his  adherents  being  charged 
with  bringing  on  a  needless  war  ;  the  whole  history  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Texas,  and  of  the  character  of  its  settlers,  being  criticised  ; 
while  a  measure  for  the  expulsion  of  the  Senate  printer  entered 
into  the  controversy.  Houston  spoke  for  two  entire  days,  the  re- 
port of  his  speech  filling  thirteen  columns  of  the  Congressional  Globe. 
He  replied  at  length  to  Mr.  Crittenden  ;  who  opposed  the  pro- 
vision that  field  officers  should  not  be  elected  by  their  regiments; 
Houston  urging  that  a  citizen  soldiery  always  had  demanded  that 
their  military  as  well  as  civil  leaders  should  be  the  men  of  their 
own  choice,  and  that  thus  alone  would  an  army  of  volunteers,  like 
a  community  of  free  citizens,  submit  to  law  and  prove  efficient  in 
service.  On  the  second  day  he  traced  the  history  of  Texan  settle- 
ment, and  of  the  Mexican  Government  from  the  time  it  became 
independent  of  Spain.  After  Mexico  had  become  a  Republic,  a 
New  England  colony,  headed  by  Moses  Austin,  obtained  a  grant  of 
land  with  the  pledge  of  Republican  institutions  ;  the  Mexican  Con- 
stitution of  1824  giving  them  this  guarantee.  Santa  Anna,  how- 
ever, became  Dictator,  establishing  Imperial  Government,  and  thus 
subverted  the  Constitution.  The  settlers  bore  the  wrong  patiently 
till  1833,  and  they  then  demanded  only  a  State  Constitution,  under 
the  Federal  Republic  of  Mexico.  From  October,  1835,  to  March, 
1836,  they  were  under  a  Provisional  Government  only,  not  asserting 
independence.  The  assault  on  the  Alamo  by  9,000  Mexicans,  its  fall, 
and  the  massacre  of  its  entire  garrison,  roused  the  people  to  resist- 
ance^ and  they  acted  as  did  the  American  fathers  in  1776.  And, 
now,  the  present  war,  brought  on  by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  was 
not  a  measure  forced  on  the  country  by  the  President.  There  was 
a  dispute  as  to  the  boundary  of  Texas  when  it  was  incorporated 


Houston  on  Mexican  War  Questions.  199 

into  the  United  States  ;  and  Houston  read  the  documentary  testi- 
monies that  the  United  States  only  demanded  what  had  been  con- 
ceded. He  said  the  cause  of  the  dispute  was  the  fact,  that  constant 
revolutions  in  Mexico  brought  in  leaders  who  renounced  the  bind- 
ing authority  of  treaty  stipulations.  He  stated  :  "There  have  been 
no  less  than  three  revolutions  in  twelve  months."  Here  Mr. 
Benton  in  his  seat  added :  "  There  have  been  seventeen  revolu- 
tions in  twenty-five  years."  "And  yet,"  rejoined  Houston,  "we 
regard  her  as  an  organized  Government,  and  not  entitled  to 
chastisement !  The  declaration  of  war  against  her  was  almost 
unanimous  in  the  United  States  Congress  last  session.  And, 
therefore"  he  added,  making  use  of  a  Bible  reference,  after  the 
manner  common  to  the  older  American  statesmen — "therefore,  the 
President  is  as  Moses,  who,  when  it  was  necessary  that  Israel  should 
go  on,  sent  for  Joshua  and  commanded  him,  as  General,  to  lead  on. 
And  we  of  the  Senate,  as  Aaron  and  Hur,  so  should  we  uphold  the 
hands  of  our  President,  and  smite  Mexico  with  the  sword  !  " 

The  second  session  brought  Houston  forward  on  past  and  on  new 
issues.  The  Mexican  war  had  closed,  and  the  terms  of  peace  were 
to  be  considered.  Having  taken  Vera  Cruz,  March  29,  1847,  and 
with  an  army  of  less  than  12,000  men,  having  driven  before  him  an 
army  of  some  30,000,  past  successive  fortresses,  till  on  September 
i4th,  the  City  of  Mexico  was  entered,  negotiations  for  peace  had 
made  the  war  indemnity,  since  Mexico  had  no  money  to  give,  the 
cession  of  the  territory  on  the  north  of  Mexico,  including  New 
Mexico  and  Upper  California.  The  title  to  this  territory,  lying  as 
it  did  between  32°  and  42°  N.  lat.,  was  associated  with  that  of  Ore- 
gon, since  it  was  directly  connected  with  the  territory  expressly 
ceded  by  Spain  to  the  United  States,  on  the  purchase  of  Florida. 
The  question  of  the  future  introduction  of  slavery  was  naturally 
mooted  ;  since  though  slavery  had  been  abolished  by  Mexico,  as 
American  territory  it  might  become  subject  to  the  application  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  admitted  slavery  south  of  36°  30' 
N.  lat. 

Several  minor  topics,  debated  by  Houston,  led  on  to  his  second 
great  speech  on  the  Oregon  question.  On  the  24th  January,  a  reso- 
lution was  offered  in  the  Senate  asking  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  whether  the  President  of  Mexico  was  authorized  to 
cede  territory.  On  the  2pth  January  Gen.  Dix  discussed  the  le- 
gitimacy of  annexing  territory  as  a  war  indemnity.  He  called  at- 
tention to  the  statement  of  Guizot,  then  Prime  Minister  of  France, 
that  the  three  powers  contending  for  American  territory  were 
Great  Britain,  the  United  States,  and  Spain,  and  that  "  it  belonged 
to  France  to  protect,  by  the  authority  of  her  name,  the  independ- 


200  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ence  of  these  States  and  the  equilibrium  of  the  great  political 
forces  in  America."  Meanwhile,  in  Feb.,  1848,  Louis  Philippe  was 
driven  from  France  and  the  Republic  re-established  ;  when,  on  the 
loth  April,  Houston  brought  into  the  Senate  a  resolution  of  sym- 
pathy with  France  in  her  re-establishment  of  Republican  institu- 
tions. On  May  pth  he  introduced  a  resolution  providing  for  the 
taking  military  possession,  by  the  United  States,  of  the  province  of 
Yucatan,  in  order  to  protect  the  people  of  that  province  from  the 
Indians,  urging — "  We  should  anticipate  other  nations  in  providing 
this  protection  ";  and  he  repeated  that  the  annexation  of  Mexican 
territory  by  the  United  States  had  been  a  blessing  to  the  people. 
He  introduced,  also,  petitions  urging  measures  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Indians.  The  debate  on  the  Yucatan  resolution  was 
for  some  days  discussed;  Houston  urging  that  his  measures  were 
the  only  ones  that  would  secure  permanent  safety  and  peace.  In 
June,  debate  was  again  resumed  on  the  Oregon  question,  and  the 
debates  on  this  and  kindred  topics  ran  parallel.  The  point  of  spe- 
cial controversy  was  the  anti-slavery  clause  in  the  Oregon  bill. 

The  question  of  slavery  had  been  feared  in  admitting  Oregon  as 
a  Territory.  If  any  laws  inserted  in  the  territorial  code  were  in 
violation  of  any  right  granted  by  the  law  or  Constitution,  and  by 
them  vested  in  or  secured  to  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  any 
of  them,  those  laws  could  be  revised  when  the  Territory  applied 
for  admission  as  a  State.  In  the  debate  on  the  Oregon  bill,  all 
leading  Northern  and  Southern  Senators  were  agreed  in  admitting 
that  the  ordinance  of  Virginia,  ceding  in  1787,  to  the  United 
States,  her  territory  north  of  the  Ohio  River,  had  a  bearing  on  ter- 
ritory farther  West.  Petitions  for  abolition,  the  Abolition  Conven- 
tion at  Buffalo,  could  not  affect  this  question.  He  wished  to  make 
his  position  known,  not  only  on  this  continent,  but  that  his  views 
should  be  blazoned  forth  to  the  world.  Texas,  divided  by  the 
line  of  36°  30  m.,  had  come  in,  and  on  it  she  was  willing  to  stay. 
Its  extension  to  42°  in  Oregon  did  not  affect  the  Southern  States. 
Thirteen  Northern  Senators  had  voted  for  the  admission  of  Texas, 
and  he  was  willing  to  vote  for  Oregon  with  slavery  forbidden.  He 
remembered  the  cry  of  disunion  and  nullification  when  the  high 
tariff  was  imposed.  That  cry  reached  him  in  the  wilderness,  an 
exile  from  kindred,  friends,  and  sections  ;  but  it  rung  in  his  ears 
and  wounded  his  heart.  Now,  however,  he  was  in  the  midst  of  such 
a  cry,  and  he  was  bound  to  act  as  a  man,  conscious  of  the  solemn 
responsibility  imposed  on  him.  He  had  heard  the  menaces  and 
threats  of  dissolution  until  he  had  become  familiar  with  them,  and 
they  had  now  ceased  to  produce  alarm  in  his  bosom.  He  had  no 
fear  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  when  he  recollected  how  it  had 


Houston's  Eulogy  on  Calhoun  and  Clay.         201 

been  established  and  how  it  had  been  defended.  It  could  not  be 
the  interest  of  the  North  to  destroy  the  South.  He  thought  that 
the  South — and  he  was  a  Southern  man — should  make  some  sacrifice 
to  reconcile  the  North.  He  made  a  humorous  allusion  to  Mr.  Van 
Buren's  course,  saying,  that  when  he  announced  himself  "  a  North- 
ern man  with  Southern  principles,"  that  alone  should  have  put  the 
South  on  their  guard.  Referring  to  Van  Buren's  intimacy  with 
Gen.  Jackson,  he  exclaimed  :  "  If  the  vision  of  the  stern  old  war- 
rior could  break  upon  him,  as  that  old  man,  if  living,  would  have 
looked  on  his  traitorous  course,  the  glance  of  the  warrior's  eye 
would  exterminate  him  where  he  stands,  and  would  leave  not  a 
spot  to  mark  the  place  ! "  He  went  on  to  show  the  mutual  depend- 
ence of  the  North  and  the  South  ;  the  one  for  raw  material,  the 
other  for  manufactured  fabrics.  He  protested  against  cries  of  dis- 
union, and  against  every  attempt  to  traduce  the  Union.  He  was 
of  the  South,  and  was  ready  to  defend  the  South ;  but  he  was  for 
the  Union.  The  Union  was  his  guiding  star,  and  he  would  fix  his 
eyes  on  that  star  to  direct  his  course.  He  would  advise  his  friends 
of  the  North  and  South  to  pursue  measures  of  conciliation. 

Here  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Butler,  both  of  South  Carolina,  in- 
terposed. Mr.  Calhoun  said  there  had  been  no  threats,  while  Mr. 
Butler  asked  if  a  convention  of  the  South  were  treason.  Houston 
replied  with  warmth  :  "  Certainly  not  !  The  South  would  have  a 
right  to  hold  a  convention,  and  raise  a  puny  war  against  the 
women  and  children  who  get  up  abolition  papers,  or  against  the 
Abolition  Convention  at  Buffalo  ";  and  he  "had  seen  a  much  more 
respectable  convention  of  buffaloes  !  "  He  would  never  go  into  a 
Southern  convention.  He  would  never  aid  in  any  scheme  to  bring 
about  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

At  the  evening  session,  the  same  day,  several  Senators  spoke  ; 
among  them  Messrs.  Yulee  of  Florida,  Benton  of  Missouri,  and 
Webster  of  Massachusetts.  Houston  was  again  called  out,  and 
addressed  the  Senate  at  length.  As  the  record  of  the  reporter 
states  :  "  He  paid  a  beautiful  tribute  to  Mr.  Clay,  declaring  that 
he  deserved  to  have  a  statue  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  rotunda 
of  the  Capitol,  for  his  stand  for  thirty  years,  ever  since  the  admis- 
sion of  Missouri,  on  behalf  of  compromise."  At  this  point,  says 
the  record,  "  there  was  an  involuntary  burst  of  applause  from  the 
galleries  and  lobby,  both  of  which  were  densely  crowded,  that 
could  not  be  suppressed."  This  expression  many  Senators,  both 
from  the  North  and  South,  declared  their  disapproval  of ;  but  Mr. 
Dickinson,  of  New  York,  apologized  for  it  as  involuntary.  TWTO 
days  later,  on  the  i4th  August,  when  final  action  was  to  be  taken 
Houston  again  addressed  the  Senate.  He  said  : 


202  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

"  He  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  this  subject.  As  in  the 
admission  of  Texas,  the  measure  had  been  passed  by  a  small  majority.  He  was 
actuated  by  as  high,  as  independent,  and  as  patriotic  motives,  as  any  gentleman 
North  or  South.  He  knew  neither  North  nor  South.  He  knew  only  the  Union. 
Though  a  Southern  man,  he  would  protect  the  right,  and  would  not  suffer  it  to 
be  encroached  upon.  He  would  as  ardently  defend  the  North  as  he  would  pro- 
tect and  support  the  rights  of  the  South.  He  believed  that  on  this  floor  he  was 
the  representative  of  the  whole  American  people.  On  all  occasions  he  would 
maintain  that  position,  and  he  believed  the  people  of  Texas  would  sustain  him 
in  it,  for  they  are  true  to  the  Union." 

On  the  reassembling  of  Congress,  in  December,  1848,  at  an  early 
day,  1 2th  December,  a  resolution  was  offered  in  the  House  to 
transfer  to  Texas  all  the  territory  of  New  Mexico  east  of  the  Rio 
Grande  ;  an  indication  that  the  course  of  Houston  on  the  Oregon, 
California,  and  New  Mexico  questions  was  approved.  When  this 
measure  came  up  in  the  Senate,  as  Houston,  prior  to  the  Mexican 
war,  had  laid  before  the  Senate  the  documentary  proof  that  the 
Rio  Grande  was  the  boundary  of  Texas,  when,  by  the  treaty 
forced  upon  Santa  Anna  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  the  inde- 
pendence of  Texas  was  conceded  by  Mexico,  he  now  took  only  five 
minutes  to  restate  his  convictions.  The  result  of  the  Presidential 
election,  which  was  to  bring  Gen.  Taylor  as  the  Whig  candidate 
into  power,  and  was  to  induct  Millard  Fillmore  as  Vice-President 
into  the  seat  of  presiding  officer  of  the  Senate  after  March  4,  1849, 
made  the  winter  session  of  1848-9  specially  uneventful.  Houston 
rested  on  his  laurels  won  during  the  previous  session. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

HOUSTON  IN  THE  SENATE  UNDER  THE  WHIG  ADMINISTRATION,  1849  TO  185.5. 

AS  Houston  had  preserved  his  equanimity  in  the  House  when 
the  executive  administration  on  the  4th  March,  1825,  passed 
from  the  hand  of  President  Monroe  to  that  of  Mr.  Adams,  so  his 
equanimity  was  far  from  being  disturbed  when  Mr.  Folk's  admin- 
istration was  succeeded  by  that  of  the  General  whom  he  had  been 
foremost  in  commending  for  his  Mexican  campaign.  His  first  act 
in  the  Thirty-first  Congress,  which  met  Dec.  3,  1849,  brought  out 
Houston's  character  and  principles  in  an  entirely  new  field. 

In  this  Congress  Millard  Fillmore,  as  Vice-President,  presided 
in  the  Senate  until  the  death  of  Gen.  Taylor,  July  9,  1850,  when  W. 
R.  King,  of  Alabama,  made  Vice-President  in  the  election  of  1852, 
was  chosen  permanent  President  pro  tern.  There  came  also  into 
the  Senate,  as  men  of  mark,  J.  Clemens  of  Alabama,  W.  H.  Seward 
of  New  York,  Gen.  Shields  of  Illinois,  and  R.  C.  Winthrop  of  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  while  the  admission  of  California  brought  in,  after  a 
long  session,  two  Senators  from  California,  J.  C.  Fremont  and  W. 
M.  Gwinn,  who  took  their  seats  in  September,  1850,  the  session 
lasting  till  September  3oth.  In  the  House,  Howell  Cobb,  of  Geor- 
gia, was  Speaker. 

On  the  2oth  December,  1849,  Houston  was  unexpectedly  called  to 
support  a  resolution  inviting  Father  Mathew,  the  Catholic  Irish 
apostle  of  temperance,  to  a  seat  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate.  While 
some  manifestly  wished  to  court  Irish  votes,  and  many  sought  oc- 
casion to  be  known  as  advocates  of  abstinence  from  intoxicants, 
Houston  was  called  out  by  the  fact  that,  in  an  address  made  in 
New  England,  Father  Mathew  had  opposed  slavery.  Houston 
said,  addressing  the  presiding  officer  : 

"I,  sir,  am  a  disciple  of  temperance  advocates.  I  needed  the 
discipline  of  reformation,  and  I  embraced  it.  I  am  proud  upon 
this  floor  to  proclaim  it,  sir.  I  could  enforce  the  example  upon 
every  American  heart  that  influences  or  is  influenced  by  filial  affec- 
tion, conjugal  love,  or  parental  tenderness."  He  scorned  the  sug- 
gestion that  Father  Mathew  had  once  spoken  against  slavery. 

On  the  i4th  January,  1850,  Houston  supported  a  resolution  com- 
ing from  the  House  of  Representatives,  providing  that  if  the  in- 

(203) 


204  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

habitants  of  New  Mexico,  whose  southern  limit  ran  south  of  36° 
30',  should  prohibit  the  introduction  of  slavery,  it  should  be  no 
bar  to  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  Union.  On  the  3oth 
January  Houston  supported  a  resolution  giving  a  homestead  to 
Hungarian  exiles  who  fled  to  this  country  after  the  defeat  of  Kos- 
suth.  On  the  8th  February  Houston  spoke  on  the  question  of 
slavery  in  the  Territories  ;  alluding  with  much  feeling  to  Mr.  Cal- 
houn,  then  detained  from  the  Senate,  and  who  died  on  the  3ist 
March,  a  few  weeks  later ;  and  he  said  it  gave  him  pleasure  to  say 
he  agreed  with  the  eminent  Senator  from  South  Carolina  on  that 
question.  Alluding,  however,  to  Mr.  Clemens  of  Alabama,  who 
had  spoken  of  the  Union  as- already  dissolved,  he  exclaimed  : 

"  I  deny  the  power  of  all  the  ultraists  in  the  world  to  rend  the  Union  in  twain. 
If  the  contending  parties  would  only  approach  these  questions  in  the  spirit  of 
the  precept  laid  down  by  the  Divine  Mediator,  '  As  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  likewise,'  it  would  be  better  for  the  country  in  all 
its  sections,  and  for  the  people  of  all  classes." 

He  had  given  his  vote  in  1847  for  the  admission  of  Oregon  with 
slavery  prohibited,  and  he  had  refused  to  sign  the  "  Southern  Ad- 
dress "  in  1849.  He  referred  to  the  movement  of  South  Carolina 
in  1832  for  nullification  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  agitation 
against  slavery  in  1835,  when  he  was  out  of  the  country.  This 
balanced  position  he  had  held  and  still  maintained. 

This  allusion  of  Houston  to  the  recent  "Southern  Address," 
which  he  would  not  sign,  drew  out  Senators  Davis  and  Foote  of 
Mississippi,  and  Butler  of  South  Carolina.  After  they  had  spoken, 
Houston  rose  and  read  the  warning  of  Madison  against  disunion. 
This  called  forth  another  irrepressible  outburst  of  applause  from 
the  galleries.  When  it  had  subsided,  with  the  earnest  tone  and 
manner  of  a  prophet  of  Israel,  Houston  looked  upward,  and  ex- 
claimed : 

"  I  must  say  that  I  am  sorry  that  I  can  not  offer  the  prayers  of  the  righteous, 
that  my  petition  might  be  heard.  But  I  beseech  those  whose  piety  will  permit 
them  reverentially  to  offer  such  petitions,  that  they  will  pray  for  this  Union,  and 
that  they  will  ask  of  Him  that  buildeth  up  and  pulleth  down  nations  that  He 
will  in  mercy  preserve  and  unite  us.  I  wish,  if  this  Union  must  be  dissolved, 
that  its  ruins  may  be  the  monument  of  my  grave,  and  of  the  graves  of  my  family. 
I  wish  no  epitaph  to  be  written  that  I  survived  the  ruins  of  this  glorious  Union  !  " 

Certainly  no  child,  no  friend  of  Houston  who  lived  to  see  the 
events  of  1860  to  1863,  when,  heart-broken,  he  died  in  an  exile  more 
complete  and  sad  than  any  of  his  former  life,  can  fail  to  believe 
that  Houston's  prophetic  fervor  was  as  sincere  in  its  utterance  as 
in  historic  fact  it  became  true  in  his  closing  career. 


Houston  on  tlie  Admission  of  California.         205 

On  the  25th  July  Houston  made  a  lengthy  speech  on  the  claim 
of  Texas  to  the  territory  of  New  Mexico  east  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
He  said  : 

"  Texas  asserts  no  new  claim.  She  made  the  same  prior  to  annexation. 
Texas  is  loyal ;  she  has  assented  to  everything  that  goes  for  peace.  The  treaty 
of  annexation  promised  protection  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  portion  of  her  ter- 
ritory ;  but  we  will  be  magnanimous.  If  we  yield,  we  shall  do  it  as  parties  in  a 
matrimonial  alliance  who  have  determined  to  say  'yes '  anyhow." 

In  reply,  on  the  3oth  July,  to  Benton  and  Clay,  he  exclaimed  : 

Texas  is  not  greedy  ;  she  only  seeks  to  do  her  duty."  On  the 
3ist  July  he  stated,  that  when  New  Mexico  was  ceded  to  the  United 
States  in  1848,  Texas  sent  a  judge  to  incorporate  the  inhabitants 
into  the  State  of  Texas. 

On  the  i3th  August,  responding  to  Davis  of  Mississippi,  and 
Clemens  of  Alabama,  who  opposed  the  admission  of  California, 
Houston  spoke  with  warmth,  opposing  disunion  sentiments.  He 
said,  for  many  months  he  had  sat  and  listened  to  debates  on  this 
and  kindred  topics.  He  had  voted  for  the  California  bill,  and  for 
another,  supposed  to  be  unfriendly  to  the  South.  He  might 
not  be  right,  but  he  declared  : 

"  My  motives  are  as  pure  as  those  of  any  gentleman  on  this  floor,  though  my 
conception  of  what  is  beneficial  to  the  South  may  not  be  in  accord  with  theirs. 
I  have  been  actuated  by  feelings  as  purely  Southern  as  any  gentleman  in  this 
body.  I  know  that  my  constituents  desire  the  harmony  of  the  people  of  these 
States,  and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  At  a  celebration  on  the  4th  July  the 
sentiment  of  Texas  was  uttered  in  these  words :  '  Our  brethren  from  Maine  to 
the  Rio  Grande,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific ;  we  salute  them  with  our 
love.'  In  voting  for  the  California  bill  I  can  not  conceive  that  free  soil,  or  any 
soil  but  American,  has  been  regarded.  Are  there  indications  that  the*South  is 
borne  down  ?  Are  we  to  take  as  proof  the  expression  of  the  Southern  Conven- 
tion ?  I  respect  the  men  of  that  convention,  but  the  meeting  held  at  Nashville 
was  surreptitious.  The  delegates  from  Texas  received  some  140  votes  out  of 
1, 600  or  i, 800.  Other  representatives  stood  for  the  parallel  of  36°  30'.  If  you 
partition  California  by  that  line  I  have  no  idea  you  would  create  one  solitary 
slave  State,  but  rather  that  you  would  multiply  free-soil  States.  I  contend  that 
California  has  a  right  to  come  into  this  Union  as  a  State  upon  the  principle  ot 
self-government.  Suppose  our  Union  were  divided  with  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  as  the  boundary,  what  would  be  our  condition  ?  An  American  in  France 
or  England  enunciates  his  country's  name  with  as  much  pride  as  Paul  when  he 
exclaimed,  '  I  am  a  Roman  citizen!'  Why  should  we  allow  that  respect  to 
diminish  ?  Let  us  preserve  the  sacred  name.  Let  us  preserve  it  with  the  Con- 
stitution under  which  it  stands.  We  of  the  South  ask  no  compromise.  Give 
us  the  Constitution.  Tread  not  upon  our  rights  by  undelegated  power.  I  feel 
confident  that  if  these  measures  pass,  joy  and  exultation  will  fill  every  heart. 
Your  Nashville  conventions  will  die  away.  Let  us  meet  the  difficulties  that 
have  come  upon  us  like  men,  and  dispose  of  them  in  such  a  way  that  if  our  pos- 


206  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

terity  ever  raise  their  hands  against  their  brethren  they  may  not  be  able  to  say, 
*  Our  fathers  entailed  this  upon  us.'  " 

Here  Barnwell  of  South  Carolina,  Berrien  of  Georgia,  and 
Davis  of  Mississippi,  made  explanatory  statements  on  behalf  of 
their  States,  and  in  defence  of  the  Nashville  Convention;  when 
Houston  responded  : 

"  I  meant  no  reflection  on  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina,  whose  de- 
meanor has  excited  my  admiration.  As  to  the  Nashville  Convention,  in  Georgia 
only  3,500  out  of  90,000  votes  were  cast.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  friend  of  the 
Union  to  frown  down  any  such  means  of  action  as  this  convention.  As  to  Mis- 
sissippi, my  information  is  that  not  one-half  of  the  counties  were  represented  ; 
that  several  counties  represented  were  by  proxies,  and  some  were  delegates  consti- 
tuted such  by  meetings  of  not  exceeding  eight  or  ten  persons.  I  was  witness  of 
one  case  ;  as  I  passed  by,  only  seven  persons  were  assembled.  As  to  the  statement 
of  the  Senator  from  Mississippi  that  the  rights  of  Texas  were  endorsed  by  that 
convention  he  would  ask  if  that  endorsement  were  necessary.  Go  to  the  yeo- 
manry, the  hard-handed  men  of  the  country,  the  man  of  substance,  and  he  will 
tell  you,  with  his  family  gathered  around  him :  '  This  is  my  home,  this  is  my 
wife,  and  these  are  my  children  ;  and  thus  surrounded,  I  am  as  happy  and  proud 
as  the  monarch  on  his  throne.  Here  the  Constitution,  protects  me ;  and  am  I 
going  to  place  all  these  endearments  on  the  hazard  of  disunion  ?  '  Never,  never 
will  they  do  it !  I  tell  you  the  people  are  right.  Give  to  them  but  the  benefit 
of  their  constitutional  guarantees,  and  all  the  factions  of  the  day,  all  the  abstrac- 
tions that  can  be  conjured  up  by  disaffection,  by  broken-down  politicians,  by 
disappointed  spirits,  by  men  who  have  heretofore  advocated  nullification,  by 
loafers  who  live  upon  excitement,  and  by  reckless  demagogues — in  spite  of  them 
all,  I  say,  the  South  will  hug  the  Union  to  her  heart  as  the  last  blessing  of 
heaven." 

On  tjie  i5th  August,  in  the  midst  of  the  general  debate,  contin- 
ued from  the  3oth  July,  Houston  was  called  out  by  a  dishonorable 
attempt  to  involve  him  in  a  traitorous  scheme.  Mr.  Hunter,  of 
Virginia,  called  attention  to  an  anonymous  publication,  which 
stated  that  in  January,  1850,  he  had  been  called  on  by  a  Mexican 
General,  who  consulted  him  as  to  a  plan  for  a  union  of  Mexico 
with  a  Southern  confederacy,  of  which  Houston  was  to  be  made 
President.  The  writer  stated  that  when  the  plan  was  presented  to 
Houston  he  "indignantly  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
base  and  traitorous  scheme,"  and  that  he  declared  he  was  not  a 
Cataline  to  betray  his  country.  It  was  stated  that  Calhoun  was 
fully  aware  of  the  proposition,  but  was  opposed  to  any  action  until 
after  the  effort  to  amend  the  Constitution  should  have  failed. 
It  was  further  stated  that  Gen.  Houston  had  in  his  possession  the 
paper,  and  that  he  knew  the  author  of  the  conspiracy.  After  the 
reading,  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  called  out  Gen.  Houston,  who 
declared  the  article  to  be  simply  a  "  canard,"  utterly  unjust  to  Mr. 


Attack  on  Houston  and  His  Reply.  207 

Calhoun,  who  had  died  only  two  months  after  the  professed  inter- 
view. 

Houston's  special  trial  came  two  or  three  weeks  later.  His  frank 
and  earnest  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  disunion,  led  to  a  scurrilous 
attack  on  his  early  career,  especially  when  engaged,  in  1818,  as  an 
agent  of  the  War  Department,  in  appeasing  the  hostile  Indians  in 
Georgia,  on  the  borders  of  Florida.  The  substance  of  his  state- 
ment, published  at  length  as  a  "personal  explanation,"  in  the  Con- 
gressional Globe,  took  the  form  of  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  September 
Q,  1850.  He  said  : 

"  During  twenty-six  years  since  I  entered  the  House  of  Representatives  no 
personal  assault  upon  my  character  has  been  made.  Now,  however,  the  South- 
ern press  of  Charleston,  S.  C.,  has  brought  against  me  a  charge  of  malfeasance 
in  office,  as  lieutenant  in  the  U.  S.  Army.  I  was  appointed  under  President 
Monroe  and  J.  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War,  by  George  Graham,  Assistant 
Secretary,  on  the  29th  of  September,  1817,  to  special  service  relating  to  the  In- 
dians of  Georgia.  I  had  enlisted  as  private  in  the  ranks,  March  24,  1813  ;  and 
no  demerit  for  any  cause  was  received  up  to  March  i,  1818.  The  highest  com- 
mendations six  months  before  that  date  had  been  given  by  General  Jackson,  for 
my  appointment  as  sub-agent  among  the  southern  Indian  tribes.  To  Assistant 
Secretary  Graham,  under  date  August  26,  1817,  Jackson  wrote  of  his  former 
lieutenant :  'He  is  a  young  man  of  sound  integrity,  who  has  my  entire  confi- 
dence, and  in  every  way  he  is  capacitated  to  fill  the  appointment.  Moreover,  he 
has  some  claims  upon  the  Government  for  a  severe  wound  received  in  the  serv- 
ice, which  may  be  considered  a  disability.'  On  the  same  date  Jackson  wrote  to 
Col.  Meigs,  the  agent :  '  In  him  I  have  had  full  confidence,  and  in  him  you  will 
have  a  friend  clear  of  design  or  deceit,  on  whom  you  can  rely  under  all  and  every 
circumstance,  as  capable  to  aid  you  in  every  respect.'  On  the  strength  of  these 
letters  my  commission  was  signed  by  J.  C.  Calhoun,  August  29,  1817.  On  De- 
cember 29,  1817,  Gov.  McMunn,  who  had  succeeded  Col.  Meigs  as  agent,  wrote 
as  follows  to  Mr.  Calhoun,  as  Secretary :  '  Mr.  Houston  carried  this  Government 
order  into  effect,  with  a  promptitude  not  less  characteristic  of  his  integrity,  than 
of  zeal  for  his  country.  The  band  of  outlaws  was  dispersed,  and  Houston  was 
sent  to  Washington  with  a  delegation  of  chiefs,  entrusted  with  funds  for  their 
expenses.'  Gov.  McMunn,  adding  to  this  statement  of  confidence  in  his  sub- 
agent,  wrote  :  '  By  his  vigilance  and  address  the  parties  will  be  much  profited.' 
The  delegation  was  conducted  to  Washington,  and  the  object  sought  was  ac- 
complished. The  commission  was  resigned  March  I,  1818,  because  the  pay  was 
cut  down  to  $500.  His  account,  when  made  out,  showed  that  the  Government 
owed  him  $318.54.  He  charged  up  $67.52  then  in  his  hands  ;  leaving  a  balance 
due  him  of  $251.02.  He  was  not  disturbed,  except  by  political  enemies,  till 
December  10,  1821,  when  the  Government's  indebtedness  was  acknowledged 
and  settled  by  check,  I3th  of  June,  1822,  for  $170.  On  the  I7th  of  April,  1824, 
when  as  Representative  he  could  demand  full  justice,  the  balance  still  due, 
amounting  to  $80.93,  was  paid." 

With  great  humor,  Houston  then  related  a  threat  of  exposure 


208  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

held  over  him  in  the  Southern  Express  a  year  or  more  before  the 
present  article,  the  writer  thinking  to  frighten  him  from  his  earnest 
appeals  against  disunion.  The  Congressional  record  of  this  speech 
states  :  "  Amusement  and  applause  followed  the  humor  and  elo- 
quence of  Senator  Houston.  It  showed  that  his  relations  to  Mr. 
Calhoun  had  been  honorable  from  his  youth."  In  closing  he  de- 
clared his  fidelity  to  the  South  ;  and  in  so  doing,  drew  a  parallel 
between  disunionists  per  se  and  Benedict  Arnold.  He  declared: 
"  Disunionists  per  se  sink  below  Benedict  Arnold  in  the  scale  of  in- 
famy." He  added:  "Sir,  when  assailed  hereafter  because  I  am 
faithful  to  the  Union,  let  it  be  understood  that  without  union  we 
are  without  a  country  ;  for,  without  union  we  can  have  no  country 
and  no  home." 

Houston's  earnestness  drew  a  reply  from  Mr.  Butler,  of  South 
Carolina.  He  fully  accorded  integrity  to  General  Houston  ;  but 
declared  that  Mr.  Calhoun,  now  deceased,  had  no  hand  in  the 
threat  of  the  Southern  press,  a  year  before,  to  which  allusion  had 
been  made.  General  Houston  responded  with  equal  cordiality : 
"  I  can  assure  the  gentleman  that  I  cast  no  reflection  on  Mr.  Cal- 
houn. As  to  the  Senator  himself,  he  has  only  acted  in  his  uniform 
demeanor  of  unceasing  and  becoming  courtesy,  politeness,  and 
good  feeling." 

Houston's  career  during  this  eventful  session,  closed  with  a 
manly  support  of  a  proposed  grant  of  lands  to  settlers  in  Oregon. 
This  he  urged  among  other  reasons,  because  North  Carolina  had, 
in  his  orphan  days,  made  a  similar  grant  of  lands  in  Tennessee, 
then  constituting  a  part  of  her  territory.  From  first  to  last  during 
the  debates  that  formed  the  crisis  of  the  Senate,  when  its  former 
leaders  were  withdrawn,  and  discussions  more  complicated  than 
any  ever  before  engaged  in,  grew  heated,  Houston  was  the  Nestor 
whose  counsel  turned  the  scale  of  decision.  The  five  measures  that 
constituted  the  compromise  acts  then  debated,  were  :  first,  the  fix- 
ing of  the  boundary  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico  ;  second,  the 
admission  of  California,  with  slavery  prohibited  ;  third,  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  territorial  government  for  Utah  ;  fourth,  the  fugitive 
slave  law  ;  fifth,  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  The  three  great  leaders  of  the  past,  Webster,  the 
champion  of  national  unity  ;  Calhoun,  the  advocate  of  State  rights  ; 
and  Clay,  the  mediator  in  compromise,  one  after  another  passed 
from  the  Senate.  On  the  3ist  March,  1850,  Calhoun,  after  weeks 
of  detention  by  prostration,  breathed  his  last ;  and  his  two  com- 
rades for  over  thirty  years,  spoke  in  sincere  affection  of  his 
memory,  and  of  their  expectation  that  very  soon  they  should  join 
him  in  a  better  and  purer  assembly.  Mr.  Webster,  who  had  lost 


Houston  and  Ifossuth.  209 

his  hold  on  New  England  by  his  advocacy  of  the  fugitive  slave  law 
as  part  of  the  compromise,  left  the  Senate  to  become  Secretary  of 
State,  under  President  Fillmore,  on  the  death  of  General  Taylor, 
July  9,  1850  ;  an  office  which  he  was  able  to  fill  only  for  about  one 
year,  when  he  was  prostrated  by  the  infirmity  which  terminated  in  his 
death,  October  24,  1852.  Mr.  Clay,  enfeebled  and  declining,  though 
still  keeping  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  could  hardly  be  said  to  have 
filled  it  for  the  year  preceding  his  death,  June  29,  1852.  Meanwhile, 
all  eyes  had  been  turned  to  Houston  as  the  "  pillar  and  ground  "  of 
the  barrier  raised  against  the  dashing  waves  of  disunion. 

The  32d  Congress,  during  which  Mr.  Fillmore  was  President, 
brought  into  the  Senate  an  element  counter  to  the  spirit  of  com- 
promise, ever  maintained  amid  anti-slavery  sentiment,  by  men  like 
Webster.  While  Lynn  Boyd,  of  Kentucky,  was  made  Speaker  of 
the  House,  and  King,  of  Alabama,  was  chosen  President  of  the  Sen- 
ate, Charles  Sumner,  of  Massachusetts,  introduced  a  new  anti- 
slavery  antagonism  into  the  debates  of  the  Senate  Chamber. 
Houston  had,  from  the  experience  of  the  past,  regarded  the  ex- 
treme Southern  agitation,  which  threatened  armed  disunion,  as  a 
positive  danger,  to  be  met  by  earnest  remonstrance  ;  and  the  result, 
in  less  than  ten  years  realized,  showed  his  wisdom,  and  will  per- 
petuate the  record  of  his  patriotism.  On  the  other  hand,  Houston 
regarded  the  extreme  Northern  agitation,  which  only  expressed 
theoretical  dissent,  as  an  utterance  more  harmless,  when  unopposed, 
than  if  it  were  either  repressed  or  discussed.  His  course  was 
shaped  accordingly,  in  the  new  debates  that  arose  in  the  new  Con- 
gress. The  first  session  of  this  Congress,  prolonged  from  Decem- 
ber i,  1851,  to  August  31,  1852,  offered  few  occasions  which  drew 
him  out,  except  in  quiet  discussion  of  subordinate  matters  of  legis- 
lative business. 

Soon  after  the  opening  of  the  session,  December  i2th,  a  resolu- 
tion extending  hospitalities  and  a  reception  by  the  Senate  to 
Kossuth,  the  exiled  champion  of  Hungarian  independence,  was 
offered  and  passed.  The  grand  form,  the  broad  intellect,  and  the 
captivating  eloquence  of  the  Hungarian  chief,  made  an  unwonted 
appeal  to  the  American  people  ;  always  enthusiastic  for  leaders, 
either  of  popular  liberty  or  of  independent  government.  While 
the  people  at  large  did  not  discriminate  between  these  two  distinct 
ideas,  the  statesmen  proper  of  the  American  Republic  were  ruled 
by  them  in  their  sympathy  for  the  Hungarian  exile.  In  the  vote 
for  the  resolution,  which  prevailed,  Houston,  in  the  record  of  the 
Senate,  is  mentioned  as  abstaining  from  voting,  having  paired  with 
Senator  Rusk,  who  was  absent.  This  simple  record  shows  that  one 
or  the  other  of  the  two  Senators  from  Texas  had  made  the  distinc- 
U 


210  Ztife  of  Sam  Houston. 

tion  between  the  separation  of  one  monarchy  from  another,  because 
of  opposing  claims  to  hereditary  right  to  rule,  and  the  struggle  of 
a  people  for  republican  government.  On  the  5th  January,  1852, 
Kossuth  was  received  in  the  Senate  ;  when,  after  recording  the 
formal  speeches  of  introduction  with  Kossuth's  replies,  the  Congres- 
sional Globe  adds  this  record  : 

"  Among  the  incidents  of  the  reception,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  when  the 
martial  figure  of  General  Houston  approached  Kossuth,  there  appeared  to  be  a 
special  attraction  in  the  person  of  the  hero  of  San  Jscinto.  Mr.  Houston  said : 
'  Sir,  you  are  welcome  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.'  Kossuth  feelingly 
replied  :  '  I  can  only  wish  I  had  been  as  successful  as  you,  sir.'  To  this  Houston 
responded  :  '  God  grant  you  may  be,  sir.' " 

At  a  later  period  Houston  said,  explaining  his  course  toward 
Kossuth  : 

"  When  the  advent  of  the  illustrious  stranger,  Kossuth,  was  announced,  I  was 
not  captivated  by  his  advent,  Mr.  President.  A  portion  of  my  life  had  been 
spent  among  the  Indians.  They  are  a  cautious  and  considerate  people,  and  I  had 
learned  to  reconnoitre  character  a  little  when  it  comes  about  me,  and  I  am  liable 
to  come  in  contact  with  it.  I  played  the  Indian  and  was  wary.  I  received  him, 
sir,  in  concurrence  with  the  other  Senators.  I  wished  his  country  liberty  as  I 
wished  the  world  liberty ;  but  I  did  not  wish  to  disregard  our  relations  and  obli- 
gations to  other  countries.  He  was  hailed,  he  was  greeted,  he  was  welcomed  on 
some  occasions  more  triumphantly  than  even  Lafayette,  the  friend  of  Washington. 
What  claims  had  he  upon  us  ?  He  had  claims  of  sympathy.  If  he  ever  flashed 
his  sword  for  liberty  he  had  a  claim  on  our  admiration  and  our  fraternal  feelings. 
But  he  had  not  done  it — he  retreated  with  a  body-guard  of  five  thousand  ;  and 
after  he  had  negotiated  for  a  succedaneum,  for  a  resting-place,  he  went  away, 
leaving  'poor  Hungary'  down-trodden  and  bleeding.  Sir,  much  as  I  admire  the 
patriots  who  strike  for  liberty — much  as  I  admire  the  noble  people  whom  Kos- 
suth purported  to  represent — much  as  I  admire  all  men  who  have  struggled, 
even  unfortunately  or  misguidedly,  for  liberty,  no  matter  where — much  as  I  ad- 
mire the  promptings  which  actuated  them,  and  love  the  cause  in  which  they  have 
been  engaged,  yet  when  a  man  proves  recreant  to  a  noble  cause,  forgets  his 
people,  lives  in  comfort,  splendor,  and  display,  when  they  have  to  bite  the  dust 
or  p;naw  the  file  in  agony,  I  have  no  sympathy  for  that  man." 

He  then  compared  the  course  of  the  United  States  Government 
toward  Texas  : 

"  Was  there  then  (in  the  Texan  Revolution)  a  voice  heard  in  this  chamber  ad- 
vocating or  introducing  a  resolution  in  vindication  of  the  rights  of  Texas  ?  Not 
one  voice  was  heard  at  that  time.  Those  gallant  spirits  who  fell  in  hecatombs, 
with  their  footsteps  almost  on  American  soil,  were  hardly  washed  out  or  obliter- 
ated, yet  this  nation  was  not  convulsed.  Did  Texas  ever  complain  to  this  Gov- 
ernment ?  In  1843,  when  she  did  remonstrate,  what  was  it?  She  said  to  the 
three  great  powers  of  the  earth,  to  France,  England,  and  the  United  States : 
'We  ask  no  assistance;  we  invoke  the  invasion  of  our  enemies ;  and  upon  a 
well-arranged  and  well-fought  field,  we  will  stake  our  liberty.  But  compel  our 


Houston's  Denunciation  of  Secession.  211 

adversary  to  observe  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare.'  That  was  all  we  asked. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States,  acting  upon  its  wise  and  prudent  and 
proper  policy,  did  not  interfere." 

On  the  22d  of  December,  Gen.  Foote,  of  Mississippi,  offered  a 
resolution  to  this  effect :  "  That  the  compromise  measures  of  the 
last  Congress  shall  be  regarded  a  'final  adjustment'  of  the  ques- 
tions dividing  the  North  and  the  South."  Houston  interposed  :  "  I 
am  the  only  Senator  who  voted  for  all  the  compromise  measures, 
Mr.  Sturgeon,  of  Pennsylvania,  excepted,  who  is  not  now  a  Senator. 
On  questions  of  internal  improvements,  of  the  tariff,  and  of  free 
soil,  I  have  acted  with  the  Democratic  party.  To  gentlemen  who  dif- 
fer from  me  as  to  the  compromise  measures,  I  say, '  Show  me  your  faith 
without  works,  and  I  will  show  you  my  faith  by  my  works.'  "  He 
had  devoted  himself,  he  went  on  to  say,  to  the  business  of  the  Sen- 
ate ;  to  legislation  for  the  country  ;  not  to  fixing  political  platforms. 
He  had  hoped  sectional  agitation  was  dying  away.  "Mr.  Clay, 
author  of  the  compromise  measures,  true  to  his  spirit  for  a  third  of 
a  century,  is  sick  and  kept  from  his  seat.  I  have  defended  his  ac- 
tion. The  resolution  of  the  Senator  from  Mississippi  is  unneces- 
sary. Why  not  resolve  that  the  independent  treasury  bill  is  a  final 
adjustment?"  He  had  been  censured,  he  continued,  for  using  the 
word  "  Oligarchy  "  as  applied  to  the  State  Government  of  South 
Carolina.  He  had  only  used  it  because  the  people  of  the  State 
have  no  voice  in  State  affairs.  He  added : 

"I  recall  how,  when  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  1824,  I  heard  witn 
amazement  the  idea  that  there  might  be  secession,  disunion,  resistance  to  the 
constitutional  action  of  the  Federal  Government.  I  could  hardly  think  it  possi- 
ble that  a  representative  of  any  portion  of  the  American  people  would  have  the 
fierce  temerity  to  suggest  this.  I  have  heard  principles  of  disunion  announced 
in  this  hall,  and  have  heard  Senators  utter  what  was  treason,  not  technically,  but 
which  was  not  stripped  of  one  particle  of  the  moral  turpitude  of  treason.  What 
a  delightful  comment  on  the  freedom  of  our  institutions  that  this  privilege  is  al- 
lowed. I  have  only  to  say  that  they  who,  for  the  sake  of  disunion,  conspire 
against  the  Union  and  the  Constitution,  are  aptly  described  in  holy  writ  as 
'  raging  waves  of  the  sea,  foaming  out  their  own  shame  ;  wandering  stars,  to 
whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever.' " 

Mr.  Butler,  of  South  Carolina,  replied  courteously  that  the  right 
of  suffrage  in  that  State  was  restricted  by  early  limitations  of 
property  qualification,  which  in  other  and  newer  States  have  been 
removed.  Mr.  Foote,  in  defence  of  his  resolution,  charged  General 
Houston  with  catering  to  popular  Northern  prejudices.  Houston 
merely  replied,  "  I  said  the  same  lately  at  Montgomery,  Ala." 

The  only  matter  of  importance  which  called  out  Houston  to 
make  a  set  speech  during  the  remainder  of  the  session,  related  to 


212  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

appointments  and  appropriations  for  the  Indians.  On  a  report 
made  to  the  Senate,  June  9,  1852,  as  to  an  incompetent  Indian 
agent,  Houston  stated  : 

"  These  men  are  not  accustomed  to  meet  Indians.  Texas,  when  independent, 
expended  only  $10,000  annually,  and  had  peace.  Now  the  United  States  ex- 
pends $6,000,000  annually  on  the  same  border,  and  there  is  no  protection.  I  am 
not  saying  anything  against  President  Fillmore,  for  whom  I  entertain  the  respect 
that  I  hope  ever  to  show  toward  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  country." 

He  added  afterward  : 

"  The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  relation  to  the  Indians,  is  the 
only 'father  we  have  ever  heard  of  on  this  continent.  So  far  as  the  President 
of  Texas  was  concerned,  he  was  a  brother  to  the  Indians." 

On  the  1 2th  August,  when  the  appropriation  made  to  the  Indians 
was  discussed,  Houston  showed  that  by  withholding  $84,000  from 
the  Comanches,  the  U.  S.  Government  had  been  led  to  a  war  which 
cost  $48,000,000.  "Sir,"  he  exclaimed,  "until  we  do  justice  to  the 
Indians,  until  we  are  truthful  and  righteous  in  our  legislation  in 
regard  to  them,  we  can  expect  nothing  but  that  Heaven  will  cause 
retributive  justice  to  fall,  if  not  upon  the  offenders,  upon  the  nation 
that  despoils  the  poor  Indians.  Be  truthful,  be  just,  and  they  will 
honor  our  flag  ;  and  indeed,  defend  it." 

This  long  and  eventful  session  of  Congress,  like  the  two  sessions 
of  the  previous  Congress,  owed  much  of  its  success  to  the  heroic 
and  patriotic  course  of  Houston.  During  the  month  of  August, 
Charles  Sumner  uttered  the  first  of  his  "  Philippics,"  so  called  be- 
cause in  style  and  manner  they  were  studiously  conformed  to  the 
rhetoric  of  Demosthenes'  celebrated  appeals  against  Philip,  and  of 
Cicero's  rebukes  against  Cataline  ;  as  the  very  framing  of  the  sen 
tences  of  this  anti-slavery  leader  revealed.  The  oration  of  this 
session,  entitled  "  Slavery  Sectional,  Freedom  National,"  designed, 
as  it  was,  to  insist  upon  theoretical  principle  rather  than  to  urge 
any  practical  matter  of  legislation,  was  allowed  by  Houston  to  pass 
without  notice.  A  single  remark  dropped  August  27th,  on  a  bill  to 
give  the  public  printing  to  Mr.  Richie,  former  editor  of  the  Rich- 
mond Enquirer,  but  then  editor  of  a  Democratic  organ  at  Washing- 
ton, indicated  the  freedom  from  partisan  as  opposed  to  public 
interest,  which  ruled  Houston's  entire  course.  He  remarked,  in 
supporting  the  resolution,  "  I  would  as  soon  vote,  as  for  years  I 
have,  to  give  the  public  printing  to  Gales  &  Seaton,  who  have  op- 
posed me  in  politics,  as  I  would  vote  for  the  present  resolution, 
offered  in  behalf  of  a  gentleman  of  my  own  party." 

The  intelligent  and  general  respect  shown  for  Houston's  judg- 
ment on  questions  of  international  as  well  as  constitutional  law, 


Texas  Expresses  Confidence  in  Houston.          213 

was  indicated  when,  on  February  26.,  Senator  Clarke,  of  Rhode 
Island,  quoting  at  length  from  eminent  European  and  American 
authors,  on  a  nrce  question  of  interpretation,  cited  at  length  the 
statement  of  Houston  on  the  relations  of  the  United  States  to 
European  Governments,  in  their  right  to  intervention  in  neighbor- 
ing American  States.  The  death  of  Mr.  Clay,  June  29,  1852,  called 
forth  the  appreciation  of  his  brother  Senators,  by  his  appointment 
to  accompany  the  remains  to  his  home  in  Kentucky.  The  declining 
health  of  Mr.  Webster,  who  died  October  24,  1852,  led  to  a  natural 
and  just  comparison  between  the  universally  admired  passages  of 
his  reply  to  Hayne, — grand  outbursts,  as  they  were,  of  deep  patri- 
otic sentiment, — and  the  like  utterances  of  Houston.  In  Houston, 
however,  there  was  less  of  the  somber  and  more  of  the  hopeful. 
Houston  was  the  Nestor,  not  the  Jeremiah  of  the  national  crisis. 

The  second  session  of  the  Thirty-second  Congress,  opening- 
December  6,  1852,  furnished  little  to  call  forth  the  Texan  Senator  , 
for  the  Presidential  canvass,  resulting  in  the  election  of  General  F. 
Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire,  as  President,  and  of  Rufus  King,  of 
Alabama,  as  Vice-President,  changed  the  character  of  the  execu- 
tive administration  which  was  to  follow  the  brief  Congressional 
session.  It  was  natural  that  the  time  of  the  Senate  should  be  given 
to  legitimate  legislative  conference  ;  and  in  this  Houston  filled  his 
place  and  bore  his  share.  On  the  6th  January,  1853,  a  resolution 
was  proposed  that  the  "  Committee  on  Bribery  and  Abuses  in  Elec- 
tions "  investigate  local  disputes,  to  which  Houston  gave  his 
adhesion.  On  the  i$th  of  January  he  reported  in  favor  of  an  in- 
crease of  the  "  sword  exercise  "  at  the  National  Military  Academy 
at  West  Point.  On  the  ist  February  he  sustained  a  resolution 
in  favor  of  supervision  of  the  supply  of  clothing  in  the  navy,  and 
in  opposition  to  the  increase  of  naval  officers.  On  the  2oth 
February,  1853,  his  colleague,  Mr.  Rusk,  presented  resolutions  from 
the  Legislature  of  Texas,  appointing  Gen.  Sam  Houston  Senator 
for  the  term  of  six  years,  from  March  4th  ensuing ;  and  expressing 
special  confidence  in  his  course  on  national  issues  ;  an  annoucement 
which  called  forth  a  general  murmur  of  satisfaction,  both  on  the 
floor  of  the  Senate  and  in  the  galleries.  On  the  23d  February 
an  appropriation  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  Florida, 
called  forth  his  usual  intelligent  and  fixed  views  on  the  best  modes 
of  treating  with  the  Indians.  He  remarked  :  "  A  regiment  to  hold 
an  Indian  tribe  in  subjection  costs  no  less  than  $1,200,000  annually  ; 
whereas  $10,000  to  aid  them  would  be  more  effective.  I  never  knew, 
during  the  whole  course  of  my  life,  a  treaty  made  in  good  faith 
with  the  Indians  that  was  violated  by  them."  On  the  25th  Feb- 
ruary he  spoke  in  favor  of  a  supervision  of  the  national  armories 


214  lAfe  of  Sam  Houston. 

by  civilians  who  were  intelligent  among  business  men,  since  army 
officers  failed  in  knowledge  of  the  tricks  of  contractors,  and  in  the 
management  of  mechanics.  On  the  ist  March  he  spoke  in  favor 
of  special  care  in  payments  for  service,  in  taking  and  collating  cen- 
sus reports.  On  the  26.  March  he  spoke  on  the  appropriation 
for  mail  steamers  from  San  Francisco  ;  replying  to  the  suggestion 
that  the  subject  should  be  discussed  in  secret  session,  with  this  re- 
mark :  "  Public  opinion  is  well  regulated.  When  the  public  decide, 
their  judgment  is  generally  correct."  On  the  3d  March  he  un- 
folded frauds  in  private  bills  before  Congress.  Thus  up  to  the  last 
day  of  the  session  he  showed  fidelity  in  that  most  important  part 
of  civil  administration,  the  watch  for  unfaithfulness  in  public  office. 
His  sternness,  when  he  thought  there  was  fraud,  and  his  manliness 
when  charges  were  found  to  be  made  by  interested  parties,  became 
noted  in  many  conspicuous  instances  ;  a  specimen  of  which  will  be 
cited  as  characteristic,  under  the  incoming  Democratic  administra- 
tion ;  to  whose  political  policy,  though  not  to  all  their  administra- 
tive measures,  he  was  intelligently  devoted. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

HOUSTON  UNDER  THE  ADMINISTRATION  OF  PRESIDENT  PIERCE,  1853  TO  1857. 

THE  4th  March,  1853,  brought  in  Gen.  Franklin  Pierce  as  Presi- 
dent ;  with  Gov.  Wm.  L.  Marcy,  the  controlling  mind  of  the 
administration,  as  Secretary  of  State.  Senator  King,  of  Alabama, 
who  had  presided  with  such  impartiality  and  dignity  in  the  Senate 
under  Mr.  Fillmore's  administration,  was  elected  Vice-President ; 
but  his  extreme  illness  and  his  death  on  the  i8th  April,  1853,  pre- 
vented his  taking  his  seat  as  President  of  the  Senate.  In  his  ab- 
sence, Senator  J.  D.  Bright,  of  Indiana,  was  chosen  President  pro 
tern.  Among  the  new  Senators  who  took  their  seats  in  the  Thirty- 
third  Congress,  which  then  opened,  were  :  Judah  P.  Benjamin  and 
John  Slidell,  of  Louisiana  ;  both  of  whom  became  eminent  and 
noted  after  the  formation  of  the  Southern  Confederacy.  From  the 
New  England  States  came  two  new  men,  who  proved  especially 
able  :  Wm.  Pitt  Fessenden,  of  Maine,  and  Henry  Wilson,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  the  latter  being  preceded  for  a  few  months  by  that  model 
of  statesmanlike  culture  and  urbanity,  Edward  Everett. 

During  this,  the  Thirty-third  Congress,  Houston,  whose  reputa- 
tion and  influence  were  now  at  their  height,  was  especially  calm,  clear, 
and  dignified  in  debate.  During  the  Executive  session  to  receive 
and  ratify  new  appointments  made  by  the  President,  on  April  6, 
1853,  Houston  urged  the  printing  of  the  Report  of  Bartlett  and 
Gray,  on  New  Mexico,  on  the  ground  that  the  thirst  for  such  works 
should  be  encouraged  in  the  American  people.  On  the  reassembling 
of  Congress,  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  of  Senator  Douglas,  was 
early  introduced,  and  was  urged  as  an  administration  measure. 
On  the  i5th  February,  1854,  Houston  reviewed  his  own  course 
as  to  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  that  bill  proposed  to  set 
aside  ;  with  the  supposed  idea  that  the  territory  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, once  belonging  to  France,  would  be  open  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  slavery.  As  the  bill  involved  the  removal  of  the  Indians, 
Houston  reviewed  again  his  relations  to  them  from  1818.  In  justi- 
fying his  course  on  the  Missouri  Compromise,  he  alluded  to  the 
fact,  that  of  three  hundred  men  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives when  that  measure  was  finally  made  effective  to  the 
harmony  of  Northern  and  Southern  interests,  only  three  remained: 

(215) 


216  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Everett  of  Massachusetts,  Benton  of  Missouri,  and  himself.  He 
closed  with  this  appeal :  "  We  are  acting  as  trustees  for  posterity  ; 
and  according  to  our  decision  our  children  are  to  live  in  harmony 
or  in  anarchy  !  "  On  the  $d  March,  just  on  the  eve  of  the  passage 
of  the  bill,  Houston  made  that  logical  and  earnest  appeal  which 
first  appeared  in  the  "  Life  of  Sam  Houston,"  published  in  New 
York  the  following  winter.  He  said,  in  substance  :  "  Mr.  President, 
this  unusual  night's  sitting  is  without  precedent  in  the  history  of 
any  previous  Congress  at  this  stage  of  the  session.  The  extraordi- 
nary circumstances  in  which  we  find  ourselves  placed  would  seem 
to  indicate  a  crisis  in  the  affairs  of  the  country  of  no  ordinary  im- 
portance ;  a  crisis  that  portends  either  good  or  evil  to  our  institu- 
tions. The  extraordinary  character  of  the  bill  before  the  Senate, 
as  well  as  the  manner  in  which  it  is  presented  to  the. body,  de- 
mands the  greatest  deliberation.  This,  sir,  is  the  anniversary  of  a 
protracted  session  in  which  the  organization  of  the  Territory  of 
Nebraska  was  elaborately  discussed  on  the  last  day  of  the  last  ses- 
sion, as  to-night,  until  the  morning  dawn."  Remarking  then  that 
the  opposition  at  that  time  was,  to  the  provisions  as  to  Indian 
tribes ;  while  now,  it  was  proposed  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, he  alluded  to  the  boldness  of  the  measure  and  the  sophistry 
of  its  proposal,  and  exclaimed  :  "  Mr.  President,  I  can  not  believe 
that  the  agitation  created  will  be  confined  to  the  Senate  Chamber. 
From  what  we  have  witnessed  here  to-night,  this  will  not  be  the 
exclusive  arena  for  the  exercise  of  human  passions.  If  the  Repub- 
lic be  not  shaken,  I  will  thank  heaven  for  its  kindness  in  maintain- 
ing its  stability."  Analyzing  then  the  argument  that  the  people  of  a 
Territory  are  sovereign  in  admitting  or  excluding  slavery,  he  showed 
its  incorrectness  from  the  ordinance  of  1787  in  new  States  brought 
into  the  Union,  both  North  and  South.  He  alluded  to  the  fact  that 
the  South  had  stood  by  the  Compromise;  and  he  met  the  objections 
of  Mr.  Atchinson,  of  Missouri,  that  it  had  not  been  applied  to  Ore- 
gon ;  Houston  showing  that  it  was  applied  to  Texas  ;  and  it  was 
upon  its  provisions  that  the  State  came  into  the  Union.  He  show- 
ed that  the  South  could  only  be  injured  by  it ;  and  especially  ar- 
gued that  Texas,  the  terminus  of  the  slave  population,  would  have 
the  largest  disproportion  between  slaves  and  whites  ;  and  he  ex- 
claimed :  "  Then,  sir,  it  will  become  the  gulf  of  slavery,  and  there 
its  terrible  eddies  will  whirl,  if  convulsions  take  place."  He  then 
urged  that  no  necessity  for  abrogation,  since  the  Compromise,  had 
arisen  ;  adding  :  "  Three  years  have  passed  in  tranquillity  and 
peace.  How,  and  where,  and  why,  and  when,  and  with  whom  this 
measure  originated,  Heaven  only  knows  ;  for  I  have  no  cognizance 
of  the  facts.  So  far  back  as  1848,  President  Polk  recognized  the 


Houston  on  the  Missouri  Compromise.  217 

Missouri  Compromise  as  a  binding  force  upon  this  country.  The 
astute  statesmen  who  managed  and  controlled  its  adoption,  Clay 
and  Webster,  never  contemplated  its  repeal."  He  proceeded  then 
to  show  how  the  affiliation  of  Abolitionists  and  Free-Soilers  with 
the  weaker  party,  the  Whigs  in  the  North,  would  bring  in  danger- 
ous partisan  combinations,  and  exclaimed  :  "  This  is  an  eminently 
perilous  measure  ;  and  do  you  expect  me  to  remain  here  silent,  or 
to  shrink  from  the  discharge  of  my  duty  in  admonishing  the  South 
of  what  I  conceive  the  results  will  be  ?  What,  if  a  measure  un- 
wholesome or  unwise  is  brought  into  the  Senate,  and  it  comes 
from  the  party  of  which  I  am  a  member  ?  While  its  introduction 
is  an  error,  is  it  not  my  duty  to  correct  that  error  as  far  as  I  possi- 
bly can  ?  When  every  look  to  the  setting  sun  carries  me  to  the 
bosom  of  a  family  dependent  upon  me,  think  you  I  could  be  alien 
to  them  ?  Never  !  never  ! ! "  Satirizing  then  the  idea  that  additional 
territory  for  the  introduction  of  slavery  was  proffered  to  the  South, 
he  pictured  Jacob  proffering  a  share  of  his  booty  to  Esau,  and 
Esau's  reply  :  "  I  have  enough,  my  brother  ;  keep  that  thou  hast 
unto  thyself,"  and  he  added  :  "If  this  is  the  only  offering  tendered 
to  the  South,  we  will  not  ask  it ;  we  do  not  want  it ;  the  people  will 
be  angry  if  you  give  it.  If  you  are  indebted  in  anything  to  the 
South,  all  I  have  to  say  is,  that  you  might  find  some  other  occasion 
when  it  would  be  more  agreeable  to  cancel  the  obligation.4  Re- 
plying to  the  objection  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  uncon- 
stitutional, he  said  :  "  Mr.  Jefferson  confessed  that  he  found  no  con- 
stitutional authority  for  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana."  He  asked 
if  the  acquisition  of  Florida  or  of  Texas  was  constitutional ;  and  re- 
plied that  "compromises,  like  compacts,  are  legitimate  matters  of 
legislation."  In  closing  this  branch  of  his  subject,  he  said  :  "  I  had 
fondly  hoped,  Mr.  President,  that  having  attained  to  my  present 
period  of  life,  I  should  pass  the  residue  of  my  days,  be  they  many 
or  few,  in  peace  and  tranquillity  ;  that  as  I  found  the  country  grow- 
ing up  rapidly,  and  have  witnessed  its  immeasurable  expansion  and 
development,  when  I  closed  my  eyes  on  scenes  around  me,  I  would 
at  least  have  the  cherished  consolation  and  hope  that  I  left  my 
children  in  a  peaceful,  happy,  prosperous,  and  united  community. 
I  had  hoped  this.  Fondly  had  I  cherished  the  desire  and  the  ex- 
pectation from  1850,  until  after  the  introduction  of  this  bill.  My 
hopes  are  less  sanguine  now.  My  anxieties  increase,  but  my  ex- 
pectation lessens.  Sir,  if  this  repeal  takes  place,  I  will  have  seen 
the  commencement  of  the  agitation  ;  but  the  youngest  child  now 
born,  I  am  apprehensive,  will  not  live  to  witness  its  termination. 
Southern  gentlemen  may  stand  up  and  defend  this  measure.  They 
may  accept  it  from  the  Northern  gentlemen  who  generously  bestow 


218  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

it  ;  but  if  it  were  beneficial  to  the  South,  it  would  have  been  asked 
for.  It  was  not  asked  for — nor  will  it  be  accepted  by  the  people. 
It  furnishes  those  in  the  North  who  are  enemies  of  the  South,  with 
efficient  weapons  to  contend  with."  Taking  up  then  the  case  of 
the  Indians,  and  alluding  to  the  statement  that  God  had  made 
them  an  inferior  race,  and  that  there  is  no  use  in  doing  anything 
for  them,  he  cited  the  argument  of  Ross,  the  Cherokee,  in  his  de- 
fence of  their  treaty  with  the  United  States,  as  superior  in  skill  and 
effect  to  Spanish  diplomats  as  to  Florida  ;  and,  alluding  to  the  com- 
mon suggestion,  that  Indians  like  Canaanites,  might  be  extermi- 
nated, he  showed  that  Indians  were  not  idolaters,  but  believers  in 
the  Great  Spirit,  ready  to  receive  Christianity,  and  advanced  in 
American  civilization.  He  severely  rebuked  the  suggestion  that 
sickly  sentimentalism  prompted  appeals  for  the  Indians  ;  and  de- 
clared :  "If  you  will  not  do  justice  to  them,  the  sin  will  lie  at  your 
door.  Providence,  in  His  own  way,  will  accomplish  all  His  pur- 
poses ;  and  He  may  some  day  avenge  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians 
upon  our  nation.  As  a  people,  we  can  save  them  ;  and  the  sooner 
the  great  work  is  begun,  the  sooner  will  humanity  have  cause  to 
rejoice  in  its  accomplishment."  He  closed  with  this  eloquent  ap- 
peal :  "  Sir,  the  friends  who  have  survived  the  distinguished  men 
who  took  prominent  parts  in  the  drama  of  the  compromise  of  1850, 
ought  to  feel  gratified  that  those  men  are  not  capable  of  participat- 
ing in  the  events  of  to-day  ;  but  that  they  were  permitted,  after 
they  had  accomplished  their  labors,  and  had  seen  their  country  in 
peace,  to  leave  the  world,  as  Simeon  did,  with  the  exclamation  : 
1  Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes 
have  seen  Thy  salvation.'  They  departed  in  peace,  and  they  left 
their  country  in  peace.  They  felt,  as  they  were  about  to  be  gath- 
ered to  the  tombs  of  their  fathers,  that  the  country  they  had  loved 
so  well,  and  which  had  honored  them — that  country  upon  whose 
name  and  fame  their  doings  had  shed  a  bright  lustre  which  shines 
abroad  throughout  all  Christendom — was  reposing  in  peace  and 
happiness.  What  would  their  emotions  be  if  they  could  now  be 
present  and  see  an  effort  made,  if  not  so  designed,  to  undo  all  their 
work  and  to  tear  asunder  the  cords  that  they  had  bound  around 
the  hearts  of  their  countrymen  !  They  have  departed.  The  nation 
felt  the  wound  ;  and  we  see  the  memorials  of  woe  still  in  this 
Chamber.  The  proud  symbol  (the  eagle)  above  your  head  remains 
enshrouded  in  black,  as  if  deploring  the  misfortune  which  had 
fallen  upon  us  ;  or,  as  a  fearful  omen  of  future  calamities  which 
await  our  nation,  in  the  event  this  bill  should  become  a  law.  Above 
it  I  behold  the  majestic  figure  of  Washington,  whose  presence 
must  ever  inspire  patriotic  emotions,  and  command  the  admiration 


Houston  as  People's  Candidate  for  President.       219 

and  love  of  every  American  heart.  By  these  associations  I  adjure 
you  to  regard  the  contract  once  made  to  harmonize  and  preserve 
this  Union.  Maintain  the  Missouri  Compromise  !  Stir  not  up 
agitation  !  Give  us  peace.  This  much  I  was  bound  to  declare — 
in  behalf  of  my  country;  as  I  believe,  and  I  know  in  behalf  of  my 
constituents.  In  the  discharge  of  my  duty  I  have  acted  fearlessly. 
The  events  of  the  future  are  left  in  the  hands  of  a  wise  Providence." 

A  few  days  after  this  speech  of  Houston,  a  memorial,  signed  by 
3,000  New  England  clergymen,  was  presented  to  the  Senate,  pro- 
testing against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  as  it  related 
to  Kansas  and  Nebraska.  A  long  and  heated  discussion  followed. 
Houston  defended  the  right  of  the  memorialists  in  a  lengthy 
speech. 

Prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  second  session  of  the  Thirty-third 
Congress,  an  event  occurred  which  gave  special  significance  to 
Houston's  subsequent  speeches  in  the  Senate.  On  the  nth  Oct., 
1854,  the  General  Committee  of  the  Democracy  of  New  Hamp- 
shire met,  and  after  deliberation  nominated  as  "The  People's  Can- 
didate," for  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  from  March 
4,  1857,  Gen.  Sam  Houston,  of  Texas.  In  an  address  prepared  by 
their  organ,  Hon.  Edmund  Burke,  the  fact  that  the  Democratic  ad- 
ministration in  power  had  yielded  to  the  agitation  which  demanded 
an  "  unsettling  of  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,"  is  urged  as 
the  cause  of  defections  from  the  party  in  the  New  England,  Middle, 
and  Western  States  ;  and,  it  is  urged,  that  nothing  can  arrest  this 
tendency  but  "  the  immediate  nomination,  by  the  people,  for  the 
office  of  President  of  the  United  States,  of  some  citizen  of  the  Re- 
public distinguished  alike  for  his  abilities,  experience  in  public  af- 
fairs, and  unquestionable  statesmanship."  The  propriety  of  a 
"  people's  nomination  "  is  urged  from  history  ;  that  from  the  origin 
of  the  Government,  beginning  with  the  nomination  of  John  Adams, 
the  second  President,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  Monroe,  had  been 
nominated  by  a  Congressional  caucus  ;  the  corruption  of  which 
system  appeared  when  Wm.  H.  Crawford,  the  regular  Democratic 
Congressional  nominee,  was  overwhelmingly  outvoted  by  Gen. 
Jackson,  the  people's  candidate  ;  and  when  by  Congressional  in- 
trigue John  Quincy  Adams  was  made  President,  which  led  to  the 
popular  election  in  1828  of  Gen.  Jackson.  As  to  the  proposed  can- 
didate, Houston's  brilliant  military  career,  as  successful  as  that  of 
Jackson,  is  traced  ;  to  which,  far  beyond  the  previous  record  of 
Jackson,  his  civil  career  is  summarized  thus  : 

"  Throughout  his  long  career,  Gen.  Houston  has  been  an  inflexible  Democrat. 
He  is  a  disciple  of  the  school  of  Jefferson  and  Jackson.  He  has  filled  many  ot 
the  highest  public  offices,  in  all  which  he  has  acquitted  himself  with  remarkable 


220  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ability  and  with  unsuspected  integrity.  In  all  positions,  the  most  responsible  as 
well  as  the  most  trying  and  perilous,  he  has  been  eminently  successful.  He  has 
ever  proved  himself  equal  to  any  emergency  in  which  he  has  been  placed.  As 
General,  statesman,  orator,  and  legislator,  he  has  displayed  talents  and  ability 
of  the  first  order.  He  is  a  man  of  honor.  He  keeps  faith  with  the  humblest  as 
well  as  the  highest.  He  has  never  broken  his  word  with  the  humblest  Indian 
with  whom  he  has  had  to  deal,  nor  with  sovereign  States.  He  believes  in  the 
sacredness  of  treaties,  of  compacts,  and  of  compromises,  whether  in  the  form  of 
conventions,  constitutions,  or  solemn  acts  of  Congress.  He  preserves  his  faith 
with  the  North,  as  he  would  require  the  North  to  preserve  its  faith  with  the 
South.  Under  his  administration,  the  rights  of  all  sections  of  the  Union  would 
be  protected  and  preserved.  He  is  a  Union  man,  and  never  would  permit  this 
glorious  confederacy  of  sovereign  States  to  be  dissevered  by  the  aggressions  of 
fanaticism  on  the  one  side,  nor  by  unjustifiable  rebellion  on  the  other.  He 
would  secure  justice  to  the  States  and  to  the  people." 

This  address,  appearing  a  few  weeks  before  the  meeting  of  the 
second  session  of  the  Thirty-third  Congress,  naturally  called  forth 
the  bitter  opposition  of  the  men  whose  selfish  ambition,  which  had 
nearly  brought  ruin  on  Texas,  had  been  thwarted  by  the  hero  and 
patriot  who  had  made  Texas  the  type  of  nobleness  in  her  independ- 
ence; and  thus,  too,  had  made  its  moulder  the  hope  of  the  times  in 
which  he  was  then  moving,  as  events  showed  !  The  "  Life  of  Sam 
Houston,"  which  shortly  after  appeared,  was  rendered  necessary 
by  false  publications,  which  he  was  too  high-minded  to  stoop  to 
contradict  ;  that  Life  justifying  the  writer's  announcement  on  the 
title-page — "  The  only  authentic  memoir  of  him  ever  published." 
It  is  sufficient  here  to  state,  that  all  those  false  publications  origi- 
nated from  two  sources.  First,  the  narrow  men,  who  from  the  day  of 
Houston's  grand  victory  at  San  Jacinto,  which  made  him  the  recog- 
nized head  among  both  the  Northern  and  Southern  settlers  of 
Texas,  because  he  alone  had  the  united  impartiality  and  justice  to 
appreciate  both,  and  the  skill  and  heroism  to  harmonize  the  two 
elements,  were  eaten  up  with  the  gangrene  of  envy.  Second,  the 
determined  disunionists  of  the  Gulf  States,  few  in  number,  and 
only  found  in  those  States,  irritated  by  jealousy,  were  ready  to  use 
any  means  to  drive  from  the  path  of  their  selfish  ambition  the  man 
who,  more  than  all  others  united,  blocked  their  way  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  their  ends.  The  former  •class  sought  in  offensive  pub- 
lications to  disaffect  the  people  of  the  South,  who  confided  in  Hous- 
ton's integrity  and  wisdom.  The  latter  class  soon  met  him  in  de- 
bate in  the  Senate.  Still  others,  in  published  manifestoes,  arraigned 
his  motives,  declaring  them  to  be  inspired  by  personal  ambition  to 
secure  the  Presidency  rather  than  by  genuine  regard  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people  of  the  entire  country.  With  this  call  of  the  New 
Hampshire  Democracy  before  the  country,  and  with  this  "  Life  of 


Calumnies  Met  ly  Houston.  221 

Houston  "  just  in  the  hands  of   the  people,  the  second  and  short 
session  of  the  Thirty-third  Congress  met  Dec.  4,  1854. 

The  speech  of  Houston,  in  reply  to  the  numerous  assaults  made 
on  him,  which  brought  out  the  whole  nobleness  of  his  character, 
was  made  on  the  last  day  of  the  year,  Dec.  31,  1854.  From  the 
most  opposite  points,  from  the  younger  Dodge  of  Iowa,  in  the 
Northwest,  and  from  Mr.  Mallory  in  the  Southeast,  came  the  coin- 
cident charge  that  Houston  was  inspired  by  either  a  real  or  pro- 
fessed sickly  sentimentality  in  his  appeals  for  justice  to  the  Indians ; 
Senator  Dodge  averring  that  an  abolitionist  of  Western  New  York 
could  not  show  greater  weakness  ;  Senator  Mallory  insinuating  that 
Houston  was  seeking  to  win  the  vote  of  the  "  Know  Nothings," 
who  opposed  the  promotion  of  Irish  Catholics,  in  his  expected  can- 
vass for  the  Presidency  ;  while  the  spirit  of  detraction  went  so  far 
as  to  charge  that  when,  more  than  two  years  before,  he  was  one  of 
the  Senate  Committee  to  convey  the  body  of  Henry  Clay  for  burial 
to  Kentucky,  he  had,  for  effect's  sake,  kissed  the  forehead  of  the  ad- 
mired leader  in  compromise,  when  the  coffin  was  opened  for  his 
fellow-citizens  to  view,  for  the  last  time,  the  face  of  their  adored 
political  leader.  Houston's  reply  was  calm,  dignified,  and  heroic. 
He  said,  in  the  progress  of  his  speech  : 

"  Mr.  President,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  in  reply  to  the  Senator  from 
Iowa.  In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  to  that  Senator,  and  to  the  honorable  Sena- 
tor from  Florida,  that  they  were  talking  about  things  of  which  I  know  very 
little,  for  I  was  not  in  the  United  States  when  the  occurrences  to  which  they  al- 
luded took  place,  and  I  was  not,  therefore,  familiar  with  the  history  of  those 
wars.  I  have  already  stated  that  occasions  occur  where  outlaws  among  the 
Indians  commit  acts  of  aggression  on  the  whites,  and  the  whites  immediately  re- 
taliate on  the  Indian  nations  ;  and  these  nations,  in  self-defence,  become  involved 
in  war.  But  I  never  knew  a  case  where  a  treaty,  which  was  made  and  carried 
out  in  good  faith,  was  violated  by  the  Indians.  I  have  stood  here  alone  in  this 
body,  against  a  powerful  array  of  talent  and  influence,  contending  for  what  I 
conceived  to  be  a  great  principle,  and  which  must  obtain,  or  the  Indian  race  be 
exterminated."  After  quoting  high  authorities  who  agreed  with  him,  Houston 
added  :  "  There  are  not  less  than  two  thousand  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the 
Comanches  ;  four  hundred  in  one  band  in  my  own  State.  The  prisoners  can  be 
reclaimed  from  these  Indians,  who  are  coming  down  to  settle  upon  their  reser- 
vations. They  take  no  prisoners  but  women  and  boys.  The  boys  they  treat 
with  a  degree  of  barbarity  unprecedented,  and  their  cruelties  toward  the  fe- 
males are  nameless  and  atrocious.  Our  Government  is  silent  in  relation  to  them. 
Has  humanity  no  claims  upon  us  in  this  respect  ?  Has  justice  no  demand  un- 
answered ?  In  my  boyish  da>s,  before  manhood  had  hardened  my  thews  and 
muscles,  I  received  balls  and  arrows  in  this  body  in  defence  of  suffering  hu- 
manity, particularly  women  and  children,  against  the  Indians  ;  and  I  aided  in 
reclaiming  the  brightest  spot  of  the  South — Alabama.  When  I  remember 
that,  in  those  early  days,  I  assisted  in  rescuing  females  and  children  from  the 


222  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

relentless  tomahawk  and  seal  ping-knife,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  charge  that  I 
have  stooped  to  court  favor  by  the  expression  of  my  sentiments  on  this  question, 
is  one  which  falls  harmless  at  my  feet.  I  hardly  know  what  to  think  of  the 
gentleman's  remarks  as  to  catering  for  the  Presidency.  Of  the  '  Know  No- 
things '  /  know  nothing.  If  the  object  of  those  to  whom  the  Senator  from  Iowa 
has  referred  is  to  prevent  men  of  infamous  character  and  paupers  from  coming 
here,  I  agree  with  them.  I  would  say,  establish  a  law  requiring  every  person 
from  abroad,  before  being  received  here,  to  bring  an  endorsement  from  one  of 
our  Consuls  abroad,  and  produce  evidence  of  good  character  from  the  place 
whence  he  emigrates,  so  that  when  he  comes  here  we  may  receive  him  into  full 
communion  with  all  the  rights  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  laws  which  may  exist 
at  the  time  of  his  emigration.  When  the  Senator  from  Iowa  supposes  that  I 
would  cater  for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States  he  does  me  great  injustice. 

I  would  not  cater  for  any  office  beneath  Heaven But,  sir,  I  know  one 

thing;  if  it  were  to  be  thrust  upon  me,  I  should  make  a  great  many  changes  in 
some  small  matters." 

The  "Life  of  Houston,"  issued  at  that  period,  contained  ex 
tended  speeches  bearing  on  Indian  affairs  made  by  him  in  the  Sen- 
ate just  at  that  juncture.  Among  these  lengthy  speeches  the  fol- 
lowing utterances  are  worthy  of  enduring  record.  On  the  2pth  Janu- 
ary, 1855,  Houston  in  the  Senate  argued  :  "They  are  a  people 
isolated  in  their  interests,  and  solely  dependent  for  protection  and 
justice  upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  The  Indians 
have  been  charged  with  an  aggressive  and  hostile  spirit  toward 
the  whites  ;  but  we  find,  upon  inquiry,  that  every  instance  of  that 
sort  which  has  been  imputed  to  them  has  been  induced  and  pro- 
voked by  the  white  man,  either  by  acts  of  direct  aggression  upon 
the  Indians,  or  by  his  own  incaution,  alluring  them  to  a  violation 
of  the  security  of  the  whites."  After  citation  of  numerous  in- 
stances, in  which  he  alludes  to  early  days,  Houston  said  :  "The 
course  which  has  been  pursued,  since  the  days  of  William  Penn  to 
the  present  moment,  has  not  been  entirely  successful  in  conciliating 
the  Indians.  But  under  the  management  of  Washington,  of  the 
first  Adams,  of  Madison,  of  Monroe,  of  the  second  Adams,  of  Jack- 
son, and  of  Polk,  we  have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  very  success- 
ful in  maintaining  peace  with  them.  The  suggestions  made  by  our 
fathers  in  relation  to  their  civilization  and  humanization  are  exem- 
plified and  illustrated  in  the  present  condition  of  the  southern 
tribes,  who  have  received  the  greatest  benefits  of  the  light  shed  on 
them  ;  and  they  have  responded  to  it  by  the  cultivation  of  mind, 
by  the  development  of  resources,  both  physical  and  intellectual, 
which  reflect  lustre  on  their  character. 

"  When  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States,  these  Indians,  on 
account  of  faith  having  been  maintained  with  them  by  the  then 
Executive  of  Texas,  refused  to  meet  and  confer  with  the  commis- 


Terrible  Revenge  of  an  Indian  Chief.  223 

sioners  sent  to  them  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  until 
they  had  the  sanction  of  the  Government  of  Texas  ;  and  the  sym- 
bols of  confidence  were  put  in  the  hands  of  the  commissioners  be- 
fore the  Indians  would  treat  with  them.  Take  an  illustration  : 
One  of  their  chiefs,  with  his  wife  and  child,  and  twelve  men  came 
to  Fort  Belknap,  some  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  miles 
west  of  the  fort  at  Hamilton's  Valley.  Property  had  been  stolen 
by  Indians.  It  was  not  known  which  of  thirteen  different  tribes 
had  taken  it,  for  outlaws  occasionally  congregated  from  each,  half 
a  dozen  of  them  stealing  off  from  their  tribes  without  the  influence 
of  their  chiefs  operating  upon  them.  They  were  outlaws,  careless 
of  the  destiny  of  their  tribes,  and  reckless  of  the  crimes  which  they 
might  commit,  so  long  as  they  could  gratify  their  cupidity,  and 
recompense  their  daring.  These  men  had  taken  some  property. 
Dragoons  came  on  in  the  direction  of  the  Red  River,  and  reached 
Fort  Belknap.  So  soon  as  they  arrived,  the  officer  said  to  this  chief; 
'  Sir,  I  retain  you  as  a  prisoner.  It  is  true  you  came  here  under  a 
white  flag  :  but  I  am  an  officer  ;  I  have  the  power  ;  I  take  you 
prisoner,  and  you  must  stay  here  a  prisoner  until  the  horses  are 
brought  back.  Your  men  must  stay,  too,  except  one,  whom  I  will 
send  to  your  tribe  with  the  intelligence  of  the  fact.'  The  chief 
said  :  '  My  tribe  have  not  committed  the  robbery  ;  it  is  a  great  dis- 
tance from  me  ;  it  is  in  another  direction.  I  come  from  the  rising 
sun  ;  that  is  toward  the  setting  sun  ;  I  was  far  from  it ;  you  are 
between  me  and  it  ;  I  did  not  do  it.'  '  But,'  said  the  officer,  *  you 
are  a  prisoner/  The  officer  put  him  in  the  guard-house.  Imprison- 
ment is  eternal  infamy  to  an  Indian.  A  prairie  Indian  would  rather 
die  a  thousand  deaths  than  submit  to  the  disgrace  of  imprisonment, 
You  may  wound  and  mutilate  him  as  you  please,  you  may  crush 
every  limb  in  the  body  of  a  prairie  Indian,  and  if  he  can  make  nc 
other  resistance  he  will  spit  defiance  at  you  when  you  come  within 
his  reach.  This  chief,  meditating  upon  his  deep  disgrace,  knowing 
that  he  was  irreparably  dishonored,  unless  he  could  wash  out  his 
stains  with  blood,  resolved  that  night  that  he  would  either  die  a 
free  man  or  rescue  himself  from  dishonor.  He  rose  in  the  night. 
He  would  not  leave  his  wife  and  child  in  the  hands  of  his  enemy 
so  he  took  his  knife,  and  stabbed  his  squaw  and  little  one  to  the 
heart.  Not  a  groan  was  heard,  for  he  well  knew  where  to  apply 
the  poignard.  He  went  and  shot  down  the  sentinel,  rushed  upon 
the  superior  officers,  was  shot,  and  perished  like  a  warrior,  in  an 
attempt  to  wipe  a  stain  from  his  honor.  His  men  fled,  and  re- 
turned to  their  tribe,  but  it  was  to  bring  blood,  carnage,  and  con- 
flagration upon  our  settlements.  They  came  not  again  as  brothers 
to  smoke  the  calumet  of  peace,  but  with  brands  in  their  hands  to 


224  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

set  fire  to  our  houses.  Contrast  that  with  the  previous  years  ; 
contrast  it  with  the  harmony  which  had  before  existed,  and  you 
see  the  lamentable  results  of  sending,  as  Indian  agents  and  army 
officers  to  take  charge  of  Indians,  men  who  know  nothing  about  the 
Indian  character.  Sir,  while  people  are  seeking  to  civilize  and 
Christianize  men  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  or  the  Jordan,  or  in 
Burrampootah,  why  should  not  the  same  philanthropic  influence 
be  'extended  through  society,  and  be  exerted  in  behalf  of  the 
American  Indians?  Is  not  the  soul  of  an  American  Indian,  in  the 
prairie,  worth  as  much  as  the  soul  of  a  man  on  the  Ganges,  or  in 
Jerusalem  ?  Surely  it  is." 

The  Thirty-fourth  Congress  did  not  present  many  occasions  to 
call  forth  Houston,  and  that  for  two  reasons  :  first,  as  he  was  be- 
fore the  country  as  a  candidate  for  the  next  Presidential  canvass, 
it  seemed  becoming  that  he  should  confine  himself  only  to  his  offi- 
cial duties  as  Senator  ;  second,  as  is  usual  during  the  latter  half  of 
any  Presidential  term,  party  leaders  seek  to  avoid  new  issues  which 
may  compromise  them  before  the  people,  and  hence  bring  forward 
few  new  issues.  The  first  session  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress 
opened  December  3,  1855,  and  closed  August  18,  1856.  Important 
bills  left  unpassed,  seeming  to  call  for  it,  the  President  recalled 
Congress  before  they  had  left  Washington,  and  an  extra  session 
was  held  from  August  2ist  to  August  3oth.  The  second  session 
met  December  i,  1856,  and  closed  March  4,  1857.  During  this  en- 
tire period  Houston  was  prompt  in  the  special  business  which  de- 
manded his  attention  ;  while  he  was  a  silent  but  impartial  actor 
amid  scenes  of  excitement,  where  his  balanced  judgment  forbade 
him  to  become  a  participator. 

On  the  2ist  February,  1856,  Houston  took  part  in  a  discussion 
which  was  part  of  a  series,  in  which  his  clear  mind  pointed  out  the 
distinction  between  the  duties  and  authority  of  naval  officers  called 
in  the  ports  of  other  nations  to  delicate  yet  imperative  duties,  and 
the  duties  and  authority  of  army  officers  within  the  national  terri- 
tory. The  instructions  given  to  Commodore  McAuley,  then  cruis- 
ing on  special  duty  in  the  West  Indies,  having  been  called  for, 
Houston  in  a  brief  speech  set  forth  the  peculiar  duties  of  naval 
officers,  making  it  bear  on  the  practical  matter  of  the  pay  allowed 
them  in  their  public  relations.  This  was  followed  by  farther  ex- 
planations called  out  March  loth.  On  the  ist  April  the  trial  of 
Capt.  Ritchie,  an  officer  of  the  army,  drew  from  him  his  usual  bal- 
anced views. 

The  exciting  incident  of  the  session  was  the  assault  made  May 
22d  by  Hon.  Preston  S.  Brooks,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives from  South  Carolina,  on  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  Senator 


Assault  on  Sumner.  225 

from  Massachusetts.  In  a  speech  which  occupied  two  days  of  the 
session,  Mr.  Sumner  had  delivered  his  carefully  prepared  address  en- 
titled "  The  Crime  against  Kansas."  Portions  of  its  statements 
were  regarded  as  personally  offensive  to  Senator  Butler,  of  South 
Carolina.  The  age  of  the  venerable  Senator  led  his  young  kins- 
man to  assume  his  place,  and  to  inflict  an  assault  with  a  cane  upon 
Senator  Sumner  while  seated  in  his  place  after  the  close  of  the 
morning  session  of  May  22d;  which,  as  the  blows  fell  on  his  head, 
left  scalp-wounds  which  required  weeks  of  healing,  and  left  also  a 
permanent  spinal  affection.  It  was  not  the  province  of  the  Senate, 
but  of  the  House,  to  take  action  in  the  premises.  All  calm  judges, 
both  in  and  out  of  Congress,  regretted  the  act  of  Mr.  Brooks  as  a 
youthful  indiscretion.  Houston's  silence  was  more  impressive 
than  words  could  be.  He  saw  in  the  heat  called  forth  on  both 
sides  another  indication  that  his  patriotic  efforts  could  not  stay 
the  progress  which  hot  words  were  making  toward  deadly  blows 

On  the  i5th  July  discussions  again  calling  out  contrasts  between 
the  army  and  navy  came  up,  and  for  some  weeks  Houston's  ripe 
and  rare  experience  was  called  out.  In  a  speech  on  the  Naval  Re- 
tiring Board  he  showed  that  there  were  more  naval  officers  than 
could  be  employed,  and  that  the  army  furnished  in  this  regard  no 
analogy,  since  there  were  so  many  ways  in  which  army  officers  at 
home  could  be  employed,  while  naval  officers  abroad  could  have 
no  corresponding  employ.  On  the  i6th  August,  again,  when  there 
was  a  proposal  to  increase  the  officers  of  the  army,  he  urged  their 
employ  as  engineers,  in  place  of  civilians,  on  surveys,  and  also  on 
public  works,  such  as  custom-houses  ;  since  this  employ  was  re- 
quired both  for  economy  and  efficiency.  At  the  same  time  he  op- 
posed an  increase  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  army  ;  since,  in  case  of 
war,  the  better  reliance  was  on  volunteers,  who  had  homes  to  pro- 
tect, and  who  only  needed  trained  officers. 

To  the  honor  of  the  administration  of  Gen.  Pierce,  and  of  his 
Secretaries,  Marcy  of  the  State  Department,  Dobbin  of  the  Navy, 
is  to  be  mentioned  the  effective  inauguration  of  plans  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  slave-trade,  brought  about  by  the  employ  of  Ameri- 
can cruisers  in  American  waters,  while  British  cruisers  were 
accomplishing  little  on  the  African  coasts.  Houston  supported 
this  effort. 

15 


CHAPTER     XXIV. 

HOUSTON  UNDER  PRESIDENT  BUCHANAN,  FROM  MARCH  4,  1857,  TILL  HIS  RETIREMENT 
FROM  THE  U.  S.  SENATE,  MARCH  4,  1859. 

THE  election  of  James  Buchanan  as  President  was  an  indication 
that  the  party  to  whose  true  interests  Houston  had  given  his 
patriotic  devotion,  were  not  gifted  with  his  clear  vision  of  interests 
impending  in  the  future.  He  accepted  the  situation;  wasted  no  en- 
ergies in  complaints ;  was  sustained  by  conscious  integrity  of 
motive  and  correctness  of  judgment ;  and  his  "last  days  "  were  his 
"  best "  in  the  counsels  of  the  Senate.  Though  assuming  no  prom- 
inence he  watched  occasions  when  duty  called  for  action,  and  he 
quietly  but  faithfully  employed  them.  This  character  of  Houston 
shone  out  all  the  more  conspicuous,  because  deep  religious  convic- 
tion, as  well  as  patriotic  fidelity,  ruled  him  ;  and  that,  though  the 
people  of  his  own  State  listened  no  more  to  the  counsel  of  age,  but 
to  the  rash  counsels  of  the  young.  The  succession  of  Rehoboam 
to  Solomon  is  but  a  type  for  ages  and  nations. 

The  meeting  of  the  35th  Congress,  December  7,  1857,  just  after 
the  new  Presidential  election,  found  the  veteran  hero  of  Texas 
promptly  in  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  where  more  than  ever  he  was 
greeted  with  respect  and  reverence  by  his  comrades,  and  by  the 
people  of  Washington.  The  first  session,  beginning  December  7, 
1857,  lasted  till  June  14,  1858  ;  the  second  opened  December  6, 1858, 
and  closed  March  4,  1859,  which  was  the  expiration  of  Houston's 
term.  On  the  nth  February,  1858,  Houston  presented  resolu- 
tions of  his  State  as  to  the  impeachment  of  Judge  Watrous.  On 
the  i6th  February  he  proposed  an  act  establishing  a  Protector- 
ate by  the  U.  S.  Government  over  Mexico  and  Central  America ; 
urging,  as  oft  before,  that  the  people  needed  to  be  defended  against 
the  intrigues  of  political  leaders,  who  oppressed  them.  On  the  i7th 
March,  when  a  petition  from  Utah  came  to  the  Senate,  and  some 
from  policy  would  suppress  it,  the  commanding  voice  of  Houston 
was  heard  Irom  his  seat :  "  Let  us  have  it  read." 

Early  in  March,  1858,  the  news  came  that  he  had  been  superseded 
in  the  Senate,  by  vote  of  the  Legislature  of  Texas.  Houston  made 
no  allusion  to  it,  except  as  references  to  it  by  other  Senators  com- 
pelled his  notice.  On  the  i9th  March  he  used  the  following 
language : 

(226) 


Houston  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine  and  Protectorates.    227 

"  I  was  not  the  enemy  of  slavery,  nor  was  I  its  propagandist,  nor  will  I  ever 
be.  I  believe  it  was  the  breaking  down  of  the  barrier  that  secured  our  institu- 
tions in  the  South,  when  the  Missouri  compromise  line  was  abandoned.  It  was 
only  opening  the  door  to  free  soil.  I  wish  it  to  be  understood  that  there  are 
more  people  in  the  South  than  the  statesmen  and  politicians  that  are  seen  in  her 
public  assemblies.  There  is  a  gallant  yeomanry,  a  chivalrous  and  generous 
population,  whose  hardy  hands  are  adapted  as  well  to  toiling  for  the  procure- 
ment of  the  necessaries  of  life  and  the  nurture  of  their  families,  as  they  are  to 
the  application  of  arms  to  vindicate  their  rights.  They  are  the  men  whose 
voice  will  be  heard  when  you  carry  the  question  of  union  or  disunion  to  their 
homes." 

On  the  23d  March,  when  he  was  again  called  out,  he  said  : 

"  The  Legislature  of  Texas  have  superseded  me  in  accordance  with  my  wishes, 
by  an  election,  to  take  effect  March  4,  1859  ;  till  then  it  will  be  my  duty  to  carry 
out  their  wishes.  It  has  always  been  a  cardinal  principle  of  my  democracy  that 
when  the  will  of  a  constituency  on  any  measure  is  known  to  the  representative, 
he  is  bound  to  execute,  in  all  good  faith,  that  known  will ;  or  he  is  bound  to  re- 
sign his  situation,  in  order  that  another  man  may  be  selected  who  will  carry  out 
their  views.  I  therefore  vote  for  the  bill  pending,  knowing  it  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  views  of  three-fourths,  at  least,  of  the  Legislature  of  Texas." 

On  the  2oth  April  Houston  was  drawn  out  in  the  only  lengthy 
speech  of  this  session.  The  bill  proposing  a  Protectorate  of  the 
United  States  over  Mexico  and  the  Central  American  States,  having 
been  objected  to,  an  amendment,  omitting  the  mention  of  the  latter, 
was  pending.  Forgetting  the  relation  in  which  he  now  stood  to  his 
State,  animated  still  by  pure  devotion  to  her  interests  in  common 
with  those  of  the  country  at  large,  Houston  urged  the  following 
considerations  :' 

"  Texas  is  most  interested  in  the  proposed  Protectorate  of  the  2,000  miles  of  the 
border  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  for  1,000  miles  are  on  the  Texan 
line.  Mexico  is  both  powerless  and  faithless.  I  alone,  of  261  members  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  who  were  present  in  December,  1823, 
when  the  Monroe  doctrine  was  announced,  remain  here  to  sustain  it.  Nearly  all 
who  then  favored  it,  Webster,  Clay,  Benton,  and  others,  are  now  dead.  It  was 
to  such  men,  counseled  by  a  Cabinet  of  such  men  as  John  Quincy  Adams,  Win. 
H.  Crawford,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Samuel  L.  Southard,  William  Wirt,  and  John 
McLean,  that  President  Monroe  addressed  himself  in  such  confident  and  reso- 
lute language  with  reference  to  the  ulterior  purposes  of  this  country.  I  shall 
never  cease  to  remember  the  exultant  delight  with  which  his  noble  sentiments 
were  hailed.  They  met  not  only  a  cordial,  but  an  enthusiastic  reception,  both  in 
and  out  of  Congress.  They  were  approved  with  as  much  unanimity  as  if  the 
entire  population  of  the  Union  had  been  previously  prepared  to  re-echo  their  ut- 
terance. At  that  epoch  there  was  a  broad,  towering  spirit  of  nationality  extant. 
The  States  stood  in  the  endearing  relation  to  each  other  of  one  for  all  and  all 
for  one.  The  Constitution  was  their  political  text-book,  the  glory  of  the  Repub- 
lic their  resolute  aim.  Practically  there  was  but  one  party,  animated  but  by  one 


228  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

object,  our  upward  and  onward  career.  As  if  in  atonement  for  the  wrong  in- 
flicted on  the  country  by  the  angry  Missouri  controversy,  which  was  then  fresh  in 
every  mind,  there  seemed  to  be  no  circumscription  to  that  genuine  patriotism 
which  everywhere  within  our  embraces  displayed  itself.  May  we  not  trust,  Mr. 
President,  that  a  similar  result  will  ensue  from  the  still  more  angry  Kansas  con- 
troversy, and  that  the  benign  influences  of  such  results  will  be  as  durable  as 
creation  !  This  will  assuredly  be  the  case  if  the  only  question  asked  within  this 
Capitol,  when  an  embryo  State  asks  for  admission  into  the  Union,  shall  be, 
'  Does  her  Constitution  conform  to  the  national  requirement,  a  Republican  form 
of  Government?'" 

Houston  then  went  into  an  extended  history  of  Mr.  Monroe's 
words,  and  how  they  were  commented  on  ;  that  he  was  opposed  to 
the  so-called  Holy  Alliance,  which  sought  to  re-establish  Spain  in 
her  former  possessions.  "Its  position  was:  'that  crowned  heads 
have  a  derived  power  to  preserve  what  is  legally  established,  was, 
as  it  ought  to  be,  the  invariable  policy  of  those  whom  God  has 
rendered  responsible  for  power.'  This  is  its  language.  Our  excel- 
lent Minister  to  the  Netherlands,  Christopher  Hughes,  on  the  25th 
August,  1823,  at  Liverpool  revealed  it.  Great  Britain,  through 
Minister  Canning,  sought  the  co-operation  of  our  Government. 
Monroe's  reply  was  as  a  destructive  earthquake  to  hopes  ot 
American  acquiescence,  at  Paris.  It  was  hailed  by  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne,  in  the  House  of  Lords^  in  the  following  February,  who 
said:  '  He  could  grudge  to  the  United  States  the  glory  of  having  thus 
early  thrown  her  shield  over  those  struggles  for  freedom  which  were 
so  important,  not  only  to  America,  but  to  the  whole  world.  Let  their 
lordships  look  to  what  had  happened  in  the  United  States.  There, 
a  population  of  3,000,000  had,  in  forty  years,  been  increased  to 
10,000,000.'  Brougham,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  echoed  the 
same  sentiment.  '  He  trusted  that  as  the  United  States  had  the 
glory  of  setting,  we  should  have  the  good  taste  to  follow  the  exam- 
ple of  holding  fast  by  free  institutions,  and  of  ever  assisting  our 
brother  freemen,  in  whatever  part  of  the  globe  they  might  be  found, 
in  placing  bounds  to  that  infamous  alliance.'  "  In  June,  when  called 
upon  to  vote,  Houston  responded  to  an  objector  :  "Any  one  from 
motives  of  humanity  is  entitled  to  undertake  to  become  a  protector. 
I  should  not  feel  myself  restrained,  at  my  age,  to  interpose  in  be- 
half of  humanity,  and  to  arrest  the  cruelties  and  murders  committed 
on  a  defenceless  people." 

True  to  his  instinct,  Houston,  shortly  after  this  speech,  in  view 
of  the  pressure  of  business  in  the  Senate,  moved  a  resolution  that 
the  Senate  meet  at  n  o'clock  instead  of  12  o'clock,  that  there  might 
be  more  time  given  for  deliberation  on  important  measures.  On 
the  5th  May  Houston  replied  to  Senator  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire, 
who  had  disparaged  West  Point  Military  Academy  because  so 


Incidents  of  Houston's  last  Senatorial  Term.      229 

many  of  its  cadets  did  not  finish  their  course,  or  left  the  service 
after  completing  their  course.  Houston  approved  this  thinning  of 
the  ranks  as  a  benefit  to  the  service,  and  exclaimed  :  "  Practical 
men,  not  martinets,  are  wanted."  He  urged,  however,  that  the 
course  might,  in  some  respects,  like  those  of  colleges,  require 
adaptation  to  the  practical  demands  of  the  service  ;  and  said  :  "  I 
doubt  whether  the  extent  to  which  theoretical  study  is  carried 
there  is  essential  to  every  officer  constituting  the  army  of  the 
United  States." 

The  meeting  of  the  second  session,  December  6,  1858,  found 
Houston  cheerful  and  devoted  in  his  Senatorial  duties.  On  the 
23d  December,  1858,  when  the  motion  to  go  into  the  new  hall,  just 
then  near  completion,  after  the  holidays,  was  pressed,  Houston  said  : 
"  That  as  his  term  expired  on  the  4th  March,  it  was  a  matter  in 
which  he  could  be  disinterested.  He  urged,  however,  that  the 
change  was  necessary  for  the  health  of  the  members."  On  the 
same  day  he  presented  and  urged  a  memorial  giving  a  pension  to 
the  widow  of  Col.  Trumbull.  He  said  that  this  duty,  imposed  by 
friends  of  his  in  the  North,  was  imperative.  Col.  Trumbull  did  not 
fall  in  battle,  but  died  from  lingering  disease  contracted  by  ex- 
posure in  the  service.  He  urged  that  men  who,  after  faithful  and 
protracted  preparation  for  the  service,  had  lived  for  years  on  small 
salaries,  were  entitled  to  remuneration  in  the  brief  years  of  their 
later  service.  On  the  loth  January,  1859,  when  provision  was 
proposed  to  exclude  ex-Members  of  Congress  from  the  floor  of  the 
new  Senate  Chamber,  since  they  were  so  often  there  as  mere  lob- 
byists, Houston  provoked  merriment  by  a  humorous  allusion  to  its 
possible  application  to  himself.  On  the  5th  January  Houston 
made  honorable  mention  of  Gen.  Quitman,  commending  his  gal- 
lantry in  coming  to  the  relief  of  Texas  in  her  need  ;  though  by 
unworthy  detention  prevented  from  being  present  at  the  decisive 
battle.  On  the  i2th  January  Houston  spoke  on  the  Pacific  Rail- 
road bill,  urging  that  the  southern  route  -through  Texas  be  chosen 
as  the  most  economical,  and  least  liable  to  interruption  in  winter. 
On  the  3ist  January  he  spoke  on  the  Indian  reservation  ;  urging  to 
the  last  his  views  of  domesticating  the  Indians,  and  declaring  that 
he  believed  even  the  warlike  Comanches  might  be  trained,  like 
other  Mexican  Indians,  to  habits  of  civilized  society. 

On  the  28th  February  Houston  delivered  his  farewell  address 
to  the  Senate. 

No  man  ever  left  the  city  of  Washington  with  such  unanimous 
esteem  for  mingled  nobleness  of  character  and  faithfulness  in  ac- 
tion as  Sam  Houston.  The  following  mention  of  him  in  the 
National  Intelligencer,  which  for  half  a  century  was  esteemed 


230  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

throughout  the  United  States  and  Europe  as  the  impartial  chroni- 
cler of  passing  events — a  mention  made  during  the  memorable 
session  .of  the  Peace  Commissioners,  who  met  in  January,  1861 — 
deserves  to  be  added  as  the  closing  record  of  his  Congressional  life. 
The  Intelligencer  of  February  28,  1861,  has  this  statement:  "Texas 
is  raising  an  army.  The  Legislature  has  authorized  the  new  Gov- 
ernor to  issue  State  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $500,000  to  repel  inva- 
sion." In  its  issue  of  March  2d,  the  Intelligencer  quotes  as  follows 
from  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  :  "  A  letter  from  Cape 
Verde,  Texas,  received  in  this  city  from  Col.  Waite,  makes  no  men- 
tion of  an  order  to  relieve  Major-Gen.  Twiggs,  who  delivered  up 
the  United  States  property  to  Texas.  The  telegraph  does  not  say 
to  whom,  but  probably  not  to  Gov.  Houston."  The  Intelligencer 
explains  :  "  It  was  to  the  committee  of  three  on  public  safety." 

The  Intelligencer  of  March  6th  contains  the  following  citation  . 

"  The  Austin,  Texas,  Intelligencer  has  been  permitted  to  publish 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Gov.  Houston  to  an 
old  friend,  defining  his  position  :  '  You  say  it  is  reported  that  I  am 
for  secession.  Ask  those  who  say  this  to  point  to  a  word  of  mine 
authorizing  the  statement.  I  have  declared  myself  in  favor  of 
peace,  of  harmony,  of  compromise,  in  order  to  obtain  a  fair  expres- 
sion of  the  will  of  the  people.  Dangerous  as  may  be  the  precedent 
inaugurated  by  the  convention  before  the  majesty  of  the  law  which 
recognizes  the  power  to  submit  the  question  of  disunion  to  the 
people,  I  yield,  in  the  same  spirit  that  actuated  Andrew  Jackson  in 
paying  the  fine  arbitrarily  imposed  on  him  at  New  Orleans.  I  am 
determined  that  those  who  would  overthrow  shall  learn  no  lesson 
from  me.  I  still  believe  that  secession  will -bring  ruin  and  civil 
war  ;  yet,  if  the  people  will,  I  can  bear  it  with  them.  Sixty-seven 
years  of  freedom,  the  recollection  of  past  triumphs  and  sufferings, 
the  memories  of  heroes,  whom  I  have  seen  and  known,  and  whose 
venerated  shades  would  haunt  my  footsteps  were  I  to  falter  now, 
may  perhaps  have  made  me  too  devoted  to  the  Constitution  and 
the  Union.  But,  be  it  so.  Did  I  believe  that  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  the  South  demanded  the  sacrifice  I  would  not  hesitate.  I  be- 
lieve that  less  concession  than  was  necessary  to  frame  the  Consti-' 
tution  will  now  preserve  it.  Thus  believing,  I  can  not  vote  for 
secession.  I  have  hesitated  to  say  anything  on  this  topic,  because 
I  desire  the  people  to  act  for  themselves.  My  views  are  on  record. 
Yet  it  is  perhaps  but  right  that  my  old  friends  should  know  that 
the  charge  that  I  am  for  secession  is  false." 

In  his  memoir  of  Houston  in  "Johnson's.  Cyclopedia,"  Hon.  A. 
H.  Stephens,  of  Georgia,  says  :  "  His  decided  opposition  to  the 
policy  of  secession  lost  him  the  confidence  of  those  for  whom  he 
had  done  so  much." 


CHAPTER     XXV. 

CAREER  OF  HOUSTON  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  TEXAS— STATE  MEASURES— WANT  OF  HARMONY 

BETWEEN     THE     EXECUTIVE    AND    THE    LEGISLATURE— SECESSION— HlS    DEPOSITION 

FROM  THE  GUBERNATORIAL  OFFICE. 

IN  November,  1857,  while  still  acting  as  United  States  Senator, 
Gen.  Houston  was  a  candidate  for  Governor,  and  was  defeated 
by  Hardin  R.  Runnels.*  In  November,  1859,  he  was  again  a  can- 
didate, and  defeated  Governor  Runnels. f  In  both  instances  he  was 
an  independent  candidate,  running  against  the  regular  Democratic 
nominee. 

On  the  2ist  December,  1859,  Sam  Houston  was  inaugurated 
Governor  of  Texas.  Political  excitement  was  intense.  The  ques- 
tions which  had  been  discussed,  from  the  adoption  of  the  Federal 
Constitution,  and  the  Virginia  and  Kentucky  resolutions  of  1798 
and  1799,  down  to  the  adoption  by  Congress  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Bill,  had  nearly  reached  their  issue  in  the  wager  of  battle.  The 
gathering  clouds  foretokened  the  coming  storm.  The  great  polit- 
ical canvass  was  just  opening  which  resulted,  in  November,  1860, 
in  the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  Houston  was  independent  in  politics  at  this  time,  but  he 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  party  that  elected  Lincoln  as  President, 
although  he  was  ardently  attached  to  the  Union,  and  as  ardently 
opposed  to  secession. 

He  commenced  his  Gubernatorial  administration  with  a  Legisla- 
ture not  in  harmony  with  him,  and  from  this  time  up  to  March  18, 
1 86 1,  when  he  ceased  to  be  Governor,  he  was  beset  by  unusual  diffi- 
culties. Agitation  pervaded  the  State.  Fires,  supposed  to  be 
incendiary,  occurred  frequently  in  various  parts  of  the  Territory, 
The  Indians  had  been  removed  from  their  reservation,  but  contin- 
ued to  be  more  hostile  and  barbarous  than  ever.  Cortina  frequently 
committed  depredations  on  the  Rio  Grande  frontier,  crossing  to  the 
Texas  side,  and  committing  thefts  and  murders.  To  obtain  accu- 


*  At  the  election  in  1857,  there  were  56,180  votes  polled.  Hardin  R.  Runnels  re- 
ceived 32,552  ;  Sam  Houston,  23,628,  for  Governor.  F.  R.  Lubbock,  33,379  ;  Jess>e 
Grimes,  20,818  ;  F.  Smith,  878,  for  Lieut.-Governor. 

f  At  the  election  in  1859,  64,027  votes  were  cast.  Sam  Houston  received  36,257 
votes  ;  Hardin  R.  Runnels,  27,500,  for  Governor. 

(231) 


232  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

rate  information,  commissioners  were  sent  to  the  Rio  Grande,  after 
which,  Major  Forbes  Britton  was  dispatched  to  Washington  to 
secure  protection  on  that  border.  These  measures  resulted  in  an 
order  from  the  War  Department  to  Col.  Robert  E.  Lee,  then  in 
command  in  Texas,  to  cross  the  river,  if  necessary,  and  break  up 
Cortina's  band.  With  equal  promptness  Gov.  Houston  used  his 
best  efforts  to  protect  the  frontier.  A  few  days  after  his  inaugura- 
tion he  ordered  Captains  W.  C.  Dalrymple,  Edward  Burleson,  and 
John  C.  Connor  to  raise  companies  of  sixty  men  for  frontier  pro-, 
tection.  In  February  Lieutenants  White,  Salmon,  and  Walker 
were  directed  to  raise  companies  of  twenty-five  men  each. 

The  frontier  continued  to  be  harassed.  The  Governor,  on  the 
9th  of  March,  empowered  each  Chief-Justice  of  the  frontier  coun- 
ties, to  call  out  a  company  of  fifteen  men  at  any  time  necessary. 
Captain  Peter  Tomlinson  was  authorized  to  raise  a  company  of 
forty-eight  men,  to  scour  the  country  between  the  Frio  and  the  Rio 
Grande.  To  compel  the  Indians  to  return  to  their  own  country, 
Col.  M.  T.  Johnson  organized  an  expedition.  A  party  of  savages, 
who  had  been  committing  serious  depredations  in  Palo  Pinto  and 
Jack  Counties,  were  pursued,  later  in  the  year,  by  Captain  L.  S. 
Ross,  and  severely  punished. 

A  controversy  appeared  in  the  news  journals  of  May,  1860,  be- 
tween Governor  Houston  and  the  Comptroller  of  the  State,  Hon. 
Clement  R.  Johns.  The  points  in  debate  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
any  charges  of  peculation,  fraud,  or  corruption,  but  wholly  involve 
the  question  of  executing  a  law,  and  supervising  and  attending  to 
its  execution. 

But  the  exciting  scenes  of  the  Presidential  election  of  1860  ab- 
sorbed public  attention.*  Governor  Houston  addressed  letters  to 


*  Private  letter  to  Gen.  George  Washington  Crawford,  of  Washington,  Texas. 

"AUSTIN,   8M  September,   1860. 

"  MY  DEAR  GENERAL  : — Your  favor  has  this  moment  been  received,  and  I  as  frank- 
ly reply  as  you  wrote  to  me.  Personally,  I  like  Breckinridge  more  than  either  of  the 
candidates  in  the  field,  and  'tis  because  he  is  an  amiable  gentleman,  as  well  as  a 
man  of  fine  intelligence,  and  I  think  him  quite  as  honest  as  either  of  the  other  can- 
didates. My  wish  and  object  is  to  beat  Lincoln  with  any  man  in  the  field.  The 
question  is,  how  is  this  to  be  done  ?  If  Breckinridge  alone  were  in  the  field  opposed 
to  Lincoln,  could  he  do  it?  I  think  not.  Now  !  why  not?  Because,  if  he  were 
to  get  all  the  Southern  States,  as  he  would  do,  could  that  elect  him  ?  No !  Could 
he  certainly  get  any  free  State  ?  I  think  not,  brought  forward  as  he  was  by  Yancey- 
Rhett-Keitt  and  the  disunion  influence,  and  supported  by  these  men  and  others 
equally  odious  to  the  national  feeling.  His  friends,  too,  of  the  N.  Y.  Herald,  Col. 
Orr,  and  others,  concede  that  he  stands  no  chance  of  election.  If  a  Union  ticket 
is  supported  North  and  South,  it  can  be  elected,  I  think,  and  let  the  electors  only 
be  pledged  to  cast  the:.r  votes  for  the  strongest  man  against  Lincoln,  and  in  this 


Houston  on  Presidential  Candidates  in  1860.       233 

the  Governors  of  the  other  Southern  States,  proposing  some  con- 
certed action  ;  to  these  letters  there  came  no  favorable  response. 
On  the  i;th  December  he  issued  a  proclamation,  convening  the 
Legislature  in  extra  session,  January  21,  1861.  His  message  de- 
plored the  election  of  Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  but  in  it  he 
could  see  no  cause  for  the  immediate  and  separate  secession  of 
Texas.  He  informed  the  Legislature  that  he  had  ordered  an  elec- 
tion to  be  held  on  the  first  Monday  in  February,  to  elect  delegates 
to  a  Convention  of  the  Southern  States,  contemplated  by  the  joint 
resolution  of  February  16,  1858,  to  devise  means  far  the  mainte- 
nance of  their  Constitutional  rights,  and  to  demand  redress  for  the 
grievances  they  had  been  suffering  at  the  hands  of  many  of  the 
Northern  States.  Neither  the  Legislature  nor  the  leading  politi- 
cians of  the  State  harmonized  with  the  sentiments  of  Governor 
Houston.  The  people  by  common  consent,  instead  of  waiting  until 
the  first  Monday  in  February,  and  electing  delegates  to  a  Conven- 
tion of  the  Southern  States  as  contemplated  in  the  act  of  February, 
1858,  and  ordered  by  the  Governor's  proclamation  on  the  8th  of 
January,  elected  delegates  to  a  State  Convention,  composed  of  two 
members  for  every  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  This 
Convention  met  in  Austin,  January  23,  1861,  and  was  organized  by 


way  he  may  be  defeated,  otherwise  I  think  Lincoln  will  be  elected  by  the  electoral 
colleges.  By  voting  for  a  Union  ticket  it  will  not  exclude  Mr.  Breckinridge  if  he 
stands  on  the  Union  principle,  and,  if  he  does  not,  no  one  ought  to  vote  for  him, 
or  any  other  man  who  can  not  stand  there.  By  voting  for  men,  as  electors,  who  are 
pledged  to  principle,  and  not  to  this  or  that  individual,  the  design  of  the  Consti- 
tution will  be  answered.  It  is  certainly  as  safe  for  the  country  to  rely  on  the  discre- 
tion and  judgment  of  electors,  acting  under  the  responsibility  of  a  Constitutional 
obligation,  as  it  is  to  rely  on  the  members  of  a  Convention  to  nominate  a  candi- 
date, and,  therefore,  I  am  willing  to  rely  on  the  honesty  and  discretion  of  the 
electors,  if  any  should  be  elected  on  the  Union  ticket,  so  to  act  and  vote,  if  they 
can,  to  defeat  Lincoln.  This  is  what  I  go  for,  and  any  man  before  him  that  may 
be  elected.  I  have  sworn  that  I  would  never  vote  for  any  man,  directly,  who  voted 
for  or  supported  the  Nebraska  Bill.  Douglas  and  Breckinridge  are  in  the  same 
category  on  this  subject ;  and  I  might,  by  voting  the  Union  ticket,  indirectly  vote 
for  either.  As  for  Mr.  Bell,  I  regard  him  as  a  slim  chance  for  a  President,  and 
would  not  directly  vote  for  him,  although  he  voted  against  the  Nebraska  Bill.  There 
is  a  tale  to  that!  So  you  see  I  do  not  go  for  man  or  men,  but  for  principle,  and  if 
Mr.  Bell  should  stand  on  any  platform,  after  filching  it,  I  can  not  help  it,  or  for  any 
consideration  come  out  in  favor  of  a  man  who  has  no  chance  of  success,  and  who 
has  allowed  himself  to  be  used  by  odious  men,  and  for  no  good  purpose  that  I  can 
perceive.  So  far  as  men  are  concerned  I  will  look  on  with  folded  arms.  So  far  as 
principle  is  concerned  I  will  always  be  ready  to  speak  out.  Give  our  love  to  the 
ladies. 

"Thine  truly,  HOUSTON. 

"  P.  S. — The  mail  is  closing.  .  .  .   How  can  a  Jackson  Democrat  vote  for  Rhett 
or  Yancey,  or  their  representative?" 


234  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

electing  Oran  M.  Roberts,  President,  and  R.  T.  Browrigg,  Secre- 
tary. The  Legislature  promptly  recognized  the  Convention, 
although  not  specially  summoned  by  the  Executive  of  the  State, 
and  the  Governor  announced  that  he  would  not  be  a  barrier  to  the 
wishes  of  the  people  of  the  State.  The  Ordinance  of  Secession 
was  passed,  revoking  the  ordinance  adopted  in  Convention  on  the 
4th  July,  1845,  and  declaring  that  Texas  "is  a  separate,  sover- 
eign State,  and  that  her  citizens  and  people  are  absolved  from  all 
allegiance  to  the  United  States  or  the  Government  thereof."  The 
Legislature  and  Convention  both  adjourned  after  the  adoption  of 
the  ordinance.  In  accordance  with  the  ordinance  of  the  Conven- 
tion, Governor  Houston  issued  his  proclamation  for  an  election  to 
be  held  on  the  23d  February,  at  which  the  people  were  requested 
to  vote  for  or  against  secession.  The  election  was  held,  and  re- 
sulted in  39,415  votes  for,  and  13,841  votes  against  secession. 

On  the  4th  of  March  the  Convention  re-assembled,  and  sent  a 
committee  to  confer  with  the  Governor,  and  announce  to  him  that 
"  Texas  was  now  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  State,"  free 
from  and  independent  of  that  Union,  into  which  fifteen  years  be- 
fore it  had  gone  with  such  enthusiasm.  Governor  Houston  con- 
tended that  the  functions  of  the  Convention  had  ceased  with  the 
passage  of  the  ordinance  of  secession,  and  its  submission  to  the 
vote  of  the  people,  and  protested  against  any  further  action  by  the 
Convention.  Notwithstanding  the  Governor's  protest,  on  the  same 
day  the  Convention  passed  an  ordinance  uniting  Texas  with  the 
new  Confederation,  which  had  been  formed  at  Montgomery,  Ala- 
bama. On  the  i4th  of  March  the  Convention  passed  an  additional 
ordinance,  requiring  all  State  officers  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  "  Confederate  States,"  adopted  and  pub- 
lished by  the  Convention  then  sitting  at  Montgomery,  Alabama. 
Governor  Houston  and  the  Secretary  of  State,  Hon.  E.  W.  Cave, 
refused  to  take  said  oath.  Their  offices  were  declared  vacant. 
The  other  public  officers  took  the  required  oath,  and  were  con- 
tinued in  office.  Hon.  Edward  Clark,  the  Lieutenant-Governor, 
having  taken  the  prescribed  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of 
the  "  Confederate  States,"  was  sworn  in  and  duly  installed  as  Gov- 
ernor on  the  1 6th  of  March.  The  office  building  of  the  Governor 
continued  to  be  occupied  by  General  Houston  until  the  i8th  of 
March,  when  Governor  Clark  entered  the  room  before  General 
Houston  reached  it  in  the  morning,  and  thereafter  held  undisputed 
possession.  The  Legislature  having  re-assembled  on  March  i8th, 
according  to  adjournment,  General  Houston  sent  a  message  to  that 
body,  setting  forth  the  injustice  of  his  removal,  and  protesting 
against  the  usurpation  of  the  office  of  Governor  by  Governor  Ed- 


Superseded  as  Governor,  Refuses  U.  S.  Support.    235 

ward  Clark.  This  was  the  last  act  having  any  official  significance 
which  General  Sam  Houston  ever  performed.  He  quietly  retired 
with  his  family  to  his  home  at  Huntsville,  and  remained  a  passive 
spectator  of  passing  events.  The  following  letter,  addressed  to 
Col.  Waite,  of  the  United  States  Army,  San  Antonio,  Texas,  will 

explain  itself  : 

"AUSTIN,  Texas,  March  29,  1861. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — I  have  received  intelligence  that  you  have  received,  or  will 
soon  receive,  orders  to  concentrate  United  States  troops  under  your  command 
at  Indianola,  in  this  State,  to  sustain  me  in  the*  exercise  of  my  official  functions. 
Allow  me  most  respectfully  to  decline  any  such  assistance  from  the  United 
States  Government,  and  to  most  earnestly  protest  against  the  concentration  of 
troops  or  fortifications  in  Texas,  and  request  that  you  remove  all  such  troops 
out  of  this  State  at  the  earliest  day  practicable,  or,  at  any  rate,  by  all  means  take 
no  action  toward  a  hostile  movement  till  further  ordered  by  the  Government  at 
Washington  city,  or  particularly  of  Texas. 

"Thine,  SAM  HOUSTON. 

Gen.  Houston  loved  the  Union.  He  did  not  believe  the  "  Con 
federate  States"  could  maintain  their  independence,  and  yet  he 
allowed  his  oldest  son  to  enter  the  Confederate  army.  The  suc- 
cesses of  the  Confederate  arms  up  to  April,  1863,  rather  inclined 
him  to  believe  that  under  Robert  E.  Lee,  Stonewall  Jackson,  and  a 
favoring  Divine  Providence  the  Confederacy  might  live,  although 
opposed  to  his  convictions. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

CLOSING  DAYS— RESOLUTIONS  OF  TEXAS  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  AND  SPEECH 
OF  HON.  J.  H.  BANTON,  OF  WALKER  COUNTY. 

AFTER  his  ejection  from  the  Gubernatorial  office  Gen.  Houston 
retired  with  his  family  to  his  residence  at  Huntsville,  Walker 
County.  With  calm  dignity  he  watched  the  events  of  the  war  then 
waging.  He  had  no  confidence  in  the  success  of  the  "  Confederate 
States."  He  So  far  sympathized  with  the  South  as  to  allow  his 
eldest  son,  as  has  been  before  remarked,  to  enter  the  Confederate 
army,  in  which  he  was  a  lieutenant,  and  distinguished  himself  in 
chivalrous  conduct  in  the  contests  in  Louisiana,  and  by  his  devotion 
to  the  land  of  his  nativity  while  a  prisoner  of  war  under  Federal 
control.  Occasionally  he  appeared  at  parades,  and  noticed  the 
drill  of  troops,  and  sometimes  gave  vent  to  his  fund  of  humor  at 
the  expense  of  some  whose  chivalry  consisted  in  words.  On  one 
occasion  a  captain  was  drilling  his  company,  while  Gen.  Houston 
was  one  of  the  lookers-on.  The  captain,  observing  him,  said  to  him, 
"General,  will  you  drill  my  company  a  little  for  me?"  "With 
great  pleasure,  sir,"  said  the  General.  Taking  his  position  in  front 
of  the  company,  he  commenced  :  "  Attention,  company  !  Eyes 
right !  "  The  order  was  obeyed.  The  General  then  observed, 

"  Gentlemen,  do  you  see  anything  of ?  "     Unanimously  they 

replied  "  No."  "  Then,  front  face  !  "  Again  the  order  was  exe- 
cuted, "  Now,  gentlemen,"  said  the  General,  "  do  you  see  anything 

of ? "     Again  the  reply  was  "  No."     "  Then,  gentlemen,  eyes 

left ! "  Once  more  the  order  was  carried  out.  "  Well,  now,  gentle- 
men, do  you  see  anything  of ? "  Again  the  company  reply 

"  No."  "  No,"  says  the  General,  "and  you  will  not  see  anything  of 
him  where  there  is  any  danger,  while  this  war  lasts."  Then  turning 
to  the  captain,  he  said  :  "  Captain,  I  turn  the  company  over  to  you 
again  ;  they  are  very  well  drilled  indeed." 

But  worn  down  with  anxiety,  and  suffering  from  disease  and 
pain,  his  constitution  gave  way  in  the  summer  of  1863,  just  after 
the  fall  of  Vicksburg  had  spread  dismay  all  over  Texas.  In  health 
he  stood  with  an  erect,  well-made  form,  a  giant  in  strength.  His 
hair  turned  prematurely  gray  from  herculean  labors.  His  eye  was 
(233) 


Resolutions  of  Texan  Legislature  on  Houston's  Death.  237 

ever  soft  and  clear,  and  beamed  with  a  smile  which  no  man  can 
wear  whose  heart  does  not  overflow  with  love  of  country  and  phi- 
lanthropy to  his  race.  He  suffered  during  his  long  and  eventful 
life  from  few,  if  any,  physical  ailments.  But  no  surgical  skill  was 
ever  able  to  close  up  the  wound  which  he  received  in  his  right 
shoulder  from  two  rifle-balls,  at  Tohopeka.  That  wound  dis- 
charged every  day  for  forty-seven  years.  His  linen  was  wet  with 
its  discharge  in  the  hour  of  his  death.  In  an  almost  miraculous 
manner  he  entirely  recovered  from  the  wound  in  his  ankle,  re- 
ceived at  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  Surrounded  by  his  family 
(except  Lieut.  Sam  Houston,  Jr.,  who  was  on  the  field  of  battle), 
his  great  frame  succumbed  to  the  power  of  the  destroyer,  and  his 
great  soul  passed  to  the  presence  of  his  God  on  the  26th  day  of 
July,  1863.  He  was  attended  by  admiring  friends,  and  conversed 
freely  on  his  soul's  welfare  with  Rev.  Mr.  Cockrell,  pastor  of  the 
Huntsville  Presbyterian  Church.  The  House  of  Representatives 
of  Texas  adopted  the  following  resolutions  at  its  session,  about 
three  months  thereafter,  which  were  introduced  by  an  address 
from  Hon.  J.  H.  Banton,  Representative  of  Walker  County.  The 
following  is  a  transcript  of  the  resolutions  forwarded  to  Mrs. 

Houston  : 

"HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  ) 

"STATE  OF  TEXAS,  Nov.  3,  1863.    f 

"  Mr.  J.  H.  Banton,  of  Walker,  offered  the  following  resolutions,  to  wit : 

"Resolved,  That  the  House  has  heard  with  deep  regret  that  the  distinguished 
statesman,  patriot,  and  soldier,  General  Sam  Houston,  departed  this  life  on  the 
26th  day  of  July,  1863,  at  his  residence  in  Walker  County. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  his  death  the  State  has  lost  one  of  its  distinguished  citi- 
zens and  public  servants,  and  one  of  its  ablest  and  most  zealous  advocates  and 
defenders  of  its  rights,  liberties,  and  its  honor. 

"  Resolved,  That  so  great  a  light  can  be  illy  spared  in  this  dark  hour  of  our 
country's  existence,  and  its  going  out  is  alike  a  State  and  a  national  calamity. 

"  Resolved,  That  his  public  services  through  a  long  and  eventful  life,  his  un- 
blemished patriotism,  his  great  private  and  moral  worth,  and  his  untiring,  de- 
voted, and  zealous  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  State  of  Texas  command  our 
highest  admiration,  and  should  be  held  in  perpetual  remembrance  by  the  people 
of  the  State. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  sympathies  and  condolence  of  the  people  of  the  State  be 
tendered  the  afflicted  family  of  the  deceased. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  of  the  House  furnish  the  surviving  widow  of  the 
deceased  a  copy  of  these  proceedings,  and  that  they  be  spread  upon  the  journals 
of  the  House. 

"  Resolved,  That  as  a  further  token  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  distin- 
guished dead,  this  House  do  now  adjourn  to  10  A.M.  to-morrow ;  which  was 
adopted,  and  after  some  appropriate  remarks  from  Mr.  Banton,  the  House 
adjourned  to  10  A.M.  to-morrow." 


238  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Mr.  Banton  said  : 

"MR.  SPEAKER:  As  announced  in  the  resolutions  which  have  been  read  from 
the  clerk's  desk,  Gen.  Sam  Houston  is  no  more.  A  great  man  has  fallen.  Texas' 
most  distinguished  citizen  has  ceased  to  exist  among  us,  and  it  is  but  fitting  and 
just  that  we,  the  representatives  of  the  people,  should  betoken  the  high  esteem 
in  which  he  was  held  by  them  ;  and  give  expression  to  that  deep  feeling  of  regret 
which  pervades  the  whole  country  in  consequence  of  its  great  bereavement.  As 
the  representative  of  the  county  of  his  residence,  and  as  his  friend  and  admirer, 
I  feel  it  incumbent  on  me  to  bespeak  for  the  resolutions  the  favorable  consider- 
ation of  the  House.  And  in  doing  so  I  will  not  presume,  sir,  on  the  intelligence 
of  this  honorable  and  enlightened  body,  by  attempting  even  an  epitome  of  the 
history  of  the  life,  character,  and  public  services  of  a  man  whose  name  is  as  fa- 
miliar as  household  words,  even  to  the  very  children  of  the  most  obscure  ham- 
Jets  of  the  State,  and  whose  fame  is  coextensive  with  civilization  itself.  His 
deeds,  which  constitute  the  history  of  his  life,  at  the  same  time  constitute  a  very 
large,  important,  and  inseparable  portion  of  the  history  of  the  country.  To  know 
the  history  of  the  one  is  in  a  very  great  measure  to  know  the  history  of  the  other. 
And  while  those  deeds,  both  military  and  civil,  have  made  his  renown  and  given 
immortality  to  his  name,  they  have  gilded  his  country's  history  with  undying 
glory.  Under  his  leadership  in  the  field,  Texans  acquired  a  reputation  for 
chivalry,  daring,  gallantry,  and  all  that's  glorious  in  war,  which  their  indomitable 
descendants  and  successors  in  this  second  struggle  for  liberty  and  independence* 
with  pride  emulate.  His  civil  deeds  in  the  legislative  and  administrative  de- 
partments of  Government  have  not  been  less  distinguished,  and  contributed  no 
less  to  his  own  renown  and  the  greatness  of  the  State.  I  believe,  sir,  I  do  no 
injustice  to  the  distinguished  living  or  dead  of  this  State  when  I  say  Sam  Hous- 
ton was  the  most  remarkable  man  known  to  its  history.  May  I  not  safely  assert 
that  his  life  is  more  fruitful  of  remarkable  and  thrilling  events  and  incidents  than 
that  of  any  other  man  of  his  generation  ?  Profound,  far-seeing,  and  compre- 
hensive in  statesmanship  ;  bold,  daring,  glorious  in  war ;  a  dear  lover  of  peace, 
with  wonderful  capacity  to  enjoy  private  life  and  the  family  circle,  he  combined 
all  the  elements  necessary  to  constitute  him  truly  a  great  man.  Such,  sir,  is  the 
man  whom  Texas  has  the  honor  of  claiming  as  her  own,  and  whose  death  we 
now  lament.  And  though  he  leaves  an  enduring  monument  of  his  greatness  and 
worth  in  the  history  of  his  country  and  the  affections  of  his  countrymen,  yet  I 
would  it  were  in  our  power  at  this  time  to  erect  a  material  monument,  towering 
and  colossal,  like  the  majestic  form  of  him  in  whose  honor  it  is  reared,  as  a  token 
of  that  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  people  of  the  State.  And  I 
indulge  the  hope  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant,  when  grim-visaged  war  will  de- 
part, and  smiling  peace,  with  her  attendant  innumerable  blessings,  will  return 
to  make  the  heart  to  rejoice  and  crown  the  land  with  plenty— when  a  grateful 
and  liberal  people  can  rear  to  the  memory  of  Thomas  J.  Rusk  and  Sam  Hous- 
ton, twin  brothers  in  the  glorious  struggle  for  Texan  independence,  two  lofty 
monuments  whose  majestic  proportions  shall  be  fit  representatives  of  these  noble 
heroes,  towering  above  all  else,  the  ornaments  and  pride  of  the  State,  perpetual 
remembrancers  of  the  noble  deeds  of  noble  patriots,  serving  to  stimulate  the 
laudable  ambition  of  the  aspiring  youths  of  the  State  through  many  generations. 
"  Sir,  I  was  with  Gen.  Houston  in  his  last  illness  and  in  his  last  moments  on 


Hon.  Mr.  Bantorfs  Eulogy  on  Houston.          239 

earth.  He  who  was  Sam  Houston  in  life  was  emphatically  and  characteristically 
Sam  Houston  in  death.  The  same  reverence-inspiring  form,  the  same  piercing 
eye,  the  same  gigantic  mind  !  Death  came  upon  him  like  a  '  deep  sleep/  and  he 
sank  as  sets  the  sun  in  the  peaceful  and  quiet  splendors  of  a  summer's  eve.  It 
affords  me  much  pleasure  to  state  to  the  House  that  he  died  in  the  triumphs  ot 
that  faith  which  he  professed  during  the  last  decade  of  his  life.  And  she  who 
performed  so  important  a  part  in  his  reformation,  the  partner  of  his  bosom,  had 
from  his  own  dying  lips  ample  assurances  that  her  labors  in  that  behalf  had  not 
been  in  vain,  and  that  he  was  sustained  by  an  abiding  faith  in  the  Author  of  his 
redemption,  and  by  that  living  hope  which  is  *  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both 
sure  and  steadfast,  and  which  entereth  into  that  within  the  veil.'  There  is,  sir, 
to  my  mind  something  majestic,  magnificent,  and  yet  instructive  and  beautiful, 
in  such  a  life  and  such  a  death.  He  whose  career  was  as  brilliant  and  in  some 
respects  as  erratic  as  the  comet  in  its  wildest  flights,  revolved  with  equal  splen- 
dor, yet  with  lamblike  humility,  during  the  last  years  of  his  life  around  the  great 
Sun  of  Righteousness  as  the  center  of  his  attraction.  But,  pleasing  as  are  these 
consoling  reflections  in  bereavement,  I  will  not  longer  indulge  in  them.  Gen. 
Houston  leaves  a  most  devoted  wife  and  large  and  lovely  family  of  children, 
who  lament  in  the  bitterness  of  their  souls  the  loss  of  him  who  was  their  com- 
fort, their  stay,  and  their  pride.  Full  of  years  and  of  honors,  he  has  gone  to  rest. 
"  And  now  that  the  war  of  faction  and  of  party  is  over  with  him,  and  the 
tongue  of  envy  is  hushed,  all  can  see,  and  acknowledge  his  great  worth,  and 
honor  his  immortal  memory.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  faults  or  errors  (and 
to  say  his  long  and  eventful  life  was  free  from  them  is  more  than  can  be  said  of 
mortal  man),  none  can  question  his  pure  and  undying  devotion  to  his  country, 
especially  Texas,  and  the  '  patriotic  pride  '  with  which  he  at  all  times  beheld  her 
prosperity.  We  might  say  of  Texas,  that  she  was  his  handiwork ;  he  loved 
her  as  a  father  loveth  his  own  child,  rejoiced  with  her  when  she  rejoiced,  and 
wept  with  her  when  she  wept.  Always  as  jealous  of  her  rights  and  honor  as  of 
his  own,  he  never,  when  in  his  power  to  prevent  it,  suffered  the  one  infringed  or 
the  other  tarnished.  And  I  doubt  not  that  as  long  as  there  are  those  who  love 
Texas,  and  desire  the  perpetuation  of  the  rights,  liberties,  and  honor  of  her  peo- 
ple, and  as  long  as  her  glorious  history  is  read,  the  name  of  Houston  will  be 
honored  and  revered  and  his  noble  deeds  emulated  by  a  grateful  people. " 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

GEN.  HOUSTON'S  RELIGIOUS  LIFE— LETTER  OF  REV.  GEO.  W.  SAMSON,  D.D.— STATE- 
MENT OF  REV.  GEO.  W.  BAINES,  SEN. 

HON.  L.  D.  EVANS  was  a  Member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives from  Texas  when  Gen.  Houston  was  a  Senator  from 
Texas.  He  told  the  writer  that  he  always  knew,  night  and  morn- 
ing, from  occupying  a  room  just  under  Gen.  Houston's,  when  Gen. 
Houston  retired,  from  his  regular  habit  of  kneeling  for  prayer, 
when  he  laid  down  for  sleep  and  rose  up  for  the  day's  duties.  It 
is  stated  on  good  authority  that  he  kept  generally  a  supply  of 
"Nelson's  Cause  and  Cure  of  Infidelity,"  and  gave  copies  away 
gratuitously  to  such  of  his  friends  as  avowed  skepticism  about 
Christianity. 

The  following  letter  will  give  an  insight  into  the  incidents  which 
led  to  his  public  profession  of  religion,  when  he  was  immersed, 
November  19,  1854,  by  Rev.  Rufus  C.  Burleson,  D.D.,  and  became 
a  member  of  the  Independence  Baptist  Church.  As  a  member  of 
the  Church,  Gen.  Houston  took  a  deep  interest  in  all  that  apper- 
tained to  the  religious  growth  and  prosperity  of  its  members,  and 
gave  liberally  of  his  means  to  advance  Christian  education  and 
missions.  It  is  stated  that  the  Rev.  J.  W.  D.  Creath,  having  reached 
his  house  while  on  a  mission,  having  lost  his  horse,  he  readily  sup- 
plied him  with  another,  saying,  "  Take  him  ;  the  King's  business 
requires  haste."  He  was  never  asked  to  pray  in  public  that  he  did 
not  kneel  down  with  the  congregation  and  offer  up  an  humble,  fer- 
vent prayer. 

"  COLUMBIAN  COLLEGE,  > 

"  Washington,  D.  C.,  March  28,  1866.    f 
•  REV.  WM.  CAREY  CRANE,  D.  D. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  . — Your  letter,  asking  that  I  would  note  down  for  your  use 
any  reminiscences  of  General  Sam  Houston  that  might  be  of  value  in  your  pro- 
posed Memoir,  is  received.  It  is,  of  course,  in  reference  to  his  religious  charac- 
ter and  life  that  you  will  expect  me  to  reply.  Of  his  views  as  a  statesman,  and 
of  his  course  in  his  political  life,  it  did  not  belong  to  my  relationship  as  a  chosen 
pastor  to  take  account ;  and  others  to  whom  that  field  belongs  can  supply  all 
you  desire. 

"  It  is  natural  to  men  of  the  world,  and  even  to  Christians,  so  far  as  they  are 
controlled  by  worldly  interests,  to  entertain  doubts  of  the  sincerity  and  genuine- 
(240) 


Houston's  Growing  Heligious  Convictions.        241 

ness  of  the  professed  religious  conversion  of  such  men  as  General  Houston. 
The  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament  realized  this  when  he  asked,  '  Can  the  Ethio- 
pian change  his  skin,  or  the  leopard  his  spots  ?  Then  may  ye  also  do  good  that 
are  accustomed  to  do  evil '  (Jer.  xiii.  23).  It  is  yet  more  to  be  expected  that 
'  Israelites,  indeed,'  like  Nathaniel,  men  '  in  whom  there  is  no  guile,'  will  ask, 
'Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?'  (John  i.  46-47.)  When  men 
who  have  for  years  been  under  the  control  of  passion  and  worldliness  profess  to 
have  experienced  a  religious  change,  their  conduct  will,  undoubtedly,  be  more 
closely  scrutinized  than  that  of  men  outwardly  moral.  Yet  it  is  ever  to  be 
remembered  that  men  of  blood,  and  of  towering  appetites  and  passions,  like 
David  and  Saul  of  Tarsus,  become  the  most  manifest  marks  of  the  power 
of  God  to  redeem  fallen  human  nature;  the  one,  'a  man  after  God's  own 
heart,'  though  a  murderer  and  an  adulterer;  the  other,  '  breathing  out  threat- 
en ings  and  slaughters,'  yet  a  '  chosen  vessel  to  bear  Christ's  name  to  the  Gen- 
tiles,' though  the  churches  of  Judea  could  not  believe  for  years  '  that  he  was 
a  disciple.' 

"  Shortly  after  the  annexation  of  Texas  as  a  sister  State  to  the  American  Union, 
the  tall  form  of  '  Sam  Houston/  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  draped  in  his 
Mexican  blanket,  as  a  shield  against  the  blasts  of  winter,  at  Washington,  was 
seen  one  Sabbath  morning  entering  the  sanctuary  of  the  Baptist  church  on  E 
Street,  near  the  City  Hall.  Frankly  approaching  the  pastor  after  service,  he  said 
that  respect  for  his  wife,  one  of  the  best  Christians  on  earth,  had  brought  him 
there.  When  the  hope  was  expressed  that  feelings  deeper,  and  obligations  more 
imperative  than  those  which  bound  him  in  devotion  to  a  companion  so  worthy, 
would  soon  bind  him  to  the  house  of  God,  a  warm  pressure  of  the  hand,  and  a 
hearty  response  to  the  suggestion,  showed  that  there  were  convictions  beyond 
what  were  avowed  that  struggled  in  his  mind.  From  that  time,  for  twelve  years, 
always  in  the  morning,  and  often  at  night,  he  might  be  seen  seated  in  a  pew 
near  the  pulpit.  For  a  time,  mechanically,  and  from  habit,  he  appeared  provided, 
as  in  the  Senate,  with  his  pocket-knife  and  bit  of  pine,  carving  some  little  work 
for  his  own  or  other  children,  yet  frequently  arrested  in  his  employ,  and,  looking 
up  intently  to  catch  some  connection  of  thought  that  struck  him  in  the  sermon. 
In  a  few  months  the  service  seemed  to  absorb  all  his  thoughts,  and  the  whole 
outline  of  the  discourse  was  so  noted,  that  he  could  write  it  down  in  his  Sunday 
evening  letter  to  his  wife. 

"  Not  many  months  after,  a  sermon  from  the  text,  '  Better  is  he  that  ruleth 
his  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a  city '  (Prov.  xvi.  32),  seemed  to  rivet  his  atten- 
tion. The  fixedness  of  his  gaze  naturally  drew  the  preacher's  to  him,  and  the 
interest  manifested  by  the  hero  of  so  many  battles  gave,  doubtless,  a  turn  and 
an  unction  to  some  suggestions  thrown  in  by  the  speaker  and  observed  by  the 
special  hearer,  though  none  others  in  the  audience  took  notice  of  it.  Often 
afterward  General  Houston  referred  to  that  sermon  as  having  fastened  convic- 
tions of  his  own  need  and  duty  upon  his  mind  from  which  he  could  never  rid 
himself. 

"  As  the  sermon  referred  *to  seemed  to  have  been  blessed  in  convincing  him  of 
his  sinful  need,  so  a  series  of  evening  discourses  on  Old  Testament  examples 
of  Christian  faith,  delivered  some  months  yet  later,  had  the  effect  of  guiding  him 
to  the  grounds  of  hope,  and  of  Christian  redemption  for  men  of  his  character 
and  life.  After  separate  discourses  on  Paul's  catalogue,  in  the  nth  chapter  of 
16 


242  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

his  letter  to  the  Hebrews,  first,  on  the  three  antediluvian  examples  of  saving 
faith,  Abel,  Enoch,  and  Noah  ;  next,  on  the  four  of  the  patriarchal  period,  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  Jacob,  and  Joseph  ;  then  of  the  two  in  the  transition  period  of 
Israel's  origin  as  a  nation,  Moses,  the  law-giver,  and  Joshua,  the  military  founder 
of  the  Hebrew  State;  the  four  men  around  whose  history  clusters  the  interest  of 
the  reign  of  the  Judges,  Barak,  Gideon,  Jephthah,  and  Samson,  were  each  made 
the  theme  of  a  sermon.  Strange  specimens  of  Christians  these  men  were  ad- 
mitted to  be  ;  doubtful  sharers  of  the  thorough  redemption,  and  the  genuine  re- 
newal which  faith  in  the  Redeemer,  then  to  come,  always  gives.  Men  they 
were,  who,  from  their  external  conduct  alone,  presented  in  the  Old  Testament 
history  of  their  lives  as  military  and  civil  leaders,  we  should  never  dream  were 
men 'of  humble  faith  in  God  ;  but  whose  "  life  hid  with  Christ  in  God  "  Paul  is 
inspired  to  bring  out,  for  the  instruction  and  comfort  of  kindred  spirits  in  these 
last  days.  As  the  circumstances  of  the  age  in  which  these  men  were  depicted, 
an  age  of  settlement  in  a  new  land,  of  conquest  over  rude  and  heathen  tribes, 
and  even  of  border  and  intestine  warfare  among  independent  and  jealous  States 
not  yet  consolidated  into  a  nationality,  General  Houston  followed  the  narrative, 
and  seemed  to  ponder  the  resemblance  to  times  and  circumstances  through 
which  he  and  thousands  of  his  comrades  had  passed.  When  little  hints  from 
the  inspired  record  of  their  lives  in  the  Book  of  Judges  were  made  to  reveal 
their  meaning  in  the  strong  light  of  Paul's  statement  about  them,  statements 
which,  as  the  great  apostle  unto  the  Gentiles,  of  that  Gospel  which,  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years  before  the  Law  was  preached  unto  Abraham,  he  was  inspired 
to  make,  and  it  was  made  to  appear  that  men  leading  so  rough  a  life  might  yet 
be  genuine  servants  of  God  and  be  redeemed  by  Christ,  Gen.  Houston's  whole 
soul  appeared  to  be  absorbed  in  the  contemplation.  He,  too,  became  a  sincere 
believer  in  that  same  Redeemer. 

"  It  was  his  practice,  as  intimated,  to  spend  his  Sabbath  afternoons  in  writing 
to  his  wife,  not  only  incidents  of  the  week,  but  abstracts  of  the  sermons  that  he 
heard.  Often  her  replies,  sometimes  commenting  on  the  doctrine,  often  urging 
the  exhortation  of  the  sermons  reported,  were  read  with  intense  interest  to  the 
pastor.  Some  of  these  are  treasured  as  instructive  and  pleasant  memories. 
Among  these  remembrances  were  comments  on  a  discourse  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Dewey  at  the  Unitarian  Church.  The  General  had  expressed  his  wish  to  gratify 
some  friends  of  Dr.  Dewey  by  hearing  once,  at  least,  this  great  and  cultured 
expounder  of  the  history  and  moral  lessons  of  Jesus  as  an  unequaled  human 
teacher.  No  mind  could  have  better  discriminated  than  his  did,  between  the 
excellence  and  value  of  all  that  was  urged  by  the  preacher,  and  that  omitted 
"truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,"  on  which  he  could  alone  rely  as  his  own  personal  hope 
of  redemption. 

"  His  reading  became  more  and  more  decidedly  religious  ;  and  what  he  had 
found  valuable  to  himself  he  was  fond  of  imparting  to  others.  He  early  ex- 
pressed a  wibh  to  obtain  a  copy  of  '  Nelson  on  Infidelity,'  of  which  he  had  heard 
as  eminently  adapted  to  men  of  his  caste  of  mind.  Its  perusal  so  met  his  own 
intellectual  demands,  that  he  sought,  through  the  same  source,  several  copies  for 
distribution  to  some  of  his  special  friends,  whose  religious  views  he  thought 
needed  such  an  aid.  At  another  time  he  procured  several  copies  of  the  '  West- 
ern Sketch-Book,'  and  'Adam  and  David,'  by  Rev.  Mr.  Gallagher,  the  eloquent 
and  devoted  Presbyterian  pioneer  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  whose  subsequent 


Test  of  Houston's  Christian  Conversion.         243 

service  as  Chaplain  of  the  House  of  Representatives  was  so  blest  to  many.  One 
set  of  these  volumes,  elegantly  bound,  he  presented  to  his  attached  Washington 
pastor;  whom,  for  years  before  his  public  Christian  profession,  he  always  called 
'brother.'  On  another  occasion,  to  aid  his  own  Bible  study,  as  well  as  to  facili- 
tate that  of  those  whom  he  most  esteemed,  he  bought  three  copies  of  that  ex- 
pensive work,  '  West's  Analysis  of  the  Bible,'  one  of  which  volumes  he  presented 
to  his  wife's  pastor  in  Texas,  and  a  second  to  his  own  pastor  at  Washington. 

"  During  the  session  of  1854  he  expressed  his  conviction  that  he  ought  to  make 
a  profession  of  leligion,  by  the  public  ordinance  of  baptism.  The  question  was 
debated  whether  he  ought  to  receive  this  rite,  and  make  that  public  consecration 
in  the  presence  of  his  associates  in  Congress  at  Washington,  or  amid  his  family 
and  early  companions  in  his  Texan  home.  The  scale  turned  in  favor  of  the 
latter  suggestion. 

"  On  his  return  to  Congress  the  next  winter,  many  eyes  were  on  .him  ;  and  the 
tests  of  his  thorough  and  fixed  devotion  of  himself  to  God  were  anxiously  looked 
for  by  his  pastor.  They  became  at  once  apparent,  and  remained  immovable. 
Calling  early  after  his  arrival  to  see  him,  an  hour  was  spent  in  conversation  on 
his  profession,  and  the  grounds  which  had  led  to  it.  On  rising  to  leave,  the 
pastor  was  followed  as  usual  to  the  door,  and,  as  often  happened,  the  General 
asked :  'Brother  S.,  is  there  anything  I  can  do  for  you?'  his  reference  being  to 
claims  of  humanity,  sometimes  presented  to  him.  The  reply  was,  'No,  General, 
I  have  no  tax  upon  you  at  present.'  Immediately,  however,  the  recollection  was 
awakened  that  the  next  Sabbath  was  the  season  for  the  Lord's  supper,  and  that 
with  one  of  the  leading  brethren  of  the  church,  General  Houston  had  formerly 
a  trying,  and  yet  unsettled  controversy,  in  his  official  capacity  as  the  head  of  a 
Senate  Committee.  At  once,  prompted  by  the  recollection,  the  pastor  added, 
still  holding  his  hand,  '  General,  I  recall  that  statement  in  part ;  I  have  nothing 
to  ask  of  you  as  a  man,  but  I  have  something  to  ask  of  you  as  a  Christian  pastor.' 
Fixing  his  keen  eye,  as  he  looked  down  upon  mine,  he  meekly  but  firmly  asked, 
'  What  is  it,  brother  S.  ? '  '  General,'  was  the  reply,  '  you  know  the  alienation  be- 
tween you  and  brother  W.  You  will  meet  at  the  Lord's  supper  next  Sabbath 
evening ;  you  ought  not  to  meet  till  that  difficulty  is  settled.  Now  I  wish  you, 
after  service  on  Sunday  morning,  to  let  me  bring  you  two  together,  and  with- 
out a  word  of  attempt  at  justification  on  either  side,  I  wish  you  to  take  him  by 
the  hand,  and  say  with  all  your  heart,  that  you  will  forgive  and  forget  and  bury 
the  past,  and  that  you  wish  him  to  do  the  same,  and  hereafter  to  meet  you  as 
brothers  in  Christ.'  The  fire  began  to  glow  in  his  eyes,  his  brow  to  knit,  his  teeth 
to  clench,  and  his  whole  frame  shook  with  the  struggle  of  the  old  man  within 
him  ;  but  in  an  instant,  the  man  whose  passion  had  been  terrible,  indeed  ungov- 
ernable on  so  many  a  bloody  battle-field,  was. changed  from  the  lion  into  the 
lamb.  He  meekly  replied,  '  Brother  S.,  I  will  do  it.'  And,  what  he  promised 
was  done,  and  in  an  air  of  majestic  frankness  and  nobleness  of  soul,  such  as 
moved  every  beholder.  From  that  hour  I  never  have  doubted  that  General 
Houston  was  a  man  renewed  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  Many  a  time  the  Christian  pastor  is  asked  if  he  thinks  such  and  such  an  one"' 
baptized  and  received  into  the  fellowship  of  the  church,  perhaps  a  playful  child, 
a  pleasure-loving' youth,  a  morose  head  of  a  family,  a  miserly  business  man,  can 
be  a  Christian.  If  such  men  as  Jephthah  and  Samson  and  David  and  Solomon 
could  be  true  servants  of  God,  because  saved  by  faith,  not  by  works  of  right- 


•244  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

eousness,  then  such  men  as  Sam  Houston  give  the  strongest  of  all  test  jnony 
that  they  are  born  of  God.  The  pastor,  the  wife,  see  that  life  hidden  with  Christ 
in  God,  shining  out  so  often  and  so  brightly,  that  they  can  not  err  in  judgment. 
The  world,  and  even  the  mass  of  Christians  who  see  only  occasional  exhibitions 
of  Christian  principle,  seldom  called  out  in  the  routine  of  busy  life,  should  trust 
these  better  judges.  The  angels  see  more  clearly  ;  they  know  who  truly  repents, 
and  they  rejoice  over  him  ;  they  come  when  he  dies  to  bear  him  to  their  home ; 
and  they  will  gather  all  such  with  unerring  certainty  into  one  band,  in  the  day 
of  the  revelation  of  God's  righteous  judgment.  It  is  more  than  a  hope,  it  is  the 
intelligent  confidence  of  his  long-attached  pastor,  that  Sam  Houston  will  be 
there  found  among  that  band. 

"  I  am,  your  brother,  G.  W.  SAMSON." 

An  interesting  incident  in  the  religious  life  of  Gen.  Sam  Hous- 
ton is  subjoined,  furnished  by  Rev.  George  W.  Baines,  of  Salado, 
Texas  : 

"  When  Gen.  Houston  made  a  public  profession  of  religion  I  was  living  at 
Anderson,  in  Grimes  County,  Texas,  and  serving  the  church  at  Brenham, 
Washington  County.  I  heard  of  the  revival  meeting  at  Independence,  where 
Gen.  Houston  then  lived,  and  of  his  conversion.  On  my  way  to  Brenham,  on 
Friday,  I  went  by  Independence,  and  rode  up  to  the  General's  gate  about  dusk. 
Sister  Houston  saw  me,  and  came  out  to  meet  me,  evidently  excited,  and  ex- 
claimed :  '  Oh,  Bro.  Baines,  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you.  Gen.  Houston  has  professed 
religion,  but  says  he  can  not  join  the  church,  and  I  wart  you  to  talk  to  him 
about  it,  for  I  know  he  has  the  greatest  confidence  in  your  knowledge  of  such 
things.  Communion  is  his  difficulty.  He  says  he  can  never  take  the  com- 
munion elements,  because,  while  he  thinks  he  is  a  Christian,  yet  he  may  be  mis- 
taken, and  if  he  should  be,  then  by  eating  and  drinking  unworthily  his  damna- 
tion would  be  sealed.'  She  further  said  that  brother  Burleson  and  others  had 
tried  to  satisfy  him,  but  had  failed,  and  she  was  very  anxious  for  him  to  see  me. 
He  was  gone  to  the  meeting,  and  I  did  not  see  him  until  we  met  at  the  table 
next  morning.  There  he  proposed  to  ride  with  me  on  my  way  to  Brenham, 
which  he  did.  On  our  way  he  said  to  me :  '  My  wife  and  other  friends  seem 
anxious  for  me  to  join  the  church,  and  I  would  do  so  if  I  could.  But  with  my 
present  convictions,  which  I  received  when  a  boy,  it  is  impossible.'  I  then 
asked  him  to  state  his  convictions,  which  he  did  as  follows  ;  said  he  :  '  When  I 
was  quite  young  I  went  with  my  mother  to  the  Presbyterian  church,  of  which 
she  was  a  member.  It  was  a  communion  season,  and  the  great  Dr.  Blackburn 
preached.  During  the  communion  service  he  quoted  the  passage  in  Corinthians 
which  sets  forth  the  fearful  danger  of  eating  and  drinking  unworthily,  and  urged 
the  awful  necessity  that  each  one  of  the  communicants  should  be  very  careful 
in  examining  himself  lest  he  should  not  really  be  in  the  faith — not  be  a  real 
Christian — and  therefore  not  be  worthy  to  eat  the  emblems  of  the  sacred  body 
and  blood  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  he  told  them  plainly  that  if  they  should  thus 
eat  and  drink  unworthily  they  would  thereby  seal  their  damnation  forever. 
Now,'  said  Gen.  Houston  to  me,  'while  I  enjoy  a  sweet  peace  of  mind  in  be- 
lieving in  the  Lord  Jesus  as  my  Saviour,  yet  I  know  it  is  possible  that  I  may  be 
mistaken  in  this  matter.  And  if  I  should  be,  then  should  I  join  the  church  and 


Misinterpretation  of  the  LorcPs  Supper.  245 

commune  unworthily,  there  would  be  no  possibility  ever  to  correct  the  sad  and 
awful  mistake.'  Then  said  I,  '  Well,  General,  I  see  your  difficulty,  and  it  is  a 
very  reasonable  one  as  you  see  it.  But  I  think  I  can  show  you  that  it  has  no 
scriptural  foundation  at  all.  First,- allow  me  to  say  that  I  have  not  the  least 
shadow  of  doubt  as  to  your  honesty  in  your  statement  of  what  Dr.  Blackburn 
said.  But  yet  I  think  it  possible  that  you  misunderstood  him.  But  upon  the 
ground  that  you  are  correct  in  your  statement,  I  think  I  can  so  present  the  doc- 
trine of  the  passage  referred  to  that  if  you  will  read  it  over  carefully  you  will  see 
that  Dr.  Blackburn  made  a  fearful  mistake  in  his  exegesis.  He  missed  entirely 
the  true  teaching  of  the  inspired  apostle.'  Then  I  told  him  that  I  understood 
the  apostle  to  administer  a  rebuke  to  the  Corinthian  brethren'  for  their  observ- 
ance of  the  ordinance  in  that  they  made  it  a  feast,  and  ate  and  drank  to  gratify 
their  natural  appetites,  instead  of  remembering  and  discerning  the  Lord's  body 
as  He  had  directed  them  to  do.  He  reminds  them  also  of  the  true  nature  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  that  he  had  received  it  of  the  Lord  Jesus  just  as  he  delivered 
it  to  them  with  the  law  governing  it  as  a  Christian  ordinance  and  duty.  But 
they  by  their  perversion  had  so  changed  it  that  when  they  came  together  it  was 
not  to  eat  the  Lord's  supper,  and  thus  show  forth  His  death  as  His  law  of  the 
ordinance  required  them  to  do.  So  they  violated  this  law,  and  thereby  brought 
upon  themselves  the  condemnation  of  this  law  governing  this  holy  ordinance. 
Then  I  think  that  the  question  in  the  mind  of  the  apostle  was  one  of  manner,  as 
indicated  by  the  word  unworthily,  which  is  an  adverb  of  manner,  and  describes, 
not  their  faith  in  Christ,  or  relationship  as  Christians  to  Christ,  but  the  manner 
in  which  they  discharged  their  duty,  in  eating  and  drinking  the  emblems  of  His 
body.  Therefore,  when  the  apostle  says,  '  Let  a  man  examine  himself,  and  so 
let  him  eat,'  I  do  not  believe  he  had  any  reference  to  the  question  of  their  being 
Christians,  or  to  the  laws  governing  that  matter ;  but  reference  alone  to  the  law 
governing  their  ordinance,  and  the  questions  of  right  views,  motives,  and  pur- 
poses, as  set  forth  in  that  law.  If  this  be  so,  then  the  danger  against  which  the 
apostle  cautioned  the  Corinthians  was  not  that  eating  and  drinking  unworthily 
would  be  a  violation  of  the  law  governing  their  Christian  existence  or  being, 
but  such  unworthy  acts  would  be  a  violation  of  the  law  of  this  ordinance  which 
governs  their  well-being,  happiness,  and  usefulness  as  Christians  in  a  very  great 
degree.  '  Thus/  said  I  to  the  General,  '  you  see  why  I  said  that  Dr.  B.  made  a 
fearful  mistake,  perverting  entirely  the  true  doctrine  of  the  passage  to  which  he 
referred.'  '  Yes,'  said  the  General,  '  I  see  it  clearly,  and  now  I  will  return  home 
arid  read  that  chapter  carefully.  Your  views  are  new  to  me,  but  they  seem  to 
be  very  reasonable,  and  I  thank  you  for  them.'  We  .then  parted.  I  went  on  to 
my  appointment.  He  returned,  read  the  Sci  iptures  mentioned,  and  joined  the 
Church." 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

ANECDOTES— INTERESTING  LETTER  OF  GEN.  E.  G.  W.  BUTLER. 

\1  UMEROUS  anecdotes  affecting  public  affairs  and  private  indi- 
1M  viduals  are  related,  of  which  Gen.  Houston  is  the  central 
figure.  Many  of  them  indicate  the  bitter  satire,  the  caustic  sar- 
casm which  sometimes  escaped  him  when  a  sense  of  wrong  or  in- 
justice was  apparent.  A  few  of  those  only  should  find  a  place  in 
this  memoir. 

Two  of  these  are  taken  from  Hon.  Ashbel  Smith's  "  Reminis- 
cences of  the  Texas  Republic."  They  are  given  in  Col.  Smith's 
own  vigorous  and  classical  language.  It  is  illustrative  of  the  times 
of  the  first  administration  of  President  Houston  : 

"  San  Antonio  was  much  the  largest,  richest,  most  influential  city 
of  Texas  of  that  period.  It  was  remote  from  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. There  was  no  intervening  population  between  it  and  the 
Mexican  frontier.  For  its  protection,  and  that  of  the  country,  a 
considerable  squadron  of  cavalry  was  stationed  in  that  city.  This 
squadron  was,  indeed,  the  only  military  of  Texas  kept  mobilized 
that  was  ready  to  take  the  field.  Major  Western,  who  commanded 
this  body  of  cavalry,  had  by  some  acts  and  significant  innuendoes 
intimated  that  he  cared  very  little  for  the  one  horse  Government  in 
the  city  of  Houston.  President  Houston  was  apprehensive  that  an 
order  to  recall  the  Major,  or  to  relieve  him,  might  be  disobeyed. 
It  was  announced  publicly  that  a  Minister  would  be  appointed  to 
represent  Texas  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  Col.  Wm.  H.  Patton 
was  going  to  San  Antonio  on  his  own  private  business.  President 
Houston,  in  a  long  and  friendly  conversation  with  Col.  Patton,  at 
length  adverted  as  by  accident  to  the  proposed  mission  to  Eng- 
land. He  spoke  of  Major  Western,  lauded  his  polished  manners, 
his  courtly  address,  his  diplomatic  ability,  said  the  Major  strongly 
reminded  him  of  Mr.  Van  Buren,  asked  Col.  Patton  what  he 
thought  of  the  appointment  of  Major  Western  for  this  mission. 
All  this  he  begged  Col.  Patton  to  hold  in  strict  confidence. 
Nothing  was  absolutely  determined  on.  '  Col.  Patton  need  not  be 
surprised  at  anything.'  The  President,  waiting  till  he  heard  of 
Col.  Patton's  safe  arrival  in  San  Antonio,  sent  through  the  War 
Department  orders  to  Major  Western  to  report  in  person  at  the  seat 
(246) 


Houston's   Wit  and  Strategy.  247 

of  government.  The  Major  presented  himself  in  Houston,  radiant 
and  decorous  as  Titus  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  Legions,  organ* 
ized  for  the  conquest  of  Jerusalem.  Time  rolled  on.  The  Major 
became  visibly  impatient,  despite  the  gracious  accord  with  which 
President  Houston  greeted  him.  At  length  he  began  to  inquire 
very  quietly  who  was  to  be  appointed  to  England.  He  inquired 
of  your  speaker,  who  was  a  member  of  Houston's  staff,  but  Ashbel 
Smith  '  knew  nothing  of  Cabinet  matters  ;  he  was  not  a  member 
of  the  Cabinet.'  Finally  instructions  were  being  made  out  in  the 
State  Department,  and  Gen.  J.  Pinckney  Henderson  was  making 
preparations  to  leave  for  London.  The  rumor  leaked  out.  '  The 
Major  would  not  believe  it.'  '  President  Houston  had  better  judg- 
ment of  men.'  'What  did  Henderson  know  of  diplomacy?'  The 
appointment  of  Gen.  Henderson  became  an  established  fact.  The 
Major  was  disgusted.  '  He  would  go  back  to  San  Antonio,'  and  so  he 
did,  but  he  found  his  successor  there  well  established  in  command 
of  the  cavalry.  Referring  to  this  matter  at  the  time,  Gen.  Houston 
said  to  your  speaker  that  he  would  have  no  pronunciamentos  of 
the  Mexican  fashion  in  Texas  during  his  Presidency.  During  his 
second  Presidency  he  had  to  confront  and  ward  off  the  far  more 
perilous  danger  of  two  pronunciamentos  which  were  threatened, 
and  which  might  have  proved  disastrous  but  for  his  consummate 
tact  in  charming  them  down.  Recurring  to  the  incident  just  re- 
lated, Gen.  Houston  at  a  subsequent  time  provided  comfortably 
for  his  disappointed  old  friend,  the  Major,  by  placing  him  at  the 
head  of  the  Indian  Bureau." 

While  the  subject  of  annexation  was  still  unsettled,  Col.  Smith 
says  further  that :  "An  incident  which  then  occurred  is  not  with- 
out signification  as  to  the  opinions  he  then  pondered  over.  He 
was  leaving  Washington  on  the  Brazos  for  Eastern  Texas  one 
morning  in  February,  1845.  He  came  into  my  room,  booted, 
spurred,  whip  in  hand.  Said  he  :  '  Saxe  Weimar  (the  name  of  his 
saddle-horse)  is  at  the  door,  saddled.  I  have  come  to  leave  Hous- 
ton's last  words  with  you.  If  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
shall  not  by  the  fourth  of  March  pass  some  measure  of  annexation 
which  Texas  can  with  honor  accede  to,  Houston  will  take  the 
stump  against  annexation  for  all  time  to  come.'  When  he  wished 
to  be  emphatic  he  spoke  of  himself  by  name,  Houston  in  the  third 
person.  Without  another  word,  embracing  after  his  fashion,  he 
mounted,  and  left." 

"  At  one  period  the  war  fever  ran  very  high,  and  on  one  occasion 
a  committee  of  gallant  gentlemen  waited  on  Houston,  asking  his 
advice  and  co-operation,  and  they  requested  him  to  address  our 
fellow-citizens  in  this  sense.  He  made  a  public  speech,  which  he 


248  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

concluded  with  advice,  as  he  had  been  desired  to  give  it.  This  ad- 
vice was  in  two  words,  '  Plant  corn.' " 

Many  traditionary  stories  are  current  illustrative  of  his  wit,  his 
aJlroit  cuts  upon  individuals  offensive  to  him,  and  his  opinions  of 
men  and  measures  ;  but  their  record  will  not  serve  to  enhance  his 
fame,  and  may  embitter  feelings  which  time  has  soothed,  and  time 
will  let  die.  There  is,  however,  one  told  by  the  late  Col.  James  W. 
Scott,  a  member  of  his  staff,  and  his  devoted  friend,  which  may  be 
taken  as  a  specimen  of  numerous  others  of  similar  character. 

Living  on  the  road  to  Austin,  whither  he  and  his  staff  had  to 
pass  for  his  inauguration  the  second  time  into  the  Presidency,  was 
a  man  who  was  much  embittered  against  Houston,  although  he 
had  never  seen  him,  and  who  had  said  that  he  would  kill  Gen. 
Houston  if  he  should  ever  see  him.  The  members  of  the  staff 
were  warned  not  to  allow  Gen.  Houston  to  call  or  stop  at  this 
man's  house, — a  suitable  stopping-place  otherwise  after  a  day's  ride. 
Having  traveled  most  of  the  day,  and  time  for  stopping  nearly 
arrived,  Gen.  Houston  and  his  party  approached  this  man's  house. 
Calling  to  his  staff,  the  General  said  :  "  We  have  traveled  far 
enough  ;  here  is  a  good  stopping-place  ;  let  us  see  if  we  can  not 
obtain  quarters  here  for  the  night."  The  gentlemen  of  the  staff 
remonstrated  with  him,  telling  him  what  they  had  heard  of  this 
man.  "Well, "'said  Houston,  "this  is  the  right  place  at  which  to 
stop.  We  will  stop  here."  The  staff  knew  that  there  could  be  no 
successful  resistance  to  his  will  once  formed,  and  they  determined 
to  await  in  perfect  silence  the  issue.  Riding  up  to  the  entrance  of 
the  house,  Gen.  Houston  inquired  of  the  man  in  front  if  he  and 
his  party  could  be  entertained  for  the  night.  He  was  courteously 
answered  in  the  affirmative  ;  thereupon  he  and  his  staff  proceeded 
to  store  their  luggage  on  the  portico,  and  send  their  horses  to  the 
stable.  The  staff  superintended  this  business,  while  Gen.  Houston 
seated  himself  on  the  portico.  Observing  some  children,  he  called 
them  up,  commenced  telling  them  some  stories,  and  soon  had  them 
hanging  'around  his  chair,  gazing  wistfully  into  his  face,  seeking 
more  stories.  Shortly  afterward  the  lady  of  the  house  made  her 
appearance,  and  the  owner  of  the  place  also  gathered  near,  and 
when  the  staff,  returned  from  looking  after  the  horses,  they  found, 
to  their  amazement  and  consternation,  the  whole  household  fasci- 
nated by  Houston's  conversation.  Supper  was  announced,  but  just 
as  the  master  of  the  house  was  about  to  serve  his  guests  from  the 
dish  before  him,  Houston  touched  his  arm,  and  said  :  "  My  friend, 
although  I  do  not  profess  religion  [at  that  time  the  General  had 
not  joined  the  church],  still  I  always  ask  God's  blessing  when  I 
partake  of  His  bounty.  Allow  me  to  ask  a  blessing."  "  Certainly, 


Houston's  Conquests  by  Kindness.  249 

sir,"  said  the  master  of  the  house,  who  by  this  time  was  completely 
under  the  spell  of  Houston's  magnetic  presence,  "  ask  a  blessing." 
He  asked  the  blessing,  talked  cheerfully  while  eating,  telling 
agreeable  incidents,  quite  captivating  the  man,  his  lady,  and  their 
children.  Supper  over,  conversation  ensued  until  it  was  near  the 
usual  bed-time,  and  the  man  suggested  that  "  Rooms  were  ready, 
if  the  gentlemen  were  desirous  of  retiring."  "Well,"  said  Gen. 
Houston,  "  have  you  a  Bible  ?  It  is  always  my  habit  to  read  a 
portion  of  Scripture  before  I  retire."  The  lady  of  the  ho,use  was 
only  too  glad  to  get  something  done  which  looked  like  religion  in 
the  house,  and  she  soon  procured  a  Bible.  Houston  read  a  brief, 
familiar  passage,  and  made  some  appropriate  comments  thereon, 
then  observed  :  "  Having  done  all  I  do  usually  at  home,  we  are 
ready  to  retire."  He  and  his  staff  retired,  without  exchanging 
words.  In  the  morning,  at  breakfast,  he  again  asked  a  blessing. 
After  breakfast  the  staff  proceeded  to  get  up  the  teams  for  travel, 
while  Gen.  Houston  still  conversed  with  the  family.  The  horses 
ready,  and  before  any  settlement  had  been  made,  one  of  the  staff 
stepped  forward,  and  said,  forgetting  the  injunction,  "  General,  we 
are  ready  to  start."  The  man  looked  up,  startled,  and  inquired, 
"  General !  Who  ? "  "  General  Houston,"  said  the  General, "  Houston 
himself."  "Are  you  General  Houston?"  said  the  amazed  man. 
Without  the  slightest  exhibition  of  concern,  Houston  replied,  "I 
am,  sir."  "Well,"  said  the  entertainer,  "I  have  always  said  I 
would  kill  you  on  sight ;  but,  sir,  any  man  that  can  talk  to  my  wife 
and  children  as  you  have  talked,  ask  such  a  blessing  on  the  meals, 
read  the  Bible,  and  comment  on  it,  as  you  have  done,  is  always 
welcome  to  my  house."  "Well,"  says  General  Houston,  "what 
must  we  pay  you  for  your  trouble  and  hospitality  ? "  "  Nothing, 
sir.  You  and  your  staff  can  call  as  often  as  you  please.  From  this 
time  on  I  shall  be  a  Houston  man."  And  Col.  Scott  said  that  man 
was  an  inflexible  friend  of  Gen.  Houston  ever  afterward. 

"  ST.  Louis,  Mo.,  April  9,  1881. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  At  the  instance  of  our  learned  friend,  the  Rev.  G.  \V.  Sam- 
son, of  New  York,  '  the  pastor  of  Sam  Houston  '  while  a  United  States  Senator, 
I  sit  down  to  write  to  you  concerning  our  early  association  and  correspondence, 
and  the  annexation  of  Texas. 

"  When,  in  1816,  I  was  appointed  a  cadet  in  the  United  States  Military  Acade- 
my, by  request  of  Andrew  Jackson,  my  guardian,  Houston  was  a  lieutenant  in 
the  First  Infantry,  and  on  duty  in  the  Adjutant-General's  office  of  the  Southern 
Division,  commanded  by  Maj.-Gen.  Andrew  Jackson,  and  of  which  Col.  Robert 
Butler,  my  gallant  cousin,  was  Adjutant-General.  He  resigned  his  commission 
March  i,  1818,  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1823,  and  being  then  a  Lieutenant  of 
Artillery,  on  topographical  service  in  Washington,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  again 
meeting  my  old  friend.  I  soon  discovered  that  he  had  lost  none  of  his  eccen- 


250  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

tricities.  He  made  me  accompany  him  to  every  hat  store  in  Washington  in 
search  of  a  hat  with  '  a  very  narrow  rim  ';  and,  finally,  to  the  Capitol,  to  select 
his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

"  After  having  selected  his  seat,  as  he  imagined,  he  turned  to  me,  and  re- 
marked :  '  Now,  Butler,  I  am  a  Member  of  Congress,  and  I  will  show  Mr.  Cal- 
houn  that  I  have  not  forgotten  his  insult  to  me  when  a  poor  lieutenant.' 

"When  a  lieutenant,  he  once  went  to  Washington  in  charge  of  an  Indian 
delegation,  dressed,  as  was  his  wont,  in  Indian  costume.  For  this  Mr.  Calhoun, 
then  Secretary  of  War,  reproved  him,  and  he  never  forgot  nor  forgave  him. 

"  You,  sir,  and  your  good  friend  Dr.  Samson,  know  more  than  I  do  of  his 
after  and  remarkable  career — his  election  as  Governor  of  Tennessee  ;  his  first 
and  unfortunate  marriage  ;  his  resignation  and  sojourn  among  the  Cherokee  In- 
dians ;  and  his  advent  to  Texas.  I  will  therefore  conclude  with  a  few  remarks 
upon  the  '  re-annexation  of  Texas,'  as  Robert  J.  Walker  termed  it,  and  Hous- 
ton's connection  therewith  ;  and  with  reference  to  the  advance  of  Gen.  Taylor's 
army  into  Mexico,  concerning  which  I,  then  a  private  citizen  of  Louisiana,  exer- 
cised no  little  influence. 

"  You  recollect  President  Van  Buren's  rejection  of  President  Houston's  proffer 
of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the  United  States  for  the  alleged  reason,  '  We 
already  have  elements  of  strife  enough,  and  when  the  fruit  is  ripe,  it  will  fall 
into  our  lap  ';  but  really  from  sectional  motives,  for  which  Robert  J.  Walker,  the 
able  champion  of  annexation,  defeated  his  renomination  to  the  Presidency  by 
springing  the  '  two-thirds  rule '  upon  him. 

"  Years  passed  away ;  Houston  had  been  succeeded  as  President  of  Texas  by 
Jones,  and  Van  Buren  as  President  of  the  United  States  by  Harrison,  and,  at 
his  death,  by  Tyler,  when,  in  1844,  my  old  friend  and  West  Point  classmate, 
Andrew  Jackson  Donelson,  was  sent  as  charge"  d'affaires  to  Texas,  to  negotiate 
a  '  Treaty  of  Annexation.'  Finding  Houston  violently  opposed  to  it,  and  Jones 
consequently  indisposed  or  indifferent,  Donelson  induced  him  to  convene  the 
Texan  Congress,  believing  it  and  the  people  to  be  in  favor  of  it. 

"  During  the  interval,  Donelson  came  to  me  at  my  plantation  in  the  parish  ol 
Iberville,  Louisiana.  He  read  to  me  his  correspondence  with  the  Texan  Gov- 
ernment, and  its  apparent  indifference ;  of  his  visit  to  Houston,  in  the  interior, 
and  his  indignation  toward  Van  Buren,  and  consequent  opposition  to  the  pro- 
posed treaty;  and,  finally,  remarked  that  Houston  seemed  to  be  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Elliott  and  Saligny,  the  English  and  French  representatives  near  the 
Government  of  Texas,  who  were  endeavoring  to  defeat  annexation,  and  to  ne- 
gotiate treaties  of  commerce  or  alliance,  '  offensive  and  defensive/  with  the  Gov- 
ernments of  England  and  France. 

"  I  therefore  advised  him  to  return  at  once  to  Texas,  to  appeal  to  the  people, 
many  of  whom  he  knew,  and  to  use  every  means  in  his  power  to  counteract  the 
efforts  of  Elliott  and  Saligny.  He  returned  immediately  to  the  seat  of  the  Texas 
Government ;  and,  a  few  days  after  his  arrival,  Capt.  Elliott  was  holding  forth 
at  one  end  of  the  dinner-table  of  the  hotel  against  annexation,  in  a  loud  voice, 
when  Donelson,  who  sat  at  the  other  end,  remarked,  in  an  equally  loud  voice, 
'  Captain  Elliott,  I  think  you  are  making  a  fool  of  yourself,'  That  finished  the 
cause  of  the  gallant  captain  ;  for  any  one  who  knows  a  Texan  can  imagine  the 
effect  upon  those  present  of  Donelson's  remark. 

"  In  the  meantime  I  went  to  the  '  Hermitage,'  at  the  request  of  my  venerable 


Houston's  "Coquetting"  witli  France  and  England.  251 

friend  and  godfather,  Andrew  Jackson,  to  take  a  final  and  sad  leave  of  him ;  and 
annexation  and  Houston  were  his  constant  theme.  Soon  after  my  return  to  my 
plantation,  the  papers  announced  that  Gen.  Houston  would  be  in  New  Orleans 
on  a  certain  day,  on  his  way  to  the  '  Hermitage/  to  take  leave  of  his  dying 
friend.  Knowing  that  he  would  reach  that  city  the  evening  before  the  '  annex- 
ation  meeting  at  the  Arcade/  I  wrote  to  him  as  follows,  and  my  letter  may  be 
among  his  papers  :  '  My  dear  General,  allow  me  to  recall  myself  to  your  remem- 
brance by  informing  you  that  I  have  just  returned  from  a  pilgrimage  to  the  "  Her- 
mitage," to  take  a  final  and  sad  leave  of  our  dear  old  friend ;  and  his  parting  in- 
quiry of  me,  ir^ regard  to  annexation,  was,  "Edward,  what  will  Houston  do?  " 
It  is  owing  to  my  inability  to  answer  that  question  that  I  now  address  you  ;  and 
it  can  not  be  possible  that  a  native  of  Virginia  and  a  citizen  of  Tennessee  can 
have  so  far  forgotten  what  is  due  to  himself  and  his  country  as  to  lend  himself 
for  an  instant  to  the  representatives  of  Englartd  and  France/ 

"  That  there  might  be  no  mistake,  I  gave  the  letter  to  Capt.  Hart,  who,  the 
day  following,  assured  me  that  he  placed  it  in  Gen.  Houston's  hands ;  and  after 
several  speeches  had  been  made  at  the  'Arcade  meeting'  in  favor  of  annexation, 
Gen.  Houston  was  called  for,  when,  after  some  prefatory  remarks,  he  said  :  '  My 
friends,  I  have  been  accused  of  lending  myself  to  England  and  France  ;  but,  I 
assure  you,  I  have  been  only  coquetting  with  them/  He  proceeded  to  the 
'  Hermitage/  and  returned  through  Alabama,  making  speeches  on  his  way  in 
favor  of  annexation  ;  and  it  became  a  fixed  fact. 

"  Toward  the  close  of  President  Tyler's  administration,  Maj.  Donelson  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  Democratic  Convention  at  Baltimore  from  Tennessee, 
and  I  from  Louisiana,  when  Gen.  Jackson  wrote  to  me,  requesting  me  to  go  by 
the  way  of  the  '  Hermitage/  as  he  wished  Maj.  Donelson  and  myself  to  go  on 
together.  I  could  not  attend  the  Convention,  which  repudiated  Van  Buren,  and 
nominated  Polk  for  President.  During  Maj.  Donelson 's  visit  to  me,  I  in- 
quired as  to  the  General's  object  in  wishing  us  to  go  together.  He  seemed  sur- 
prised at  the  inquiry,  and  replied  :  '  Made  sure  that  Mr.  Van  Buren's  rejection  of 
Texas  had  put  an  end  to  his  pretensions,  and  he  wished  to  direct  our  attention 
to  Mr.  Polk ';  and  when  I  inquired  of  him  at  parting,  '  In  case  we  can  not  nomi- 
nate our  friend  Van  Buren,  what  shall  I  do  ?  '  he  replied  :  '  Throw  your  friend 
overboard  ;  and  go  for  your  country/ 

"  Now,  my  dear  sir,  in  view  of  the  part  which  you  see  I  took  in  the  annex- 
ation of  Texas,  that  which  I  took  in  causing  the  forward  movement  of  Gen. 
Taylor's  army  into  Mexico,  forms  a  somewhat  strange  coincidence. 

"When  my  brave  and  patriotic  old  friend  Gen.  Taylor,  after  the  brilliant 
affairs  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  la  Paltna,  sat  down  for  weeks  at  Matamoras, 
knowing  his  want  of  self-reliance  and  the  desire  of  the  Government  that  he  should 
march  upon  Monterey,  I  wrote  to  him  to  that  effect,  and  he  responded :  '  I  have 
not  heard  from  the  Secretary  of  War  for  two  months,  and  do  not  know  the 
wishes  and  intentions  of  the  Government  in  regard  to  the  movements  of  this 
army.  If  an  advance  into  Mexico  is  intended,  Gen.  Scott,  who  knows  the 
wishes  of  the  Government,  is  the  proper  person  to  command  its  army  and  to 
carry  out  its  wishes/ 

"  Alarmed  by  the  receipt  of  even  a  letter,  and  that  after  Gen.  Scott's  refusal 
of  the  command,  from  fear  of  'a  fire  in  his  rear/  I  wrote  to  Senator  Cass,  gave 
him  an  extract  from  Gen.  Taylor's  letter,. and  begged  him  to  see  the  President 


252  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

and  Secretary  of  War  without  delay,  and  have  him  properly  advised  and  in- 
structed. 

"  Gen.  Cass  replied :  '  I  have  conferred  with  the  President  and  Secretary  of 
War,  in  conformity  to  your  request,  and  without  committing  Gen.  Taylor,  who 
has  the  entire  confidence  of  the  Government ;  and  Gen.  Taylor  has  been  fully 
advised  of  its  wishes,  and  furnished  with  the  necessary  instructions.'  "  The  result 

you  know. 

"  Faithfully  and  truly  yours,  E.  G.  M.  BUTLER." 

Not  only  in  Texas,  where  he  was  the  idol  of  "the  people,"  but  in 
Washington  and  New  York,  the  people  clustered  about  Houston  as 
a  father,  and  hundreds  were  proud  to  have  taken  his  hand,  to  have 
met  his  benign  smile,  and  to  have  received  from  him  a  word  of 
heartfelt  tenderness.  Called  in  New  York  to  take  part,  in  the 
winter  of  1853-4,  in  a  course  of  public  lectures  for  a  benevolent 
object,  inaugurated  by  J.  T.  Smith,  Esq.,  in  which  several  clever 
eminent  gentlemen  took  part,  Houston's  calm  dignity  of  manner, 
his  profound  good  sense,  and  his  overmastering  spirit  of  patriotic 
earnestness,  captivated  his  hearers.  At  church,  in  Washington,  the 
aisles  would  be  blocked  by  people  pressing  forward,  at  the  close  of 
the  service,  toward  the  pulpit,  near  which  he  always  sat ;  the 
humblest  hearer,  as  well  as  men  of  prominent  positions,  pressing 
to  exchange  greetings  with  the  hero  and  statesman  of  his  genera- 
tion. In  the  vestibule  the  colored  occupants  of  the  gallery  waited 
to  welcome  him,  and  were  eager  to  receive  his  kind  and  genuine 
expressions  of  esteem.  Those  twelve  years  in  Washington,  inter- 
spersed with  visits  farther  north,  were  full  of  incidents,  and  rich  in 
sentiments  uttered,  which  a  volume  would  not  contain.  Most  of 
all,  it  was  what  Houston  did  not  do  and  say — especially  amid  the 
exciting  scenes  attending  the  assault  on  the  Massachusetts  Senator 
— the  theme  of  excited  comment  in  public  and  private,  which 
brought  out  Houston's  greatness.  The  remark  of  the  old  Greek 
sage,  that  "  he  had  sometimes  repented  speaking,  never  keeping 
silent," — the  highest  of  all  examples,  that  of  "the  Just  One,"  con- 
demned to  death  though  faultless,  who,  when  insulted,  "yet  opened 
not  His  mouth," — these  models  of  the  most  transcendent  greatness 
thoughtful  observers  saw  often  realized  in  Sam  Houston 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

DOMESTIC  LIFE  OF  SAM  HOUSTON— MRS.  MARGARET  MOFFETTE  LEA  HOUSTON— POETR*. 

THE  early  domestic  troubles  of  the  hero  of  San  Jacinto  have 
been  briefly  detailed.     Gen.  Houston  rarely,  if  ever,  alluded  to 
them,  nor  did  he  in  anywise  reflect  upon  the  character  or  memory 
of  the  first  Mrs.  Houston. 

The  history  of  his  relations  to  the  second  Mrs.  Houston  is  alike 
honorable  to  all  parties,  and  a  noble  tribute  to  the  exalted  ex 
cellence  of  a  pure,  lovely,  well-developed  female  character. 

The  second  Mrs.  Houston,  Margaret  Moffette  Lea,  daughter  of 
Temple  and  Nancy  Lea,  was  born  in  Perry  Co.,  Alabama,  April  n, 
1819.  She -received  the  best  advantages  of  the  schools  of  Alabama, 
and  through  all  her  life  continued  to  improve  her  intellectual 
powers  by  reading  and  study.  Associating  with  the  most  culti- 
vated people  of  Alabama,  possessed  of  winning  manners  and  con- 
versational powers,  she  attracted  no  little  attention  from  men  of 
eminence  in  Church  and  State. 

She  was  a  thorough  student  of  the  Bible,  and  was  devotedly  at- 
tached to  the  principles  of  practical  Christianity.  The  writer  first 
met  her  in  Marion,  Alabama,  in  1839,  at  a  time  when  she  was  re- 
garded as  the  most  attractive  and  fascinating  young  lady  in  that 
part  of  Alabama.  She  became  a  member  of  Siloam  Baptist 
Church,  Marion,  and  was  baptized  by  Rev.  Peter  Crawford,  then 
pastor  of  that  church. 

On  a  visit  to  Mobile  she  first  met  Gen.  Houston.  He  was  at 
that  time  given  to  occasional  excesses  in  drinking,  by  which  he 
had  acquired  the  name  among  the  Indians  of  "  Big  Drunk."  His 
romantic  history,  his  brilliant  career  as  the  savior  of  Texas,  his 
commanding  figure,  winning  manners,  and  vivacious  conversation, 
won  the  heart  of  the  young  Alabamian. 

She  was  asked  by  the  writer  why  she  ran  the  risk  of  unhappi- 
ness  and  misfortune  by  consenting  to  link  her  destinies  with  those 
of  Gen.  Houston,  at  a  time  when  he  gave  way  to  such  excesses  ? 
She  replied,  that  "  not  only  had  he  won  her  heart,  but  she  had 
conceived  the  idea  that  she  could  be  the  means  of  reforming  him, 
and  she  meant  to  devote  herself  to  the  work." 

(253) 


251  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

According  to  her  wishes,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  her  friends, 
she  was  married  to  Gen.  Sam  Houston  in  Marion,  Alabama,  May 
9th,  1840. 

It  was  not  long  before  her  influence  induced  him  to  give  up 
strong  drink,  to  which  he  never  returned. 

"  There  is  a  sorrow  which  even  the  hero  can  not  bear.  The 
storms  of  life  may  beat  against  the  frail  dwelling  of  man  as  wildly 
as  they  will,  and  the  proud  and  the  generous  heart  may  still  with- 
stand the  blast.  But  when  the  poisoned  shaft  of  disappointment 
strikes  the  bosom  where  all  we  love  or  live  for  is  treasured,  the 
fruit  of  this  world  turns  to  ashes,  and  the  charm  of  life  is  broken. 
Then  it  is  that,  often,  reason  and  bliss  take  their  flight  together." 

When  this  dark  cloud  fell  over  the  path  of  Houston,  he  buried 
his  sorrows  in  the  flowing  bowl.  His  indulgences  began  with  the 
wreck  of  his  hopes,  and,  like  many  noble  and  generous  spirits,  rie 
gave  himself  up  to  the  fatal  enchantress.  But  his  excesses  were 
exaggerated  a  hundredfold.  We  believe  no  man  can  say  that  he 
ever  saw  Houston  rendered  incompetent,  by  any  indulgence,  to 
perform  any  offices  of  private  or  public  life  a  single  hour.  But  the 
days  of  his  indulgences  passed  away.  When  the  sunlight  of  do 
mestic  happiness  again  shone  through  his  dwelling,  and  he  was 
sustained  once  more  by  that  great  conservative  principle  of  a 
man's  life,  a  happy  home,  illumined  by  the  smile  of  an  affectionate 
and  devoted  wife,  his  good  angel  came  back,  and  for  years  no  man 
was  more  exemplary  in  all  the  duties  and  all  the  virtues  of  the 
citizen,  the  father,  and  the  husband.  From  that  moment  he  es- 
poused the  great  cause  of  virtue  and  temperance  with  all  the  ear- 
nestness of  his  nature.  Whenever  an  opportunity  presented  itself, 
he  has  eloquently  spoken,  in  public  and  in  private,  in  favor  of  that 
beneficent  movement  which  has  restored  many  thousands  of  gener 
ous  but  misguided  men  to  the  long-abandoned  embraces  of  weeping 
families,  and  to  the  nobler  duties  of  citizenship.  And  who  could 
better  tell  the  horrors  and  woes  of  the  poor  inebriate's  life  than  the 
man  who  had  experienced  them  ?  Who  could  more  eloquently  and 
winningly  woo  back  the  wanderer  to  the  fold  of  virtue  than  he  who 
had  just  returned  to  its  hallowed  enclosure  ?  Blessings  on  the 
head  of  the  devoted  and  beautiful  wife,  whose  tender  persuasions 
prove  too  strong  for  the  clamors  of  appetite  and  the  allurements 
of  vice  !  In  winning  the  stricken  wanderer  back  to  the  pure  char- 
ities of  home  she  saved  one  of  its  noblest  citizens  ;  and  so  benign 
has  been  the  influence  of  his  wonderful  example,  and  so  calm  and 
so  holy  a  light  beamed  around  the  altars  of  his  prairie  home,  that 
his  children  will,  with  the  nation  he  saved,  rise  up  and  call  him 
blessed.  Houston's  indulgences  never  were  carried  so  far  as  to 


Mrs.  Houston's  Literary  Merit.  255 

give  a  shock  to  his  constitution.  They  were  only  occasional  at 
any  period. 

As  a  woman,  Mrs.  Houston  was  as  remarkable  as  was  General 
Houston  as  a  man.  True  to  principle,  firm  in  her  convictions,  spir- 
itual in  her  ideas  of  religion,  devoted  to  her  husband  and  her 
children,  she  considered  the  strict  performance  of  the  great  duties 
of  domestic  life  as  an  achievement  of  moral  heroism.  The  good  of 
the  land  were  always  welcome  to  her  fireside,  and  cordially  enter- 
tained at  her  hospitable  board. 

While  thus  absorbed  in  home  duties,  Mrs.  Houston  was  busied 
with  her  pen  ;  her  private  letters  and  her  magazine  contributions  all 
being  tinged  with  the  one  aim  of  her  life  ;  as  the  moral  and  religious 
guide  of  her  children,  and  the  guardian  angel  of  her  husband's  pri- 
vate and  public  life.  During  his  Senatorial  career  Houston  was 
never  so  happy  as  in  receiving  her  weekly  letters,  in  reading  por- 
tions of  them  to  his  trusted  friends,  and  in  writing  his  Sunday 
afternoon  replies.  The  contributions  of  Mrs.  Houston  to  the 
Mothers'  Journal,  of  Philadelphia,  were  as  highly  prized  by  its  nu- 
merous readers  as  by  him  who  rejoiced  that  their  sentiment  and 
their  suggestions  were  realized  in  his  own  household. 

Eight  children  blessed  their  married  life  :  ist,  Sam  ;  2d,  Nancy 
Elizabeth  ;  3d,  Margaret  Lea  ;  4th,  Mary  William  ;  5th,  Antoinette 
Power  ;  6th,  Andrew  Jackson  ;  yth,  William  Rogers  ;  8th,  And. 
Temple  ;  all  grown  and  married,  except  the  two  younger  ones,  and 
all  occupying  commanding  positions  in  society  The  following 
lines  of  poetry  will  evince  respectable  poetical  talent  and  strong 
affection  : 

To  MY  HUSBAND. 
December,  1844,  on  Retirement  from  the  Presidency. 

Dearest,  the  cloud  hath  left  thy  brow, 

The  shade  of  thoughtfulness,  of  care, 
And  deep  anxiety ;  and  now 

The  sunshine  of  content  is  there. 

Its  sweet  return,  with  joy  I  hail ; 

And  never  may  thy  country's  woes 
Again  that  hallow'd  light  dispel, 

And  mar  thy  bosom's  calm  repose  I 

God  hath  crown'd  thy  years  of  toil 

With  full  fruition,  and  I  pray 
That  on  the  harvest  still  His  smile 

May  shed  its  ever  gladdening  ray. 


256  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Thy  task  is  done ;  another  eye 
Than  thine  must  guard  thy  country's  weal ; 

And  oh  !  may  wisdom  from  on  high 
To  him  the  one  true  path  reveal  1 

When  erst  was  spread  the  mighty  waste 

Of  waters,  fathoms  wide  and  far, 
And  darkness  rested  there,  unchased 

By  ray  of  sun,  or  moon,  or  star, 

God  bade  the  gloomy  deep  recede, 
And  so  young  earth  rose  on  his  view ; 

Swift  at  his  word  the  waters  fled, 
And  darkness  spread  its  wings  and  flew. 

The  same  strong  arm  hath  put  to  flight 
Our  country's  foes;  the  ruthless  band 

That  swept  in  splendid  pomp  and  might 
Across  our  fair  and  fertile  land. 

The  same  Almighty  hand  hath  raised 
On  these  wild  plains  a  structure  fair, 

And  well  may  wondering  nations  gaze 
At  aught  so  marvelous  and  rare. 

This  task  is  done.    The  holy  shade 
Of  calm  retirement  waits  thee  now. 

The  lamp  of  hope  relit  hath  shed 
Its  sweet  refulgence  o'er  thy  brow. 

Far  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men, 
Oh  !  may  thy  soul  each  fleeting  hour 

Upon  the  breath  of  prayer  ascend 

To  Him  who  rules  with  love  and  power. 

— M.  M.  HOUSTON 

OUR  DAUGHTERS. 

Our  eldest  is  an  autumn  bloom. 

Just  as  the  summer  rose  grew  pale 
She  smiled  upon  our  woodland  home, 

The  brightest  flower  in  all  the  vale. 

The  second  April  came  with  showers, 
The  buds  to  ope,  and  vines  to  wreathe, 

And  left  the  sweetest  of  its  flowers 
Upon  my  joyous  heart  to  breathe. 

Sweet  month !  but  two  short  years  had  past, 
And  lo  !  with  smiles  again  she  came, 

And  left  a  bloom  fair  as  the  last, 
A  strange  bright  flower  for  me  to  name  ! 


Death  of  J//-.S-.  Houston.  •-'•">  7 

Almost  two  years  had  passed  aw.u, 

And  winter  looked  upon  my  flowers 
With  meanini;  smile  th.it  seemed  I"  say, 

11 1  bring  no  vine-wreath  for  your  bowers." 

No  spin'',  biid's  son;.',,  nor  Mimmer  hree/r. 

Nor  leaves  ol  autuinn\  plowing  hue, 
To  throw  around  my  lour,  bare  trees; 

But  winter  has  its  offering  too. 

And  oh  I  the  brightest  rose  there  lay 

Upon  his  h.nul  !     ••  It  is  thine  own." 
He  whispered,  as  he  passed  away, 
"Oh,  guard  it  well.  ih«-  liable  one." 

My  beauteous  gifts  !  how  carefully 
Their  tender  branches  I  must  train  ! 

That  rarh  fail  plant  on  earth  may  be 
A  household  joy  !      And  yet  in  v.im 

My  fondest  care  without  that  aid 

The  blessed  Lord  alone  ran  j'.ive. 
Father!   these  earthly  blooms  must  fade, 

But  let  their  souls  before  Thee  live. 

My  buds  of  innocence  in  time 

He  formed  to  bloom  beyond  the  skies, 
Within  the  cloudless  spirit's  clime 

Unlading  (lowers  of  1'aiadise. 

HUNTSVILEE,  Texas,  March  14,  1856.  — M.  M.  HOUSTON. 

After  the  death  of  Gen.  Houston  Mrs.  Houston  returned  to  their 
former  residence  at  Independence,  Texas,  for  the  purpose  of  edu- 
cating her  children  in  Baylor  University  and  Baylor  Female  Col- 
lege. Her  health  was  much  impaired  by  asthma,  still  she  availed 
herself  of  all  opportunities  of  doing  good,  and  signalized  her  sym- 
pathy with  the  suffering  and  dying  during  the  prevalence  of  yellow 
fever  and  kindred  diseases  in  Texas  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1867. 
Just  at  the  close  of  that  season  she  was  herself  prostrated  by  dis- 
ease, of  which,  in  entire  resignation  to  the  Divine  will,  she  died 
Decembri  i  UMving  a  noble  example  of  a  blainrU-ss  and  use- 

ful life  t<»  hei  children,  who  survived  her. 

Gen.  Houston's  remains  are  buried  at  Huntsville,  while  Mrs. 
Houston's  remains  are  buried  alongside  of  those  of  her  mother,  at 
Independence,  Texas.  A  simple,  small,  plain  slab  is  placed  over 
the  hero's  grave,  with  these  words :  "  Gen.  Sam  Houston,  born  March 
a,  1793.  Died  July  26,  1863."  Nothing  as  yet  signalizes  the  spot 
where  the  remains  of  his  companion  lie. 
17 


CHAPTER     XXX. 

GENERAL  ESTIMATE  OF  HOUSTON'S  CHARACTER. 

IT  has  been  said  by  one  already  frequently  quoted,  *  That  Gen. 
Houston's  judgment  was  pre-eminently  calm  and  thoughtful, 
his  very  bursts  of  tempestuous  passion  (in  early  life)  were  pre- 
meditated. In  intercourse  with  Houston  running  through  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  never  imagined  there  was  more  than 
one  human  being  to  whose  judgment  he  deferred,  and  to  which  he 
postponed  his  own.  That  man  was  Andrew  Jackson."  Just  before 
Jackson's  death  he  visited  the  Hero  of  New  Orleans  at  the  Her- 
mitage. The  "  Hero  of  San  Jacinto  "  went  to  bid  a  last  adieu  to 
his  earliest  and  most  lasting  personal  and  political  friend.  It  was 
an  affecting  meeting.  Houston's  noble  wife,  who  was  present, 
described  it  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  imaginable.  Both  were 
patriots,  soldiers,  leaders,  statesmen.  Both  had  perilled  life  in 
youth  on  the  battle-field  for  their  country.  Jackson  loved  the 
Union,  the  United  States;  yet  not  even  he  ever  loved  the  Union  of 
the  States  with  more  intense  affection  than  Houston. 

The  history  of  Sam  Houston  is  alike  the  property  of  the  Ameri- 
'  can  people  at  large,  and  of  the  people  of  Texas  specially.  The 
part  which  he  bore  in  the  liberation  of  an  oppressed  colony,  in 
gathering  ardent  and  invincible  spirits  about  him,  in  leading  them 
to  victory,  his  skill  as  a  General,  his  statesmanship  as  Congress- 
man, President,  Senator,  and  Governor,  will  ever  form  one  of  the 
brightest  pages  of  American  history. 

Justly  has  it  been  remarked  that  American  history  will  be  incom 
plete  without  assigning  the  chief  place  to  the  most  sagacious 
statesman  which  the  Southwest  has  ever  produced.  Born  of 
Scotch-Irish  parentage,  near  the  greatest  of  Virginia's  physical 
marvels  in  Rockbridge  County,  the  character-nursery  of  the  Mc- 
Dowells, Moores,  Tuckers,  Letchers,  and  Stonewall  Jacksons,  with 
the  blood  of  the  McClungs  and  the  Alexanders  coursing  in  his  veins, 
he  gave  early  promise  in  his  erratic  boyhood,  and  wild  life  among 
uncivilized  men,  of  the  destiny  which  unerring  wisdom  had  marked 
out  for  him.  Thrown  at  an  early  age  upon  his  own  resources,  con- 
tent with  a  soldier's  hard  fare  and  a  hero's  fate,  we  find  him,  under 
the  lead  and  following  the  fortunes  of  Andrew  Jackson,  distin- 
(258) 


Houston  the  Type  of  Anglo-Saxon  Civilization.      259 

guished  in  all  battles,  and  wounded  in  one  of  the  memorable  con 
tests  between  the  forces  of  Jackson  and  the  Indians  in  Alabama. 
From  the  soldier  he  passed  to  the  statesman.  Elected,  almost  by 
acclamation,  District  Attorney,  Major-General,  Member  of  Con- 
gress, and  Governor  of  Tennessee,  matrimonial  infelicity  deter- 
mines him  to  surrender  all  his  brilliant  prospects  of  future  distinc- 
tion in  Tennessee.  Immediately  he  resigns  the  office  of  Governor, 
and  goes  into  exile.  On  that  resolution  hung  a  future  which  is 
filled  with  some  of  the  most  remarkable  events  of  modern  times. 
A  confidential  correspondent  of  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
he  visits  Texas,  is  elected  a  delegate  of  Anglo-Mexicans  struggling 
for  liberty  and  natural  rights;  is  twice  elected  General  of  the  small 
armies  raised  for  defence  and  independence;  is  the  heroic  chief  of 
the  immortal  battle  of  San  Jacinto  ;  is  President  of  the  young 
Republic  for  five  years,  discharging  duty  with  success,  and  to  the 
marked  advancement  of  the  nation  ;  is  Senator  from  Texas  in  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States  from  1846  to  1859,  and  is  Governor 
of  the  State  at  the  most  critical  period  of  its  history,  at  the 
opening  of  the  most  remarkable  contest  which  has  occurred  in  the 
later  history  of  the  world. 

Gen.  Sam  Houston  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  the 
history  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  That  he  had  faults,  and  grave 
ones,  no  one  will  deny.  But  that  his  remarkable  excellences  of 
character  completely  overshadow  the  dark  sides  of  his  character  is 
equally  undeniable.  He  was  opposed  bitterly,  and  he  resented  as 
bitterly.  Treated  with  injustice,  he  was  unrelenting  and  merciless, 
until  he  made  a  public  profession  of  Christianity,  when  his  whole" 
course  of  conduct  underwent  a  change.  An  ardent  friend  in  the 
United  States  of  Andrew  Jackson,  counseled  by  the  hero  of  New 
Orleans  in  his  career  as  General  in  Texas,  he  shared  the  obloquy 
cast  upon  Jackson  in  the  Union,  and  did  not  escape  the  effects  of 
that  obloquy  as  a  General  and  President  in  Texas,  as  his  chief  an- 
tagonists in  Texas  had  also  been  the  political  opponents  of  General 
Jackson  in  the  United  States.  His  opponents  were  patriotic  and 
chivalrous  men,  anxious  for  the  same  ends  for  which  he  was  willing 
to  lay  down  his  life,  but  seeking  for  these  ends  by  more  rapid  and 
dashing  methods.  They  all  contributed  to  the  independence  of 
Texas,  and  should  all  be  remembered  with  undying  devotion  by  all 
true  patriotic  spirits  of  Texas.  That  the  policy  of  Houston  and  his 
administrative  ability  was  most  successful,  is  his  best  vindication 
from  all  assaults  of  opponents.  But  let  "  the  dead  past  bury  its 
dead."  The  achievements  of  his  life  are  his  best  eulogy. 

i.  He  was  a  man  of  marked  individuality.  He  possessed  this 
trait  in  common  with  Washington  and  Jefferson,  Jackson  and  Clay, 


260  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

Webster  and  Calhoun.  He  thought  for  himself,  thought  closely; 
exercised  his  reasoning  powers,  and  formed  clear,  cool,  and  calm 
judgments.  He  studied  books  little,  but  men  much.  He  analyzed 
thoroughly  the  philosophy  of  events,  and  linked  measures  with 
their  sequences. 

2.  He  maintained  a  lofty  independence  of  spirit.    He  was  willing 
to  concede  to  others  all  he  claimed  for  himself.     Capacity  for  inde- 
pendent thought  is  the  first  quality  of  a  commander.    No  leader 
of  public  opinion  was  ever  successful  in  impressing  his  ideas  upon 
others  who  did  not  maintain  some  originality  of  thought,  which  is 
but  another  name  for  independence  of  idea.     Gen.  Houston  had 
such  independence  of  spirit  that  he  would  have  reached  the  highest 
point  of  success  in  any  walk  or  profession  of  life. 

3.  He  had  the  gift  of  prophetic  political  sagacity.     Calhoun  had 
this  gift  in  a  remarkable  degree.    Other  statesmen  of  America  have 
exhibited  it,  to  the  wonder  of  their  contemporaries.    Houston  pos- 
sessed it  so  remarkably,  that  there  is  hardly  an  instance  in  which 
he  made  a  political  prediction  that  the  event  did  not  correspond 
with  his  prediction.    It  so  happened  in  all  matters  pertaining  to 
the  Republic,  and  it  so  happened  in  the  contest  between  the  States 
resisting  or  advocating  secession  from  the  Union. 

4.  He  possessed  administrative  ability  fitted  for  the  grandest 
governments  and  the  deepest  problems  of  political  economy.     He 
investigated  details,  and  grouped  them  into  masses.     He  thought 
nothing  unworthy  of  notice  connected  with  the  success  of  a  meas- 
ure or  a  plan.      The  beginning  and  the  end  he  connected  with  un- 
erring links.     He  could  wait  patiently  to  see  the  workings  of  any 
scheme.     He  came,  almost  by  intuition,  to  the  high  capacity  of  a 
great  executive  officer.     Contrasting  measures,  means  and  ends,  it 
may  be  safely  declared  that  no  American  executive  officer  ever  sur- 
passed Gen.  Houston.     His  administration  during  both  terms  of 
the  Presidency  of  the  Republic  was  signalized  by  extraordinary 
ability  in  regulating  finances,  and  in  establishing  peaceful  relations 
with  foreign  countries  and  the  Indian   tribes.      His  Indian  cor- 
respondence is  a  marvel  of  sagacity  and  genius.     His  letters   to 
Santa  Anna  are  remarkable  for  point,  sarcasm,  clear  detail  of  facts, 
and  unbounded  patriotism. 

5.  He  was  a  soldier.     Fear  never  blanched  the  cheek  of  Sam 
Houston.     Dread  of  danger  never  dismayed  his  courageous  soul 
nor  withheld  him  from  a  peril  for  a  right  or  liberty.     His  courage 
was  the  courage  of  a  predetermined  thought ;  resolved  to  make  a 
sacrifice  only  with  the  highest  possibility  of  a  grand  advantage. 
Had  Gen.  Houston  risked  an  engagement  with  Santa  Anna  near 
Goliad,  or  at  a  period  earlier  than  he  did  at  San  Jacinto,  numbers 


Houston's  Qualities  as  the  Man  of  His  Age.       261 

would  have  won  the  victory,  and  Texas  would  have  been  enslaved. 
In  this  Fabian  policy  of  retreat  he  proved  the  truth  of  the  old^ 
adage,  that  "  discretion  is  the  better  part  of  valor.**  He  had  served 
under  Jackson,  and  in  the  regular  army  of  the  United  States  as  a 
lieutenant,  sufficiently  long  to  give  him  practice  in  military  drill 
and  the  art  of  war.  He  had  mingled  with  frontiersmen  so  long 
and  intimately  that  he  knew  better  than  any  other  man  of  his  times 
how  to  bring  under  control  men  not  used  to  obedience  to  any  will 
save  their  own.  Whether  fighting  with  Indians  at  Tohopeka,  or 
with  Mexicans  at  San  Jacinto,  Gen.  Houston  proved  himself  a  hero 
as  well  as  a  soldier. 

6.  He  was  a  statesman.  He  was  not  a  learned  lawyer.  He  ex- 
hibited no  great  fondness  for  the  bar.  But  on  the  stump,  in  the 
legislative  hall,  or  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  he  delighted  to  meet  the 
"  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel."  In  discussing  affairs  of  high  mo- 
ment involving  the  welfare  of  a  State,  or  looking  to  the  perpetuity 
or  rupture  of  the  Federal  Union,  his  ideas,  drawn  deep  from  his 
thoughtful  brain,  would  take  the  courage  of  eagle's  wings  and  soar 
to  the  loftiest  heights  of  reason  and  law.  His  statesmanship  set- 
tled the  foundations  of  the  Republic  against  all  opposition.  Of 
that  opposition,  Hon.  Ashbel  Smith  thus  speaks,  in  his  "  Reminis- 
cences of  the  Texas  Republic": 

"  There  was  in  Texas  a  party  composed  of  gentlemen  of  great  ability,  of 
former  public  services,  of  high  ambition,  of  ardent  imaginations,  of  lofty  patriot- 
ism, opposed  to  the  administrations  of  Sam  Houston  and  of  Anson  Jones,  with 
the  unreasoning  energy  so  often  characteristic  of  party  contests.  They  were  out 
of  office,  which  they  coveted,  and  the  success  of  the  Houstonian  policy  already 
adverted  to,  crowned  with  peace,  seemed  to  insure  indefinite  continuance  in 
power  of  the  Houston  party,  and  indefinite  exclusion  of  the  leaders  of  the  oppo- 
sition. Among  them  were  some  of  the  bravest  spirits  that  fought  at  San  Jacinto, 
and  who  had  borne  full  share  in  organizing  the  Government  of  the  Republic. 
In  the  opposition,  also,  were  adventurous  spirits,  whose  day-dreams  were  of 
warlike  expeditions ;  men  as  bold,  as  ardent,  as  Cortez  or  Pizarro,  and  whose 
fancies  reveled  in  desperate  battles,  and  in  imaginary  plunder  of  the  halls  of 
the  Montezumas.  The  pacific  policy  of  Houston,  long  and  solid  peace  with 
Mexico,  sounded  a  long  farewell, '  the  occupation  gone '  for  these  restless  spirits. 
The  contingencies  of  annexation  offered  chances  of  war.  War  came,  but,  alas  ! 
for  their  dreams,  it  was  waged  under  other  auspices,  other  leaders,  other  coun- 
sels, in  none  of  which  had  they  part." 

Transferred  from  the  arena  of  politics  in  the  Lone  Star  Republic 
to  the  arena  of  the  Republic  of  the  United  States,  Gen.  Houston 
took  rank  with  the  "giants  of  power"  who  honored  with  their 
presence,  their  speech  and  their  opinions,  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  of  forty  years  ago. 


262  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

7.  He  was  distinguished  for  fortitude.  His  powers  of.  endurance 
were  severely  taxed  in  his  boyhood,  owing  to  the  misconceptions  of 
his  brothers.  His  fortitude  was  exhibited  in  the  severe  service  of 
the  Indian  wars.  It  was  shown  in.  his  patient  submission  to  the 
unjust  treatment  of  his  opponents  before  and  succeeding  the  battle 
of  San  Jacinto.  It  never  forsook  him  during  his  political  life,  even 
to  the  hour  of  his  ejection  from  the  position  of  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Texas. 

Great  in  adversity,  great  in  prosperity,  great  out  of  office,  great 
in  office,  as  a  soldier,  General,  Member  of  Congress,  Governor  of 
two  States,  President  of  a  Republic,  and  United  States  Senator,  he 
has  placed  his  name  near  the  apex  of  the  unmouldering  pillar  of 
fame. 


APPENDIX. 


TEXAN  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

IN  the  General  Convention  of  the  People  of  Texas  at  Washington 
on  the  Brazos,  March  8,  1836,  Mr.  George  C.  Childress  offered 
the  following  resolutions  : 

Resolved,  That  the  President  appoint  a  Committee,  to  consist  of  five  delegates, 
to  draft  a  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Mr.  Martin  Partner  offered  the  following  as  a  substitute : 

Resolved,  That  the  President  appoint  one  delegate  from  each  municipality,  as 
a  Committee  to  draft  a  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Mr.  Farmer's  resolution  was  negatived,  and  that  of  Mr.  Childress  adopted; 
whereupon  the  President  appointed  as  the  Committee  Messrs.  George  C.  Chil- 
dress, of  Milam  ;  James  Gaines,  of  Sabine  ;  Edward  Conrad,  of  Refugio  ;  Collin 
McKinney,  of  Red  River  ;  and  Bailey  Hardeman,  of  Matagorda. 

On  the  second  day,  March  2d,  Mr.  Robert  Potter  moved  the  appointment  of 
a  Committee  of  one  from  each  municipality  to  draft  a-  Constitution  for  the  (con 
templated)  Republic  of  Texas,  which  was  carried,  and  Messrs.  Martin  Parmer, 
Chairman,  Robert  Potter,  Charles  B.  Stewart,  Edwin  Waller,  Jesse  Grimes, 
Robert  M.  Coleman,  John  Fisher,  John  W.  Bunton,  James  Gaines,  Lorenzo  de 
Zavala,  Stephen  H.  Everitt,  Bailey  Hardeman,  Elijah  Stapp,  William  C.  Craw- 
ford, Claiborne  West,  James  Power,  Jose  Antonio  Navarro,  Collin  McKinney, 
William  Menefee,  William  Motley,  and  Michael  B.  Menard  were  appointed  the 
committee. 

On  the  same  day,  March  2d,  Mr.  Childress,  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  re 
ported  the  draft  of  a  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  "  asked  that  the  same 
be  received  by  the  Convention  as  their  report." 

Here  I  quote  from  the  Journals  : 

"  Mr.  Houston  moved  that  the  report  be  received  by  the  Convention,  which, 
on  being  seconded,  was  done. 

"  On  Mr.  Collingsworth's  motion,  seconded,  the  House  resolved  into  \  com- 
mittee of  the  whole,  upon  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Independence. 

"  Mr.  Collingsworth  was  called  to  the  chair,  whereupon  Mr.  Ho^wlw»  intro- 
duced the  following  resolution : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  reported  by  <},*  i'onui"*~ 

(263; 


Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

tee,  be  adopted ;  that  the  same  be  engrossed  and  signed  by  the  delegates  of  this 

Convention. 

"And  the  question  being  put,  the  resolution  was  unanimously  adopted." 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  thus  unanimously  adopted,  enrolled. 

and  signed  on  the  second  day  of  the  session — being  March  2d — as  follows : 

The  Declaration  of  Independence,  made  by  the  Delegates  of  the  People  of  Texas, 
in  General  Convention,  at  Washington,  March  2,  1836. 

When  a  government  has  ceased  to  protect  the  lives,  liberty,  and  property  of 
the  people  from  whom  its  legitimate  powers  are  derived,  and  for  the  advance- 
ment of  whose  happiness  it  was  instituted  ;  and,  so  far  from  being  a  guarantee 
for  their  inestimable  and  inalienable  rights,  becomes  an  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  evil  rulers  for  their  oppression  ;  when  the  federal  republican  constitution  of 
their  country,  which  they  have  sworn  to  support,  no  longer  has  a  substantial 
existence,  and  the  whole  nature  of  their  government  has  been  forcibly  changed, 
without  their  consent,  from  a  restricted  federative  republic,  composed  of  sov- 
ereign states,  to  a  consolidated  central  military  despotism,  in  which  every  inter- 
est is  disregarded  but  that  of  the  army  and  the  priesthood,  both  the  eternal  ene- 
mies of  civil  liberty,  the  ever  ready  minions  of  power  and  the  usual  instruments 
of  tyrants ;  when,  long  after  the  spirit  of  the  constitution  has  departed,  moder- 
ation is  at  length  so  far  lost  by  those  in  power,  that  even  the  semblance  of  free- 
dom is  removed,  and  the  forms  themselves  of  the  constitution  discontinued,  and, 
so  far  from  the  petitions  and  remonstrances  being  disregarded,  the  agents  who 
bear  them  are  thrown  into  dungeons,  and  mercenary  armies  sent  forth  to  en- 
force a  new  government  upon  them  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet : 

When,  in  consequence  of  such  acts  of  malfeasance  and  abduction  on  the  part 
of  the  government,  anarchy  prevails,  and  civil  society  is  dissolved  into  its  original 
elements,  in  such  a  crisis,  the  first  law  of  nature,  the  right  of  self-preservation, 
the  inherent  and  inalienable  right  of  the  people  to  appeal  to  first  principles,  and 
take  their  political  affairs  into  their  own  hands,  in  extreme  cases,  enjoins  it  as  a 
right  toward  themselves,  and  a  sacred  obligation  to  their  posterity,  to  abolish 
such  government  and  create  another  in  its  stead,  calculated  to  rescue  them  from 
impending  dangers,  and  to  secure  their  welfare  and  happiness. 

Nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  are  amenable  for  their  acts  to  the  public  opin- 
ion of  mankind.  A  statement  of  a  part  of  our  grievances  is  therefore  submitted 
to  an  impartial  world  in  justification  of  the  hazardous  but  unavoidable  step  now 
taken  of  severing  our  political  connection  with  the  Mexican  people,  and  as- 
suming an  independent  attitude  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

The  Mexican  government,  by  its  colonization  laws,  invited  and  induced  the 
Anglo-American  population  of  Texas  to  colonize  its  wilderness  under  the 
pledged  faith  of  a  written  constitution,  that  they  should  continue  to  enjoy  that 
constitutional  liberty  and  republican  government  to  which  they  had  been  habitu- 
ated in  the  land  of  their  birth,  the  United  States  of  America. 

In  this  expectation  they  have  been  cruelly  disappointed,  inasmuch  as  the 
Mexican  nation  has  acquiesced  in  the  late  changes  made  in  the  government  by 
General  Antonio  Lopez  de  Santa  Anna,  who,  having  overturned  the  constitution 
of  his  country,  now  offers,  as  the  cruel  alternative,  either  to  abandon  our  homes, 


Causes  Justifying  Texan  Independence.          265 

acquired  by  so  many  privations,  or  submit  to  the  most  intolerable  of  all  tyranny, 
the  combined  despotism  of  the  sword  and  the  priesthood. 

It  hath  sacrificed  our  welfare  to  the  State  of  Coahuila,  by  which  our  interests 
have  been  continually  depressed,  through  a  jealous  and  partial  course  of  legis- 
lation, carried  on  at  a  far  distant  seat  of  government,  by  a  hostile  majority,  in 
an  unknown  tongue ;  and  this,  too,  notwithstanding  we  have  petitioned  in  the 
humblest  terms  for  the  establishment  of  a  separate  state  government,  and  have, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  national  constitution,  presented  to  the 
general  congress  a  republican  constitution,  which  was,  without  a  just  cause, 
contemptuously  rejected. 

It  incarcerated  in  a  dungeon,  for  a  long  time,  one  of  our  citizens,  for  no  other 
cause  but  a  zealous  endeavor  to  procure  the  acceptance  of  our  constitution  and 
the  establishment  of  a  state  government. 

It  has  failed  and  refused  to  secure,  on  a  firm  basis,  the  right  of  trial  by  jury, 
the  palladium  of  civil  liberty,  and  only  safe  guarantee  for  the  life,  liberty,  and 
property  of  the  citizen. 

It  has  failed  to  establish  any  public  system  of  education,  although  possessed 
of  almost  boundless  resources  (the  public  domains),  and  although  it  is  an  axiom 
in  political  science  that,  unless  a  people  are  educated  and  enlightened,  it  is  idle 
to  expect  the  continuance  of  civil  liberty  or  the  capacity  for  self-government. 

It  has  suffered  the  military  commandants,  stationed  among  us,  to  exercise 
arbitrary  acts  of  oppression  and  tyrannyvthus  trampling  upon  the  most  sacred 
rights  of  the  citizen,  and  rendering  the  military  superior  to  the  civil  power. 

It  has  dissolved,  by  force  of  arms,  the  State  Congress  of  Coahuila  and  Texas, 
and  obliged  our  representatives  to  fly  for  their  lives  from  the  seat  of  government, 
thus  depriving  us  of  the  fundamental  political  right  of  representation. 

It  has  demanded  the  surrender  of  a  number  of  our  citizens,  and  ordered 
military  detachments  to  seize  and  carry  them  into  the  interior  for  trial,  in  con- 
tempt of  the  civil  authorities,  and  in  defiance  of  the  laws  and  the  constitution. 

It  has  made  piratical  attacks  on  our  commerce,  by  commissioning  foreign 
desperadoes,  and  authorizing  them  to  seize  our  vessels,  and  convey  the  property 
of  our  citizens  to  far  distant  parts  for  confiscation. 

It  denies  us  the  right  of  worshiping  the  Almighty  according  to  the  dictates  of 
our  own  conscience,  by  the  support  of  a  national  religion,  calculated  to  promote 
the  temporal  interests  of  its  human  functionaries,  rather  than  the  glory  of  the 
true  and  living  God. 

It  has  demanded  us  to  deliver  up  our  arms,  which  are  essential  to  our  defence 
— the  rightful  property  of  freemen,  and  formidable  only  to  tyrannical  govern- 
ments. 

It  has  invaded  our  country  both  by  sea  and  by  land,  with  the  intent  to  lay 
waste  our  territory,  and  drive  us  from  our  homes,  and  has  now  a  large  merce- 
nary army  advancing  to  carry  on  against  us  a  war  of  extermination. 

It  has,  through  its  emissaries,  incited  the  merciless  savage,  with  the  toma- 
hawk and  scalp  ing-knife,  to  massacre  the  inhabitants  of  our  defenceless  fron- 
tiers. 

Tt  has  been,  during  the  whole  time  of  our  connection  with  it,  the  contempti- 


266  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

ble  sport  and  victim  of  successive  military  revolutions,  and  hath  continually  ex- 
hibited every  characteristic  of  a  weak,  corrupt,  and  tyrannical  government. 

These  and  other  grievances  were  patiently  borne  by  the  people  of  Texas,  until 
they  reached  that  point  at  which  forbearance  ceases  to  be  a  virtue.  We  then 
took  up  arms  in  defence  of  the  national  constitution.  We  appealed  to  our 
Mexican  brethren  for  assistance ;  our  appeal  has  been  made  in  vain ;  though 
months  have  elapsed,  no  sympathetic  response  has  yet  been  made  from  the  in- 
terior. We  are  therefore  forced  to  the  melancholy  conclusion  that  the  Mexican 
people  have  acquiesced  in  the  destruction  of  their  liberty,  and  the  substitution 
therefor  of  a  military  government :  that  they  are  unfit  to  be  free,  and  incapable 
of  self-government. 

The  necessity  of  self-preservation,  therefore,  now  decrees  our  eternal  political 
separation. 

We,  therefore,  the  delegates,  with  plenary  powers,  of  the  people  of  Texas,  in 
solemn  convention  assembled,  appealing  to  a  candid  world  for  the  necessities  of 
our  condition,  do  hereby  resolve  and  declare,  that  our  political  connection  with 
the  Mexican  nation  has  forever  ended,  and  that  the  people  of  Texas  do  now 
constitute  a  FREE,  SOVEREIGN,  AND  INDEPENDENT  REPUBLIC,  and  are  fully 
invested  with  all  the  rights  and  attributes  which  properly  belong  to  independent 
nations  ;  and,  conscious  of  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  we  fearlessly  and  con- 
fidently commit  the  issue  to  the  Supreme  Arbiter  of  the  destinies  of  nations. 

In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names. 

RICHARD  ELLIS, 

President  and  Delegate  from  Red  River. 
H.  S.  KIMBLE,  Secretary. 

[The  names  of  the  signers  will  be  found  on  the  following  page.] 

On  the  i6th  March,  the  Convention  adopted  the  Executive  Ordinance,  by 
which  was  constituted  the  Government  ad  interim  of  the  Republic  of  Texas. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  was  adopted  at  a  late  hour  on  the 
night  of  the  I7th  of  March,  but  was  neither  engrossed  nor  enrolled  for  the  sig- 
nature of  the  members  prior  to  the  adjournment  next  day.  The  Secretary  was 
instructed  to  enroll  it  for  presentation.  As  I  learn  from  the  Hon.  Jesse  Grimes, 
Mr.  Kimble,  the  Secretary,  took  it  to  Nashville,  Tennessee,  where  it  was  pub- 
lished in  one  of  the  papers,  from  which  it  was  republished  in  a  Cincinnati  paper, 
and  from  the  latter  copied  into  the  Texas  Telegraph  of  August  2d  of  the  same 
year,  being  its  first  publication  in  Texas.  No  enrolled  copy  having  been 
preserved,  this  printed  copy  was  recognized  and  adopted. 


NAMES,  AGE,  PLACE  OF  BIRTH,  AND  FORMER  RESIDENCE  OF  THE  SIGN- 
ERS OF  THE  TEXAN  DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE,  MARCH  2,  1836. 


NAMES. 

AGE. 

PLACE  OF  BIRTH. 

FORMER  RESIDENCE. 

Richard  Ellis     .  .           

Alabama. 

C   B  Stewart  

7O 

South  Carolina  

Louisiana. 

•JQ 

Tennessee 

Tennessee. 

Edwin  \Valler 

•7S 

Virginia 

Missouri. 

Asa  Brigham 

2 

Massachusetts         .  .  . 

Louisiana. 

J   S   D   Byron 

18 

Georgia                 

Florida. 

Fras    Ruis 

Bexar  Texas 

Bexar  Texas 

J   B  Badgett 

North  Carolina  

Arkansas  Territory. 

W    D    Lacy 

28 

Kentucky  

Tennessee. 

William  Menifee       .       ... 

4.0 

Alabama. 

John  Fisher  ...     .       

3* 

Virginia. 

M  Coldwell  

38 

Kentucky  

Missouri. 

W.  Motley             

24 

Kentucky. 

L   D  Zavala 

Yucatan 

Mexico 

George  W.  Smyth  

-2-1 

Alabama. 

S.  H.  Everitt  

2O 

New  York  

New  York. 

E   Stapp 

Virginia 

Missouri 

Clae.  West  

^6 

Tennessee  

Louisiana. 

W  B  Scates 

•JQ 

Virginia 

Kentucky. 

M   B  Menard 

•JJ 

Canada 

Illinois 

A  B   Hardin 

S 

Georgia                      . 

Tennessee 

J   W  Bunton 

28 

Tennessee                ..       .  . 

Tennessee. 

Thomas  G  Gazeley 

•3C 

New  York 

Louisiana 

R  M   Coleman 

VI 

Kentucky 

Kentucky. 

S  C   Robertson* 

en 

North  Carolina        

Tennessee 

George  C  Childress* 

T& 

Tennessee        .              ... 

Tennessee. 

B   Hardiman 

4.1 

Tennessee             .... 

Tennessee. 

R    Potter 

S 

North  Carolina        

North  Carolina 

Thomas  J   Rusk 

2Q 

South  Carolina      

Georgia. 

Charles  S  Taylor 

28 

England               

New  York. 

John  S   Roberts 

4O 

Virginia     

Louisiana. 

R   Hamilton 

er-i 

Scotland     .  .         

North  Carolina. 

C   McKinney 

7O 

New  Jerse'y         

Kentucky. 

A  H   Lattimer 

27 

Tennessee    .  . 

Tennessee. 

James  Power                      . 

3 

Ireland            

Louisiana. 

•  Sam  Houston                        . 

4.-I 

Virginia             

Tennessee. 

David  Thomas 

Tennessee      

Tennessee. 

E   Conrad 

26 

Pennsylvania          ....... 

Pennsylvania. 

Martin  Farmer              .       . 

<;8 

Virginia                

Missouri 

E.  O   Legrand              .  . 

North  Carolina            .... 

Alabama 

S.  W  Blount 

28 

Georgia 

Georgia. 

James  Gaines 

60 

Virginia       .              .  . 

T              •      • 

Louisiana 

W  Clark  Jr 

•37 

North  Carolina          .   .  . 

Georgia 

S.  O.  Pennington               .  . 

27 

Kentucky                   

Arkansas  Territory. 

W.  C.  Crawford    ... 

•71 

North  Carolina 

Alabama 

John  Turner            .  „       . 

•74 

North  Carolina  .   ... 

Tennessee 

B.  B   Goodrich  

^7 

Virginia       

Alabama 

G.  W    Barnett 

4.  -i 

South  Carolina  

Mississippi. 

J.  G  Swisher    

41 

Tennessee       

Tennessee. 

Jes^e  Grimes       .       

8 

North  Carolina      ... 

Alabama. 

S.  Rhoads  Fisher*     

41 

Pennsylvania                .   .  . 

Pennsylvania. 

Samuel  A  Maverick*     .  .   ... 

2O 

South  Carolina    

South  Carolina. 

John  White  Bower*     

27 

Georgia 

Arkansas  Territory. 

James  B.  Woods*  

-54. 

Kentucky    

Kentucky 

John  W  Moore* 

Thomas  Barnett 

Members  who  failed  to  reach  the  Convention  in  time:  James  Kerr,  from 
Jackson,  born  in  Kentucky,  September  24,  1790,  came  to  Texas  in  1825  ;  John 
J.  Linn,  from  Victoria,  born  in  Ireland,  in  1802,  came  to  Texas  in  1830;  Juan 
Antonio  Padilla,  from  Victoria,  a  Mexican. 


*  Not  present  at  the  signing. 

The  above  is  from  a  statement  furnished  in  the  Convention  to  Dr.  B.  b.  Goodrich  by  tha 
members  themselves. 

(267) 


LIFE  AND   SELECT   LITERARY   REMAINS 

OF 

SAM    HOUSTON. 


VOLUME   II 


CONTENTS   OF  VOL.  II. 


PART  I. 

STATE    PAPERS. 

PAGE 

Message  of  Governor  Sam  Houston  to  the  Legislature  of  Tennessee, 

Oct.  15,  1827 273 

Inaugural  Address,  delivered  by  Sam  Houston  as  President  of  the  Re- 
public of  Texas,  at  Columbia,  Oct.  22,  1836 278 

Message  to  the  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  Sept.  25,  1837  .        .  280 

Message  to  the  Second  Session  of  the  First  Congress  of  the  Republic 

of  Texas,  May  5,  1837 282 

Message  to  the  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  Nov.  21,  1837         .  287 

Message  to  the  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  Dec.  20,  1841  (Sec- 
ond term  of  Presidency) •        •        •  294 

Message  to  the  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas  (Extra  Session), 

June  27,  1842 3°° 

Message  to  the  Congress  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  Dec.    I,  1842  .        .  307 

"            "            "             "            "               "          Dec.  12,  1843 .        .  315 

"            "           "            "            "               "         Dec.   4,  1844.        .  326 

Valedictory  Address  on  Retiring  from  the  Presidency,  Dec.  9,  1844     .  330 

PART    II. 
INDIAN    TALKS. 

Talk  to  Border  Chiefs,  July  6,  1842  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        -334 

Letter  to  Chief  of  Apaches,  Sept.  I,  1842 334 

Castro  and  Flaco,       "          " 335 

Red  Bear  and  other  Chiefs,  Oct.  1 8,  1842         .        .        .        .335 

Talk  to  Border  Chiefs,  February  13,  1843        .        .                .        .        .  336 

Letter  to  Indian  Chief  Linney,  March  5,  1843 337 

Talk  to  various  Border  Tribes,  March  20,  1843 338 

To  the  Lipans,  in  Memory  of  Flaco,  their  Chief,  March  28,  1843  .        .  339 

Letter  to  A-Cah-Quash,  April  19,  1843 340 

Talk  to  Pah-Hah-You-Co,  May  4,  1843 341 

"       various  Border  Tribes,  May  30,  1843 342 

Letter  to  A-Cah-Quash,  Sept.  13,  1843 343 

Talk  to  Pah-Hah-You-Co,  Dec.  14,  1843  .        •        •        •        •        •        •  344 

Letter  to  A-Cah-Quash,  Dec.  14,  1843 345 

Talk  to  Kechi  Chief,  Dec.  21,  1843 346 

Sah-Sah-Ro-Ke,  Jan.  31,  1844 346 

Letter  to  A-Cah-Quash,  May  2,  1844 347 

(271) 


272  Contents. 

» 

PART    III. 
LETTERS    AND    DOCUMENTS. 

PAGE 

Letter  to  Santa  Anna,  March  21,  1842 .  .349 

Dispatch  to  Texan  Ministers,  at  Washington  City,  April  16,  1844  .  359 
Letter  to  Santa  Anna,  July  29,  1844  .  .  .  .  .  .362 

"  Andrew  Jackson,  Jan.  31,  1843 364 

W.  S.  Murphy,  May  6,  1844 366 

"        Andrew  Jackson,  Feb.  1 6,  1844 370 

PART    IV. 

PUBLISHED    SPEECHES. 

Speech  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  on  Santa  F6  Expedition,  and  the  Conduct 

of  Texan  Soldiers  in  the  Mexican  War,  June  29  and  July  3,  1850     .    375 
Speech  in  U.  S.  Senate  on  Providing  for  the  Texas  Debt,  Feb.  11, 1853.    393 
"  "  "  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  Bill,  Mar.  3,  1854.     402 

"  "  "  Treatment  of  Indians,  Dec.  31,  1854     .        .    415 

"  "  "  Petition  of  3,000  Ministers  against  Repeal 

of  Missouri  Compromise  Bill,  March,  1854    417 
"  "  "  Increase  of  Army  and  Navy  Policy  of  the 

Government,  Jan.  29  and  31,  1855      .        .    423 
"  "  "  Need  of  a  Mexican  Protectorate,  April  20, 

1858 .456 

"  "  "  Naval  Retiring  Board,  April  23,  1856    .        .    468 

"  "  "  Pacific  Railroad  Bill,  and  in  Reply  to  Hon. 

A.  Riverson,  of  Georgia,  Jan.  12  and  13, 

1859 5H 

"  "  "  Bill  to  divide  the  State  of  Texas  into  two 

Judicial  Districts,  Feb.  3,  1859  .  .  .  530 

"  "  "  Unfounded  Calumnies,  Feb.  28,  1859  .  .  578 

"  before  Union  Mass  Meeting,  Austin,  Texas,  Sept.  22,  1860  .  599 

PART    V. 
LAST   STATE   PAPERS   AS   GOVERNOR   OF   TEXAS. 

Message  to  Texas  Legislature,  Jan.  13,  1860 611 

"  "  "  on  Secession  Resolutions  of  South  Car- 

olina, Jan.  24,  1860  ....    621 

"  "  "  on  Indian  Hostilities  caused  by  Seces- 

sion agitation,  Jan.  21,  1861    .        .    631 
M  "  "  on  Finances  embarrassed  by  Secession 

agitation,  Feb.  6,  1861.   .        .        .    64.2 


PART   I. 

STATE    PAPERS. 


FIRST   MESSAGE   AS  GOVERNOR  TO   THE  TENNESSEE 
LEGISLATURE,    1827. 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE,  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES: 

IN  legislating  for  a  Government  like  ours,  where  many  of  our  most  valuable 
institutions  are  founded  on  experiment,  the  best  informed  minds  could  not, 
in  the  earlier  progress  of  things,  determine  with  reasonable  certainty  upon  the 
regulations  and  rules  of  action  best  suited  to  the  circumstances  of  society,  and 
the  permanent  good  of  the  country.  Experience  alone  can  develop  the  fitness 
of  measures,  and  the  salutary  or  pernicious  influence  of  particular  laws.  It  is  a 
duty,  however,  which  you  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging,  that  you  will  examine 
with  patience  and  great  care  into  the  nature  and  extent  of  alleged  grievances 
and  their  proposed  remedies.  If  the  subject  has  received  any  light  from  the 
history  of  our  own' times,  or  of  our  own  country,  opinions  can  be  formed  with  less 
difficulty,  and  nothing  which  is  not  in  itself  morally  wrong  is  more  to  be  depre- 
cated in  a  free  country  than  excessive  legislation. 

The  simplicity  of  our  laws,  in  connection  with  the  certainty  of  their  execution, 
is  perhaps  better  calculated  to  inspire  confidence  in  the  citizen,  and  regard 
for  the  institutions  of  his  country,  than  any  other  motive  which  can  be  presented 
to  his  mind.  The  necessity  of  all  law  grows  out  of  the  wants  and  interests  of 
society,  and  when  these  are  relieved  or  defended  we  may  always  rely  with  much 
confidence  on  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people. 

In  the  early  settlement  of  all  parts  of  our  country,  the  attention  of  the  pioneers 
had  been  naturally  and  properly  directed  to  collecting  around  them  comforts  and 
conveniences  necessary  to  the  sustentation  of  life,  but  with  the  progress  of  im- 
provement great  and  accumulating  surplus  products  have  arisen  which  require 
artificial  facilities  in  conveying  them  to.  market,  in  addition  to  the  advan- 
tages afforded  by  our  water-courses  in  their  natural  state.  Hence  it  has  been  that 
for  many  years  past  public  attention  has,  by  my  predecessors  in  office,  been  re- 
peatedly called  to  the  subject  of  internal  improvements.  All  agree  that  it  is  a 
matter  legitimately,  if  not  exclusively,  within  the  scope  of  separate  State  jurisdic- 
tion, and  all  are  equally  agreed  that  great  and  valuable  improvements  could 
be  made  within  our  State  at  a  comparatively  moderate  expenditure  of  the  public 
funds. 

A  chief  obstacle  to  the  attainment  of  these  ends  has  heretofore  been  found  in 
the  selection  of  such  points  of  commencement  as  would  unite  public  opinion  in 
their  favor. 

Each  individual,  impelled  by  a  feeling  incident  to  our  nature,  attaches  an 
18  (273) 


274  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

undue  portion  of  regard  to  the  objects  which  have  fallen  under  his  more  imme- 
diate attention,  and  to  the  points  more  directly  affecting  the  interest  of  himself 
or  his  particular  constituents.  To  obviate  these  conflicting  interests,  and  to 
give  confidence  to  all  that  the  system  would  in  its  range  embrace,  by  regular  and 
just  succession,  every  portion  of  the  State,  the  appointment  of  skillful  engineers 
has  been  recommended  to  your  particular  consideration.  Their  attention  should 
be  directed  to  a  classification  of  all  the  objects  to  be  embraced  in  the  general 
plan  ;  to  the  practicability  and  probable  expense  of  such  leading  objects  of  gen- 
eral improvement  as  affect,  to  the  greatest  extent,  the  greatest  portion  of  the 
community,  and  the  comparative  advantages  resulting  from  the  different  modes 
of  expenditure,  by  clearing  out  the  natural  channels,  constructing  canals,  com- 
mon turnpikes,  or  the  more  modern  and  popular* system  of  railways. 

Our  fellow-citizens  of  East  Tennessee,  though  able  to  furnish  in  the  greatest 
abundance,  and  of  the  best  quality,  flour  and  other  articles  of  the  first  necessity, 
have  heretofore  been  doomed  to  strive  against  the  natural  obstructions  in 
the  Tennessee  River,  shut  out  as  they  are  from  Mobile,  the  more  natural, 
and  perhaps  the  more  profitable  channel  of  commerce. 

Engineers  employed  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  have,  for  some 
time  past,  been  engaged  in  ascertaining  the  practicability  of  a  canal  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Tennessee  River,  whereby  the  obstructions  of  the  Muscle 
Shoals  will  be  surmounted  ;  their  survey  has  not  yet  been  completed,  but  we 
have  much  ground  to  hope  that  it  will  be  fully  made  at  no  distant  day,  and  that 
it  will  result  in  much  substantial  good  to  the  people  of  Tennessee  and 
Alabama. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  at  some  period  before  the  adjournment  of 
the  present  session  such  report  could  be  received,  as  would  enable  the  Legislat- 
ure of  this  State  to  determine  with  reasonable  certainty  on  the  nature  and  ex- 
tent of  interest  which  we  should  take  in  the  enterprise. 

The  eastern  section  of  the  State  is  not  alone  interested  in  facilitating  the  as- 
cending and  descending  navigation  of  the  Muscle  Shoals  ;  several  of  our 
more  populous,  wealthy,  and  cotton-growing  counties  of  the  South  are  equally 
concerned. 

Should  the  difficulties  of  navigation  through  the  whole  length  of  the  Tennes- 
see be  so  strongly  presented  as  to  forbid  the  hope  of  their  early  removal,  our 
attention  should  be  the  more  promptly  and  zealously  directed  to  the  project  of 
connecting  the  waters  of  the  Hiwassee  with  those  of  the  Coosa.  The  inter- 
course between  East  Tennessee  and  South  Alabama  promises  the  most  solid 
advantages  to  both  parties.  Supplies  and  provisions,  important  and  necessary 
to  Alabama,  can  at  all  times  be  furnished  from  Tennessee  to  Mobile,  and  inter- 
mediate points,  whilst  our  people  could  receive  in  return,  not  only  cash,  but  gro- 
ceries and  other  heavy  articles  of  import,  which  are  now  procured  through  other 
channels,  after  much  delay,  and  at  great  expense. 

Superadded  to  these  is  the  national  consideration  of  warlike  defense  ;  for  past 
experience  has  proved  that  whilst  the  population  of  Kentucky  and  West  Ten- 
nessee are  mainly  to  be  relied  on  for  defending  from  invasion  the  great  emporium 
of  the  West,  the  brave  and  hardy  mountaineers  of  East  Tennessee  are  equally 
necessary  to  the  protection  of  Mobile,  and  all  the  contiguous  portions  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  development  of  wealth  in  the  middle  counties  of  our  State  has  not  been 


Internal  Improvements  in  Tennessee.  ^1*5 

more  the  result  of  favorable  soil  and  climate  than  of  natural  advantage,  and  fa- 
cility in  the  navigation  of  Cumberland  River.  That  noble  stream  has  but  few  im- 
pediments to  a  safe  passage  for  steamboats  far  above  Nashville.  The  nature  of 
these  impediments  is  now  so  well  understood  that  there  would  be  but  little  dan- 
ger of  injudicious  application  of  any  means  that  might  be  appropriated  to  their 
removal.  The  time  has  now  gone  by  when  the  successful  navigation  of  the 
Cumberland  is  considered  by  any  portion  of  our  citizens  as  being  exclusively 
beneficial  to  Nashville.  The  history  and  experience  of  the  last  seven  years  have 
given  ample  testimony  of  the  direct  benefit  resulting  to  every  county  west  of  the 
Cumberland  mountain.  The  deep  richness  of  soil  in  all  the  counties  watered 
by  Elk,  Duck,  and  Cumberland  Rivers  is  very  unfriendly  to  the  construction  of 
public  roads  upon  the  ordinary  plan  ;  the  population  residing  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  great  and  leading  market-roads  can  not,  with  the  labor  and  time 
justly  devoted  to  that  duty,  continue  such  repairs  as  our  present  laws  contem- 
plate for  all  public  highways.  The  existing  laws,  it  is  believed,-  are  not  unrea-. 
sonable  in  their  general  provisions,  and  although  more  than  one  attempt  has 
been  already  made  to  encourage  private  investment  in  turnpike  stock,  the  terms 
of  incorporation  have  in  none  been  sufficiently  approved. 

The  western  district  of  the  State  is  peculiarly  blessed  with  streams  intersect- 
ing the  country,  of  gentle  deep  current,  and  susceptible  of  great  improvement  at 
comparatively  small  expense.  The  wealth  and  population  of  the  country  has 
already,  and  without  any  adventitious  aids  from  public  funds  or  public  institu- 
tions, progressed  more  rapidly  and  more  steadily  than  had  been  hoped  for,  even 
by  the  most  sanguine  anticipations.  The  claims  of  warrant-holders  are  now 
all,  or  nearly  all,  satisfied,  and  the  scattered  remnants  of  land  that  remain  va- 
cant or  unappropriated,  though  belonging  to  the  General  Government  by  the 
terms  of  the  cession  and  compact,  will  never  be  of  sufficient  value  to  defray 
half  the  expense  of  bringing  them  into  market.  All  reasonable  calculation  at 
present  justifies  tjie  belief  that  the  memorials  heretofore  sent  by  the  Legislature 
will  at  the  next,  or  some  early  session  of  Congress,  be  disposed  of  in  a  way  to 
meet  the  wishes  of  Tennessee. 

A  relinquishment  of  their  title,  and  a  privilege  vested  in  our  State  authorities 
to  perfect  grants,  would  enable  us  to  open  offices  convenient  to  the  enterers,  on 
a  plan  similar  to  that  now  pursued  north  and  east  of  the  reservation  line;  and 
whatever  may  have  heretofore  been  deemed  our  truest  policy  in  disposing  of  our 
vacant  lands,  to  me  it  seems  evident  that  at  whatever  period  we  may  open  of- 
fices in  the  different  counties  of  the  western  district,  the  system  of  forcing  prices 
to  the  highest  possible  amount  ought  to  be  abandoned.  The  first  care  of  all 
governments  should  be  to  provide  that  each  individual  should  have  a  permanent 
home  and  residence.  The  difference  between  the  highest  and  lowest  product 
resulting  to  the  State  from  the  disposal  of  these  lands  can  be  of  little  public  con- 
sideration, whilst  to  indigent  individuals  already  in  possession,  or  wishing  to 
become  purchasers,  it  may  be  matter  of  the  greatest  importance ;  and  ^as  the 
two  principal  divisions  of  the  State  have  already  received  a  patrimony  for  pub- 
lic uses  in  some  of  its  most  valuable  lands,  it  may  not  be  unreasonable  in  our 
fellow-citizens  residing  west  of  the  reservation  line  to  expect  that  any  revenue 
hereafter  derived  from  the  lands  in  that  section  of  country  should  be  chiefly  ex- 
pended amongst  themselves  for  the  purposes  of  general  education  and  internal 
improvement. 


276  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

The  peculiar  condition  of  the  people  south  of  French  Broad  and  Holston  con- 
tinues to  be  a  subject  of  remonstrance  and  petition  ;  it  has  already  been  a  source 
of  much  legislation,  and  although  by  some  late  enactments  it  may  be  thought 
difficult  again  to  open  their  case  within  any  reasonable  hope  of  advantage,  yet 
it  seems  to  me  that  their  situation  still  entitles  them  to  the  very  grave  and  seri- 
ous consideration  of  the  general  assembly.  It  is  true,  that  according  to  all  the 
ordinary  rules  governing  compacts,  the  settlers  are  bound  to  pay,  and  without 
hesitation,  the  amount  stipulated  as  the  price  of  their  lands ;  but  it  must  at  the 
same  time  be  confessed  that  the  contract  in  some  of  its  leading  features  bears 
the  stamp  of  obligation  submitted  to  under  duress. 

The  occupants  of  that  country  were,  with  very  few  exceptions,  poor,  and  des- 
titute of  visible  effects  of  any  kind  ;  they  had  migrated  from  the  older  States  be- 
cause they  were  poor ;  they  had  made  small  improvements  at  the  imminent 
hazard  of  their  lives,  and  had  for  several  years  formed  a  barrier  between  the 
Holston  settlements  and  their  savage  foes.  The  era  of  peace  and  prosperity  to 
other  parts  of  the  country  found  them  in  possession  of  their  humble  log-cabins, 
unable  to  leave  them  in  the  hope  of  procuring  better,  and  prepared  in  their 
minds  to  cling  to  the  spot  endeared  to  them  by  so  many  interesting  recollec- 
tions, whatever  might  be  the  terms  of  tenure  imposed  on  them  by  the  Govern- 
ment. If  in  this  situation  they  are  forced  to  raise  obligation  on  themselves 
which  they  might  then  believe,  and  may  have  since  found  to  be  beyond  their 
ability,  should  not  the  Legislature,  with  the  kindest  feelings  of  parental  regard, 
seek  with  sedulous  anxiety  for  any  circumstance  of  amelioration  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  claims  yet  due  from  them,  which  even-handed  justice  will  admit  ? 

The  interest  on  all  the  installments  due  from  the  purchase  of  the  Hiwassee 
sales  has  now  become  due,  and  the  great  balance  of  principal  owing  to  the  State 
from  that  class  of  debtors  will,  by  the  terms  of  sale,  be  payable  at  a  short 
period.  A  combination  of  circumstances  meeting  at  the  time  of  these  sales, 
force  the  prices  up  to  a  standard  of  value  which  experience  has  shown  to  be 
wholly  fallacious  ;  a  paper  currency  deluged  the  country,  and  being  everywhere 
considered  to  be  as  legitimately  the  representative  of  property  as  specie  itself, 
the  facilities  of  procuring  it  baffle  the  calculations  of  the  most  cautious  and  pru- 
dent. When  the  day  of  sober  reckoning  came,  and  the  true  aspect  of  things 
was  presented  to  us  all,  no  one  could  boast  of  having  seen  farther  than  his 
neighbor  ;  the  delusion  had  spread  through  all  orders  and  conditions  of  society, 
and  suiely  we  should  not  now  be  backward  in  relieving,  by  every  proper  expe- 
dient, those  who  are  still  victims  of  that  period  of  general  infatuation.  The  act 
of  the  last  session  of  the  general  assembly,  permitting  the  purchasers  to  make 
payment  in  the  notes  of  the  Nashville  bank,  was  no  less  politic  than  humane. 
Considerable  collections  were  thereby  effected  in  a  species  of  fund  which,  though 
not  immediately  available,  will  become  so  at  no  distant  day. 

From  the  earliest  history  of  our  Government,  and  even  before  we  had  existed 
as  an  independent  State,  the  question  of  boundary  and  territorial  limits  had  pre- 
sented obstacles  to  the  harmonious  intercourse  which  ought  ever  to  exist  between 
sister  republics.  Tarn  not  aware  that  at  this  time  there  can  any  possible  mis- 
understanding arise  as  to  our  boundary,  of  jurisdiction  on  the  north ;  but  in  the 
application  of  one  particular  provision  of  the  compact  made  with  Kentucky  in 
the  winter  of  1820,  there  seems  a  difficulty  in  construction,  which  ought  no 
longer  to  exist.  Acting  on  the  spirit  of  compromise  and  conciliation  ever  enter 


Boundary  between  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.       277 

tained  by  us,  it  was  conceded  that,  whilst  Walker's  line  should  continue  to  be 
the  true  jurisdictional  boundary  between  us,  the  State  of  Kentucky  should  have 
the  benefit  and  privilege  of  entering,  and  perfecting  grants  to  all  vacant  lands 
lying  between  that  line  and  the  true  latitude  of  36°  and  30'  North. 

The  terms  of  the  compact  made  ample  provision  for  ascertaining  at  any  time 
the  line  of  boundary ;  but  there  was  no  stipulation  whereby  either  State  could, 
at  her  own  pleasure,  or  in  any  other  way,  establish  or  run  the  degree  of  latitude. 
More  than  two  years  ago  the  authorities  of  Kentucky,  without  our  participation, 
fixed  and  run  a  line  which  she  contends  is  the  true  line  of  latitude  ;  and  we  have 
subsequently  employed  mathematicians  on  our  part  who  have,  without  the  par- 
ticipation of  Kentucky,  taken  observations  and  made  a  report  differing  materially 
from  the  views  of  our  sister  State.  From  this  unsettled  state  of  affairs  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  expect  that  unpleasant  controversies  will  arise,  especially  between 
those  citizens  of  the  different  States  who  reside  on  or  adjoining  the  disputed 
territory ;  and  it  is  very  desirable  that  the  Legislature  should,  at  the  present 
session,  take  such  definitive  measure  as  will  put  the  subject  forever  at  rest. 

The  cheering  prospect  which  we  have  of  a  permanent  fund  for  the  establish- 
ment and  support  of  common  schools,  is  the  source  of  much  comfort  and  grati- 
fication to  the  heart  of  every  patriot  and  friend  to  the  perpetuity  of  -our  free  in- 
stitutions. It  is  not  to  be  presumed  that  the  limited  means  on  which  we  have 
had  to  commence  will  enable  us  to  mature  any  practical  plan  of  operation  within 
a  year  or  two ;  but  the  good  work  has  been  seriously  commenced,  and  we  have 
every  ground  for  reasonable  hope  that  it  will  go  on  and  prosper.  Already  has 
the  fund  set  apart  for  that  laudable  object  increased  to  an  amount  which  promises 
the  means  of  much  positive  usefulness  to  that  portion  of  the  community  for 
whose  benefit  and  advantage  it  was  originally  designed.  No  longer  will  the 
means  of  elementary  learning  be  limited  to  those  whose  private  resources  are 
equal  to  the  expense,  but  the  road  to  distinction  in  every  department  of  science 
and  moral  excellence  will  be  equally  open  to  all  the  youth  of  our  country  whose 
ambition  may  urge  them  on  in  the  contest  of  honorable  emulation. 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICE,    )  SAM  HOUSTON. 

Nashville,  Oct.  15,  1827.  j 

I,  D.  A.  NUNN,  Secretary  of  State  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  do  certify  that 
the  above  and  foregoing  is  a  true  and  perfect  copy  of  the  message  of  his  Excel- 
lency Governor  Sam  Houston,  the  original  of  which  is  in  said  office. 

In  testimony  whereof  I  have  hereunto  signed  my  official  signature ;  and  by 
order  of  the  Governor  have  hereunto  fixed  the  great  seal  of  the 
[L.  S.]      State  at  the  department  in  the  city  of  Nashville  this  November  the 
I5th,  1881. 

D.  A.  NUNN, 

Secretary  of  State. 


278  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

INAUGURAL  ADDRESS   AS   PRESIDENT  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF 
TEXAS,  DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  TEXAN  CONGRESS. 

COLUMBIA,  TEXAS,  Oct.  22,  1836. 

The  House  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  at  3  o'clock  P.M. 

The  Speaker  rose  and  administered  the  oath  of  office  to  the  President,  and 
then  to  the  Vice-President,  as  prescribed  in  the  Constitution. 

Whereupon  the  President  delivered  the  following  address  : 

MR.  SPEAKER  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  Deeply  impressed  with  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility devolving  on  me,  I  can  not,  in  justice  to  myself,  repress  the  emotions  of 
my  heart,  or  restrain  the  feelings  which  my  sense  of  obligation  to  my  fellow- 
citizens  has  inspired.  Their  suffrage  was  gratuitously  bestowed.  Preferred  to 
others,  possibly  superior  in  merit  to  myself,  called  to  the  most  important  station 
among  mankind,  by  the  voice  of  a  free  people,  it  is  utterly  impossible  not  to  feel 
impressed  with  the  deepest  sensations  'of  delicacy  in  my  present  situation  before 
mankind.  It  is  not  here  alone,  but  before  all  nations,  our  present  attitude  has 
rendered  my  position  and  that  of  the  country  one  of  peculiar  interest. 

A  spot  on  earth  almost  unknown  to  the  geography  of  the  age,  almost  desti- 
tute of  resources,  comparatively  few  in  numbers,  we  modestly  remonstrated 
against  oppression  ;  and  when  invaded  by  a  numerous  host,  we  dared  to  pro- 
claim our  independence  and  to  strike  for  freedom  on  the  breast  of  the  oppres- 
sors. As  yet  our  course  is  onward.  We  are  only  in  the  outset  of  the  campaign 
of  liberty.  Futurity  has  locked  up  the  destiny  which  awaits  our  people. 

Who  with  apathy  can  contemplate  a  situation  so  imposing  in  the  physical  and 
moral  world  ?  None  !  No,  not  one.  The  relations  among  ourselves  are  pecul- 
iarly delicate  and  important ;  for  no  matter  what  zeal  or  fidelity  I  may  possess 
in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  if  I  do  not  obtain  a  co-operation  and  an 
honest  support  from  the  co-ordinate  departments  of  the  Government,  wreck  and 
ruin  must  be  the  inevitable  consequences  of  my  administration. 

If,  then,  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty,  my  competency  should  fail  in  the  attain- 
ment of  the  great  objects  in  view,  it  would  become  your  sacred  duty  to  correct 
my  errors,  and  sustain  me  by  your  superior  wisdom.  This  much  I  anticipate ; 
this  much  I  demand.  I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  difficulties  that  surround  me, 
and  the  convulsive  throes  through  which  my  country  must  pass.  I  have  never 
been  emulous  of  the  honors  of  the  civic  wreath ;  when  merited,  it  crowns  a 
"happy  destiny.  A  country  situated  like  ours,  is  environed  with  difficulties  ;'  its 
administration  fraught  with  perplexities.  Had  it  been  my  destiny,  I  would  in- 
finitely have  preferred  the  toils,  privations,  and  perils  of  a  soldier,  to  the  duties 
of  my  present  station.  Nothing  but  zeal,  stimulated  by  the  holy  spirit  of  patriot- 
ism, and  guided  by  philosophy  and  wisdom,  can  give  that  impetus  to  our  ener- 
gies, necessary  to  surmount  the  difficulties  with  which  our  political  path  is  ob- 
structed. 

By  the  aid  of  your  intelligence,  I  trust  all  impediments  to  our  situation  will  be 
removed ;  that  all  wounds  in  the  body  politic  will  be  healed,  and  that  the  con- 
stitution of  the  Republic  will  derive  strength  and  vigor  equal  to  all  opposing 
energies.  I  shall  confidently  anticipate  the  establishment  of  constitutional  lib- 
erty. In  the  attainment  of  this  object  we  must  regard  our  relative  situation  to 
other  countries. 

A  subject  of  no  small  importance  to  our  welfare  is  the  situation  of  an  exten- 
sive frontier,  bordered  by  Indians,  and  subject  to  their  depredations.  Treaties 


Texan  Magnanimity  after  Victory.  270 

of  peace  and  amity,  and  maintenance  of  good  faith  with  the  Indians,  present 
themselves  to  my  mind  as  the  most  rational  grounds  on  which  to  obtain  their 
friendship.  Abstain  on  our  part  from  aggression,  establish  commerce  wkh  the 
different  tribes,  supply  their  useful  and  necessary  wants,  maintain  even-handed 
justice  with  them,  and  natural  reason  will  teach  them  the  utility  of  our  friendship. 

Admonished  by  the  past,  we  can  not  in  justice  disregard  our  national  ene- 
mies; vigilance  will  apprise  us  of  their  approach,  a  disciplined  and  valiant 
army  will  insure  their  discomfiture.  Without  discrimination  and  system,  how 
unavailing  would  all  the  resources  of  an  old  and  overpowering  treasury  prove  to 
us.  It  would  be  as  unprofitable  to  us  in  our  present  situation  as  the  rich  dia- 
mond locked  in  the  bosom  of  adamant.  We  can  not  hope  that  the  bosom  of 
our  beautiful  prairies  will  soon  be.  visited  with  the  balmy  breezes  of  peace.  We 
may  again  look  for  the  day  when  their  verdure  will  be  converted  into  dyes  of 
crimson.  We  must  keep  all  our  energies  alive,  our  army  organized  and  disci- 
plined and  increased  agreeably  to  our  present  necessities.  With  these  prepara- 
tions we  can  meet  and  vanquish  despotic  thousands  ;  this  is  the  attitude  which 
we  at  present  regard  as  our  own.  We  are  battling  for  human  liberty ;  reason 
and  friendship  must  characterize  our  acts. 

The  course  which  our  enemies  have  pursued  had  been  opposed  to  every  prin 
ciple  of  civilized  warfare ;  bad  faith,  inhumanity,  and  devastation  marked  their 
path  of  invasion.  We  were  a  little  band  contending  for  liberty  ;  they  were 
thousands,  well  appointed,  munitioned,  and  provisioned,  seeking  to  rivet  chains 
upon  us,  or  extirpate  us  from  the  earth.  Their  cruelties  have  incurred  the  uni- 
versal denunciation  of  Christendom.  They  will  not  pass  from  their  nation  dur- 
ing the  present  generation. 

The  contrast  of  our  conduct  is  manifest.  We  were  hunted  down  as  the  felon 
wolf;  our  little  band  driven  from  fastness  to  fastness;  exasperated  to  the  last 
extreme,  while  the  blood  of  our  kindred  and  our  friends  was  invoking  the  ven- 
geance of  an  offended  God,  was  smoking  to  the  high  Heaven,  we  met  the 
enemy,  and  vanquished  them.  They  fell  in  battle,  or  suppliantly  kneeled, 
and  were  spared.  We  offered  up  our  vengeance  at  the  shrine  of  humanity, 
while  Christianity  rejoiced  at  the  act,  and  viewed  with  delightful  pride  the  en- 
nobling sacrifice.  The  civilized  world  contemplated  with  proud  emotions  con- 
duct which  reflected  so  much  glory  on  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  The  moral 
effect  has  done  more  toward  our  liberation  than  the  defeat  of  the  army  ot 
veterans.  When  our  cause  has  been  presented  to  our  friends  in  the  land  of  our 
origin,  they  have  embraced  it  with  the  warmest  sympathies.  They  have  ren- 
dered us  manly  and  efficient  aid.  They  have  rallied  to  our  standard,  they  have 
fought  side  by  side  with  our  warriors,  they  have  bled,  and  their  dust  is  mingling 
with  our  heroes. 

At  this  moment  I  discover  numbers  around  me  who  battled  in  the  field  of  San 
Jacinto,  and  whose  chivalry  and  valor  have  identified  them  with  the  glory  of  the 
country,  its  name,  its  soil,  and  its  liberty.  There  sits  a  gentleman  within  my 
view  whose  personal  and  political  services  to  Texas  have  been  invaluable.  He  was 
the  first  in  the  United  States  to  espouse  our  cause.  His  purse  was  ever  open  to  our 
necessities.  His  hand  was  extended  to  our  aid.  His  presence  among  us,  and  his 
return  to  the  embraces  of  his  family  and  friends,  will  inspire  new  efforts  in  behalf 
of  our  cause.  (The  attention  of  the  Speaker,  and  that  of  Congress  was  directed  to 
Wm.  Christy,  Esq.,  of  New  Orleans,  who  sat,  by  invitation,  within  the  bar.) 


280  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

A  circumstance  of  the  highest  import  will  claim  the  attention  of  the  Court  of 
Washington.  In  the  election  which  has  recently  transpired  the  important  subject 
of  annexation  to  the  United  States  of  America  was  submitted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  people.  They  have  expressed  their  feelings  and  wishes  on  that  mo- 
mentous question.  They  have,  with  an  unanimity  unparalleled,  declared  that 
they  will  be  reunited  to  the  great  republican  family  of  the  North.  The  appeal 
is  made  by  a  willing  people.  Will  our  friends  disregard  it  ?  They  have  already 
bestowed  upon  us  their  warmest  sympathies.  Their  manly  and  generous  feel- 
ings have  been  enlisted  in  our  behalf.  We  are  cheered  by  the  hope  that  they 
will  receive  us  to  a  participancy  of  their  civil,  political,  and  religious  rights,  and 
hail  us  welcome  into  the  great  family  of  freemen. 

Our  misfortunes  have  been  their  misfortunes ;  our  sorrows,  too,  have  been 
theirs ;  and  their  joy  at  our  success  has  been  irrepressible. 

A-  thousand  considerations  press  upon  me,  each  claiming  attention ;  but  the 
shortness  of  the  notice  of  this  emergency  will  not  enable  me  to  do  justice  to 
those  subjects,  and  will  necessarily  induce  their  postponement  for  the  present. 

(Here  the  President  paused  for  a  few  seconds,  and  disengaged  his  sword.) 

It  now,  sir,  becomes  my  duty  to  make  a  presentation  of  this  sword, — this  em- 
blem of  my  past  office.  (The  President  was  unable  to  proceed  further,  but  hav- 
ing firmly  clenched  it  with  both  hands,  as  if  with  a  farewell  grasp,  a  tide  of 
varied  association  of  ideas  rushed  upon  him  in  the  moment ;  his  countenance 
bespoke  the  workings  of  the  strongest  emotions ;  his  mind  seemed  to  have 
turned  from  the  body  he  addressed  to  dwell  momentarily  on  the  glisten- 
ing blade,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  auditory  gave  outward  proof  of 
their  congeniality  of  feeling ;  it  was  in  reality  a  moment  of  deep  and  exciting 
interest.  After  this  pause,  more  eloquently  impressive  than  the  deepest  pathos 
conveyed  in  language,  the  President  proceeded.)  I  have  worn  it  with  some 
humble  pretensions  in  defence  of  my  country,  and  should  the  danger  of  my 
country  again  call  for  my  service,  I  expect  to  resume  it,  and  respond  to  that  call, 
if  needful,  with  my  blood  and  my  life. 

The  Vice-President  then  followed,  and  delivered  the  succeeding  address. 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  ) 
REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS,     I 
To  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES: 

GENTLEMEN  : — Circumstances  involving  important  interests  to  the  country 
have  induced  the  call  of  a  special  session  of  Congress,  which  subjects  will  re- 
quire your  attention  and  profound  deliberation ;  the  frequent  call  of  extraordi- 
nary sessions  is  to  be  deprecated,  and  would  have  been  avoided  on  the  present 
occasion,  especially  as  the  annual  session  of  Congress  will  occur  so  soon  ;  but 
the  necessity  of  your  present  meeting  could  not  be  so  well  anticipated  by  any 
future  action  of  your  honorable  body  as  it  can  at  the  present  moment. 

At  the  last  session  of  Congress  provision  was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a 
Commission  to  run  the  line  between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
Texas  ;  this  measure  was  based  so  as  to  correspond  with  measures  which  have 
been  adopted  on  the  part  of  the  Government  of  the  States ;  it  was  nevertheless 
deemed  satisfactory  as  to  its  correctness,  and  has  subsequently  been  verified,  as 


Land-Law — Boundary  Line.  281 

will  be  shown  to  your  honorable  body  by  documents,  which  will  be  referred  for 
your  consideration. 

The  land  law,  which  was  passed  by  the  last  Congress  of  the  Republic  ot 
Texas,  and  which  was  designed  to  take  effect  on  the  first  day  of  October  next, 
could  not  go  into  operation  without  conflicting  with  subjects  too  important  to 
be  disregarded,  inasmuch  as  some  of  the  land  districts  would  necessarily  fall 
within  that  section  of  country  over  which  the  United  States  have  for  some  years 
exercised  civil  jurisdiction,  but  over  which  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  Texas,  so  soon  as  the  limits  of  each  country  are  defined,  will  be  mani- 
festly entitled  to  the  civil  as  well  as  the  political  jurisdiction  thereof.  It  is  to  be 
deplored  that  so  soon  as  measures  had  been  adopted  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  on  this  subject,  that  the  Government  of  Texas  was  not  apprised 
of  the  fact,  or  its  agents  near  the  Government,  until  the  I7th  of  June  last,  when 
a  communication  was  made  to  our  agent  by  the  honorable  Secretary  of  Stat^ 
for  the  first  time,  of  the  desires  of  that  Government. 

Although  authority  was  given  to  the  Executive  of  Texas  to  appoint  a  Com 
mission  for  the  purpose  of  running  the  line,  in  accordance  with  stipulations 
long  since  existing,  yet  no  appointment  has  been  made,  for  the  reason  that  no 
satisfactory  intelligence  had  reached  this  Government  in  relation  to  the  course 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  might  wish  to  pursue.  No  time 
had  been  lost  in  communicating  to  our  Minister  at  Washington  city,  the  course 
which  had  been  adopted  at  the  last  session  of  Congress.  As  early  as  the  4th  of 
August  last,  a  special  communication  was  made  upon  that  subject  by  our  Min- 
ister. We  are  advised  that  he  had  received  no  response  to  his  communication. 
It  is  to  be  hoped,  as  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  now  in  session,  that 
the  subject  of  the  boundary  line  will  claim  the  prompt  action  of  that  Govern- 
ment, and  that  such  measures  will  be  adopted  by  its  functionaries  as  will  lead 
to  a  speedy  termination  of  the  subject,  and  obviate  all  such  embarrassments  as 
might  result  from  its  further  procrastination.  Nothing,  I  feel  confident,  on  the 
part  of  this  Government  will  be  omitted  which  can  conduce  to  the  amicable  ad 
justment  of  a  matter  desirable  and  important  to  the  two  countries.  As  the  land 
law  which  has  been  referred  to  is  necessarily  connected  with  this  subject,  it  will 
be  for  the  honorable  Congress  to  determine  what  modifications  or  revisions  may 
be  proper  for  adoption. 

The  period  at  which  the  annual  session  of  Congress  will  take  place  being  so 
near  at  hand,  it  is  presumed  that  the  present  session  will  not  adjourn  previous 
to  that  time ;  therefore  I  have  abstained  from  submitting  any  other  subjects  for 
the  present  other  than  those  which  induced  the  call  of  the  present  session.  At 
the  commencement  of  the  next  session  the  Executive  will  have  it  in  his  power 
to  present  to  Congress  the  situation  of  the  country  generally,  and  to  submit 
subjects  connected  immediately  with  the  defense  of  the  nation,  and  its  financial 
resources  for  their  action. 

Whilst  we  invoke  the  continuance  of  favors  which  have  been  conferred  upon 
us  by  an  Almighty  Being,  and  render  to  Him  our  grateful  homage,  let  us  re- 
member that  the  important  trusts  in  which  we  are  placed  demand  of  us  un- 
ceasing exertions  to  defend  and  preserve  our  independence,  by  our  united 
efforts  to  promote  the  happiness  of  our  constituents,  and  the  prosperity  and 
glory  of  our  country.  (Signed),  SAM  HOUSTON. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  September  2$,  1837. 


282  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 

Second    Session   of  the  First  Congress,  held  by  adjournment   at  the  City  of 
Houston,  and  commencing  Monday,  May  ist,  1837. 

HOUSTON,  May  5,  1837. 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

With  peculiar  pleasure  I  greet  your  return  to  the  Capitol.  At  the  adjourn- 
ment of  the  last  session,  the  country  was  under  the  apprehension  of  an  invasion 
from  our  enemy,  which  created  much  solicitude,  and  had  an  unkind  influence  on 
our  foreign  relations.  It  was  temporary  in  its  effects,  as  was  manifested  in  the 
recognition  of  our  independence  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
of  America.  We  now  occupy  the  proud  attitude  of  a  sovereign  and  independent 
Republic,  which  will  impose  upon  us  the  obligation  of  evincing  to  the  world  that 
we  are  worthy  to  be  free.  This  will  only  be  accomplished  by  wise  legislation, 
the  maintenance  of  our  integrity,  and  the  faithful  and  just  redemption  of  our 
plighted  faith  wherever  it  has  been  pledged.  Nothing  can  be  better  calculated 
to  advance  our  interests  and  character  than  the  establishment  of  a  liberal  and 
disinterested  policy  enlightened  by  patriotism  and  guided  by  wisdom. 

The  plan  of  legislating  for  present  emergencies,  without  reference  to  a  general 
and  permanent  system,  will  render  a  government  less  stable  in  its  institutions, 
and  less  prosperous  in  its  progress,  than  it  must  be  where  a  proper  foundation  is 
laid  and  a  corresponding  fabric  is. erected  on  its  basis.  Diversified  interests 
must  exist  in  every  community,  and  that  system  which  is  best  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  general  interest  is  the  one  which  should  be  adopted  and  adhered  to 
with  fidelity.  The  representatives  of  the  sovereign  people,  by  a  calm  and  de- 
liberate discussion  of  the  various  interests  of  the  different  sections  of  our  coun- 
try, will  be  enabled  to  arrive  at  such  conclusions*  as  will  induce  them  to  adopt  a 
course  which  must  be  in  its  effects  both  salutary  and  pleasing  to  every  true 
patriot. 

The  views  which  must  actuate  every  friend  of  the  country  will  be  the  advance- 
ment of  its  glory  and  the  happiness  of  its  citizens.  The  present  prospects 
of  crops  in  our  country  is  a  subject  of  sincere  gratulation,  and,  while  it  reflects 
lustre  on  the  industry  and  enterprise  of  our  citizens,  it  should  inspire  us  with 
veneration  and  gratitude  to  a  Divine  Providence  for  this  manifestation  of  His 
continued  favor. 

Among  the  various  subjects  of  deep  and  vital  interest  to  the  country  is  that  of 
our  finances.  The  demands  on  our  treasury  since  the  adjournment  of  Congress 
have  been  great,  without  the  means  of  meeting  them,  and  of  rendering  that  aid 
which  was  in  every  way  so  desirable. 

The  several  acts  providing  for  the  issues  of  land  scrip  to  the  agents  specified 
have  been  complied  with,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  comparatively  none  of  the  re- 
sponsibilities incurred  by  the  laws  have  been  met  by  these  agents  to  whom  the 
scrip  was  issued.  A  compliance  with  the  conditions  of  the  law  placed  the 
agents  beyond  the  control  of  the  Executive,  and  left  it  without  resources,  so  far 
as  the  supplies  of  the  army  and  navy  were  dependent  upon  the  means  placed  in 
their  hands.  Repeated  calls  have  been  made  upon  them  to  render  their  ac- 
counts current  to  the  proper  department,  but  no  response  has  been  given,  nor 
reason  rendered  for  protesting  the  drafts  which  have  been  drawn  upon  them. 
This  state  of  affairs  being  presented,  the  Executive  resorted  to  the  only  alterna- 


Loans ',  Land- Sales,  and  U.  S.  Boundary.          283 

tive  left,  and  directed  that  no  farther  sales  of  scrip  should  take  place  by  them, 
but  that  the  means  remaining  in  their  hands  should  be  immediately  passed  over 
to  the  special  agent  of  the  Government,  and  that  they  should  render  their  ac- 
counts accordingly.  To  this  subject  the  early  attention  of  Congress  is  earnestly 
requested. 

The  Commissioners  sent  to  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a 
loan  of  five  millions,  have  constantly  reported  so  unfavorably  of  the  money- 
market,  that  it  was  not  deemed  necessary  to  issue  the  bonds  until  recently.  One 
of  the  gentlemen  indicating  a  wish  to  retire,  after  having  been  much  delayed  on 
his  journey  by  ill-health,  and  the  other  giving  us  no  hope  of  being  able  to  effect 
anything  by  present  exertions,  it  was  thought  proper  to  permit  them  both  to  re- 
turn, and  others  have  been  appointed,  and  proceeded  to  the  United  States  with 
a  part  of  the  bonds,  and  with  confident  hopes  of  success. 

The  public  domain  of  the  country  being  the  foundation  of  its  finances,  will  de- 
mand the  most  serious  and  enlightened  judgment  of  Congress,  and,  from  its  im- 
portance, urge  the  necessity  of  adopting  some  secure  system  for  the  future  gov- 
ernment of  that  branch  of  our  resources,  and  for  the  regulation  of  the  rights 
which  have  been  acquired  under  former  laws  in  relation  to  it.  The  views  of  the 
Executive  having  been  given  during  the  last  session  of  Congress  in  relation  to 
the  land  bill  submitted  for  approval,  have  undergone  no  change,  but  time  has 
only  given  to  them  additional  weight.  By  reference  to  the  bill,  it  must  be  mani- 
fest to  all  that  it  is  not  adapted  to  our  situation,  and  should  it  be  permitted  to  go 
into  effect  the  public  interest  must  suffer  injury,  and  the  public  faith,  so  far  as  it 
is  concerned  in  the  redemption  of  pledges  based  on  her  public  domain,  must  also 
suffer  serious  prejudice.  I  would  recommend  that  some  plan  be  devised  that 
will  ascertain  all  the  located  lands  of  the  country ;  this  being  done,  the  vacant 
lands  will  be  readily  indicated,  and  prevent,  in  future,  conflict  of  titles.  Unless 
some  precaution  of  this  character  is  adopted,  endless  litigation  must  be  the  eon- 
sequence. 

The  subject  of  the  undefined  limits  on  our  northeastern  frontier,  between  the 
United  States  and  this  Republic,  will  require  the  action,  of  Congress.  The 
boundaries  have  been  so  well  described  by  the  treaty  of  1819,  between  Spain 
and  the  United  States,  that  little  difficulty  is  apprehended  in  defining  and  estab- 
lishing our  just  line,  and  obviating  all  trifling  difficulties  which  may  have  at  any 
time  existed  through  a  want  of  proper  consideration.  Provision  for  the  appoint-  . 
ment  of  a  commissioner,  to  meet  one  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  is 
desirable.  Connected  with  the  subject  of  boundary  is  that  of  the  Caddo  Indians, 
inhabiting  a  portion  of  our  northeastern  frontier.  By  a  treaty  recently  held  with 
that  tribe  they  have  ceded  certain  lands  to  the  United  States,  and  have  shown  a 
disposition  to  amalgamate  with  the  wild  Indians  within  our  unquestionable 
boundary,  while  late  advices  have  assured  me  that  the  United  States  agent  of 
the  tribe  has  issued  to  the  warriors  rifles  and  ammunition.  The  condition  and 
disposition  of 'these  Indians,  as  well  as  their  thefts  and  murders  upon  our  bor- 
ders, have  been  subjects  on  which  our  ministers  at  Washington  City  have  been 
advised  and  instructed  to  make  immediate  and  urgent  remonstrances  to  that 
Government,  and  I  am  well  assured,  from  the  character  of  the  gentlemen,  that 
they  have  not  been  wanting  to  their  duty  in  this  respect.  The  principal  aggres- 
sions on  our  frontiers  have  either  been  instigated  or  perpetrated  by  the  Caddos. 
It  would  be  painful  to  suppose,  under  the  circumstances,  that  the  United  States 


284  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

agent,  in  furnishing-  them  the  means  of  further  injury  to  the  exposed  frontier  in- 
habitants of  our  country,  had  acted  under  the  orders  of  his  Government.  It  is 
due  to  his  Government  to  suppose  that  he  had  proceeded  unadvisedly,  and  that 
the  stipulations  of  the  treaty  concluded  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico, 
in  April,  1830,  will  be  rigidly  adhered  to  so  far  as  they  appertain  to  the  United 
States  and  Republic  of  Texas.  It  was  among  the  first  objects  of  the  Constitu- 
tional Government,  on  assuming  its  duties,  to  adopt  such  measures  as  would 
give  peace  and  security  to  our  extended  frontier.  For  this  purpose,  commis- 
sioners were  appointed,  at  an  early  period,  to  hold  treaties  with  several  of  the 
most  numerous 'and  active  of  the  frontier  tribes.  As  yet,  nothing  has  been  ef- 
fected, owing  in  part  to  the  season  of  the  year  at  which  the  business  was  com- 
menced, as  well  as  to  other  causes.  A  hope  rs  entertained  that  something  bene- 
ficial will  shortly  result,  as  our  commissioners  are  in  constant  expectation  of 
forming  a  treaty  with  the  associate  bands  of  the  prairies.  This  Government  has 
recently  received  information,  from  sources  entirely  satisfactory,  that  a  delega- 
tion, consisting  of  twenty  Northern  Indians,  residing  on  the  borders  of  the 
United  States,  had  visited  the  town  of  Matamoras  and  had  stipulated  with  the 
Mexican  authorities  to  furnish  that  Government  three  thousand  warriors,  well 
armed,  so  soon  as  it  would  invade  Texas.  Commenting  upon  such  alliances  in 
the  present  age  would  be  an  insult  to  chivalry,  and  a  reflection  upon  the  hearts 
and  understandings  of  those  who  have  sought  to  establish  the  maxim  that  war 
is  calamitous  enough  without  the  evils  of  treachery  and  massacre,  which  devote 
alike  the  female  and  the  warrior  to  cruelty  and  death.  Assurances  are  rendered 
to  this  Government  that  citizens  of  this  Republic  have  lately  been  made  prison- 
ers by  the  Caddos,  and  that  scalps  recently  taken  on  our  frontier  have  been  seen 
in  their  nation.  It  is  within  the  province  of  this  Government  to  inquire  into  the 
causes  which  have  produced  these  calamities,  and  no  vigilance  on  my  part  shall 
be  wanting  to  prevent  their  recurrence.  I  feel  fully  aware  that  the  policy  of  this 
Government  is  to  pursue  a  just  and  liberal  course  toward  our  Indian  neighbors, 
and  to  prevent  all  encroachments  upon  their  rights. 

The  army  of  Texas  has  never  been  in  a  more  favorable  condition  than  at 
present.  The  permanent  force  in  the  field  is  sufficient  to  meet  all  the  emergencies 
of  invasions  while  at  the  shortest  notice  the  defence  of  the  country  can  be 
brought  into  immediate  action  in  that  event. 

I  feel  assured  that  a  system  of  discipline,  subordination,  and  police  has  been 
established  in  the  army,  which  reflects  much  credit  upon  its  General,  and  does 
no  less  honor  to  the  officers  and  soldiers  than  to  our  country.  They  have  en- ' 
countered  many  privations  and  difficulties  within  the  last  season,  which  it  was 
impossible  for  the  Government  to  avert,  owing  to  causes  already  stated,  and  I 
am  proud  to  say,  that  order  has  been  manifested,  and  the  spirits  of  those  men  de- 
voted to  liberty  have  not  sunk  into  pusillanimity  and  weakness,  but  have  been 
borne  up  and  illumined  by  the  ardent  hope  that  they  may,  ere  long,  meet  an 
enemy  opposed  to  human  rights,  when  they  can  evince  to  the  world,  that  they 
are  the  descendants  of  freemen,  and  that  they  are  invincible.  I  feel  a  pleasure  in 
recommending  their  condition  to  the  consideration  of  Congress ;  and  trust  that 
every  possible  aid  may  be  rendered  to  their  comfort,  efficiency,  and  glory.  At 
the  same  time  I  feel  assured  that  they  will  not  disregard  the  history  of  revolu- 
tions, and  that  one  important  truth  will  not  escape  their  observation,  viz. :  that 
those  who  contend  for  liberty,  must  be  prepared  to  endure  privations.  The 


Texan  Navy — African  Slave  Trade.  285 

glory  of  the  soldier  is  always  proportioned  to  the  difficulty  and  danger  of  his 
achievements.  The  situation  of  the  army  at  the  adjournment  of  the  last  session 
of  Congress,  was  far  from  what  was  desirable  to  the  country.  Since  then  an  or- 
ganization has  taken  place,  and  much  credit  is  due  to  the  officers  and  soldiers 
for  their  ready  obedience  to  the  law  and  regulations  which  have  been  enacted 
for  their  government.  By  the  reduction  of  the  number  of  supernumerary  offi- 
cers, its  expenses  have  been  diminished  to  the  amount  of  $229,032  per  annum. 
The  requisite  number  of  officers  are  now  in  command,  and  the  organization  is 
complete. 

The  insufficiency  of  our  navy  must  be  a  subject  of  serious  consideration. 
When  the  constitutional  Government  assumed  its  functions,  the  armed  vessels. 
Brtdits  and  Invincible,  were  in  the  Port  of  New  York,  and  remained  there 
until  a  few  weeks  past,  when  they  returned,  but  without  either  crews  or  pro- 
visions for  a  cruise. 

The  Independence,  having  not  more  than  two  weeks*  provisions,  was  taken  to 
New  Orleans  some  months  since,  where  she  has  been  detained,  and  has  not  yet 
been  reported  to  this  Government  for  service. 

At  an  early  day  a  confidential  officer  was  dispatched  to  the  United  States,  for 
the  purpose  of  purchasing  such  vessels  as  would  enable  us  to  keep  the  command 
of  the  Gulf  from  our  enemy. 

He  has  reported  to  the  proper  department,  and  his  arrival  is  daily  expected 
with  one  or  more  fine  vessels,  in  preparation  to  defend  our  commerce,  and  make 
reprisals  on  the  enemy. 

Our  commerce  has  suffered  to  some  extent,  and  a  small  portion  of  supplies 
for  the  army  has  been  captured  and  taken  into  Mexican  ports.  I  take  leave  to 
call  the  serious  attention  of  Congress  to  the  establishment  of  a  naval  depot  at 
some  point  on  our  coast,  which  will  add  greatly  to  our  efficiency  at  sea',  and  at 
the  same  time  diminish  our  expenses. 

The  suspension  of  business  attendant  on  the  removal  of  the  public  archive 
and  documents,  with  other  reasons,  has  rendered  it  impossible  to  lay  before 
Congress  detailed  reports  of  the  several  departments  of  the  Government,  show- 
ing their  condition  ;  but  so.  soon  as  practicable,  and  at  an  early  day,  they  will  be 
submitted,  and  all  important  information  referred  to  Congress. 

Not  unconnected  with  the  naval  force  of  the  country,  is  the  subject  of  the 
.African  slave  trade.  It  can  not  be  disbelieved  that  thousands  of  Africans  have 
lately  been  imported  to  the  Island  of  Cuba,  with  a  design  to  transfer  a  large 
portion  of  them  into  this  Republic.  This  unholy  and  cruel  traffic  has  called 
down  the  reprobation  of  the  humane  and  just  of  all  civilized  nations.  Our  ab- 
horrence to  it  is  clearly  expressed  in  our  constitution  and  laws.  Nor  has  it 
rested  alone  upon  the  declaration  of  our  policy,  but  has  long  since  been  a  sub- 
ject of  representation  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  our  ministers  ap- 
prising it  of  every  fact  which  would  enable  it  to  devise  such  means  as  would 
prevent  either  the  landing  or  introduction  of  Africans  into  our  country. 

The  naval  force  of  Texas  not  being  in  a  situation  to  be  diverted  from  our  im- 
mediate defence,  will  be  a  sufficient  reason  why  the  Governments  of  the  United 
States  and  England  should  employ  such  a  portion  of  their  forces  in  the  Gulf  as 
will  at  once  arrest  the  accursed  trade,  and  redeem  this  republic  from  the  sus- 
picion of  connivance ;  which  would  be  as  detrimental  to  its  character  as  the  practice 
is  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  its  citizens.  Should  the  traffic  continue,  the 


286  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

odium  can  not  rest  upon  us,  but  will  remain  a  blot  upon  the  escutcheon  of 
nations  who  have  power,  and  withhold  their  hand  from  the  work  of  humanity. 

It  will  be  proper  to  remark  that  our  attitude  in  relation  to  the  subject  of  an- 
nexation to  the  United  States  of  America,  has  undergone  no  important  change 
since  the  adjournment  of  the  last  session  of  Congress.  Our  ministers  at  Wash- 
ington City  gave  to  the  subject  of  our  national  concerns,  their  able,  zealous,  and 
untiring  attention,  and  much  credit  is  due  to  them  for  the  character  which  they 
sustained  in  advocating  our  interests  at  a  foreign  court.  The  period  at  which 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  was  compelled  to  adjourn,  prevented  any  ac- 
tion of  that  Government,  relative  to  annexation.  It  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  referred 
to  the  action  of  the  next  session,  and  receive  an  early  determination. 

In  the  meantime  it  will  be  proper  for  Texas  to  pursue  a  course  of  policy 
which  will  be  beneficial  to  her  in  a  character  substantive,  and  to  secure  her  ex- 
istence and  her  rights,  without  reference  to  contingencies.  For  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  determine  what  are  to  be  her  future  relations  to  the  civilized  nations  of 
the  globe.  Blessed  with  a  soil  the  most  fertile,  and  climate  the  most  delightful 
and  salubrious,  Texas  must  attract  the  attention  of  all  the  commercial  and 
manufacturing  nations  of  the  world. 

Her  cotton,  sugar,  indigo,  wines,  poultries,  live  stock,  and  precious  minerals 
will  all  become  objects  of  mercantile  enterprise  and  activity. 

Nor  can  we  lose  sight  of  the  important  production  of  the  live  oak.  It  is  but 
reasonable  to  say  that  four-fifths  of  all  that  species  of  timber  now  in  the  world, 
is  to  be  found  growing  in  Texas,  while  many  millions'  worth  of  it  is  daily  decay- 
ing on  our  cultivated  fields. 

To  establish  such  intercourse  with  nations  friendly  to  us,  as  will  induce  them 
to  seek  our  market  with  their  manufactures  and  commodities,  and  receive  from 
us  in  exchange  our  productions,  will  become  our  most  imperative  duty. 

Texas  with  her  superior  natural  advantages  must  become  a  point  of  attrac- 
tion, and  the  policy  of  establishing  with  her  the  earliest  relations  of  friendship 
and  commerce,  will  not  escape  the  eye  of  statesmen. 

England  has  not  disregarded  our  situation  thus  far,  nor  can  we  believe,  from 
the  indications  already  manifested  by  her,  that  she  is  to  regard  our  prosperity 
with  unkind  feelings  of  suspicion  or  indifference. 

Should  our  resources  be  regulated  by  a  wise  and  politic  system  of  legislation, 
we  must  remain  independent  and  become  a  prosperous  people. 

Our  relations  to  Mexico  since  the  last  session  of  Congress,  have  undergone 
no  important  change,  nor  have  overtures  been  made  by  either  nation. 

Texas,  confident  that  she  can  sustain  the  rights  for  which  she  has  contended, 
is  not  willing  to  invoke  the  mediation  of  other  powers  !  While  Mexico,  blind  to 
her  interest  and  her  future  existence,  seems  determined  on  protracting  the  war 
without  regard  to  her  internal  commotions.  Revolution  is  stalking  abroad 
throughout  her  land,  while  she  is  unable  to  defend  her  frontier  against  the  in- 
cursions of  the  bands  of  predatory  Indians  on  the  frontier  of  the  Rio  Grande  ; 
from  Santa  F6  to  Matamoras. 

Early  in  last  winter  a  correspondence  was  opened  by  the  Secretary  of  State  with 
the  Mexican  Consul  at  New  Orleans,  containing  propositions  to  exchange  prison- 
ers, so  far  as  the  number  of  Texans  would  extend,  and  then  to  release  the  excess 
of  Mexican  prisoners  on  parole.  Notwithstanding  the  humanity  and  liberality 
of  this  offer,  it  has  met  no  official  response  from  that  Government.  It  seemed 


Revision  of  Laws — Land  Titles.  287 

to  me,  that  it  would  be  in  accordance  with  the  civilization  of  the  age,  to  release 
all  the  prisoners,  and  to  permit  them  to  leave  our  shores  so  soon  as  they  can  do 
so.  In  the  meantime  I  have  learned  that  our  citizens,  as  well  as  the  prisoners 
at  Matamoras  (amounting  to  thirteen  in  number),  have  been  liberated.  It  is 
impossible  for  me  to  account  for  the  apathy  with  which  Mexico  treated  the  sub- 
ject, and  her  willingness  to  permit  a  portion  of  the  bravest  troops  of  the  nation 
to  remain  prisoners  in  exile,  when  a  just  policy  would  at  once  have  restored 
them  to  their  country  and  homes. 

Congress  will  no  doubt  find  it  necessary  to  revise  the  laws  of  the  Republic, 
and  to  direct  that  a  digest  be  made  of  those  of  Coahuila  and  Texas,  so  far  as 
they  may  be  useful  to  the  establishment  of  rights  acquired  under  them. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  adoption  of  the  common  laws  of  England,  with  modi- 
fications adapted  to  our  situation,  is  required  by  the  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. 

Nothing  can  conduce  more  to  the  order  and  stability  of  a  Government,  than 
the  simplicity  of  laws,  the  proper  definition  of  rights,  and  their  impartial  and 
consistent  administration. 

•  I  will  not  close  this  communication  to  your  honorable  body,  without  present- 
ing to  your  consideration,  the  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United  States,  who  ac- 
quired as  they  conceived,  bona  fide  titles  to  lands  in  Texas. 

It  is  due  to  many  of  these  individuals,  to  suggest,  that  their  generous  and 
manly  efforts  in  behalf  of  our  cause,  will  entitle  them  to  the  most  favorable  de- 
cisions of  Congress. 

Their  means  have  aided  us  in  the  darkest  hours  of  our  probation,  and  recently 
have  aided  in  dispelling  our  embarrassments.  Such  men  deserve  the  gratitude, 
as  well  as  the  justice  of  the  country. 

While  reflecting  upon  the  dispensations  of  an  Almighty  Being,  who  has  con- 
ducted our  country  through  scenes  of  unparalleled  privation,  massacre,  and 
suffering,  it  is  but  gratitude  and  sensibility  to  render  to  Him  our  most  devout 
thanks,  and  invoke  His  kind  benignity  and  future  providence,  that  He  will  pre- 
serve and  govern  us  a  chosen  people. 

(Signed),  SAM  HOUSTON. 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,      .  ) 
CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  Nov.  21,  1837.) 

GENTLEMEN  :  Congress  having  been  apprised  of  the  reasons  which  have 
delayed  the  Executive  in  presenting  his  views  to  their  consideration,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  annual  session,  will  supersede  the  necessity  of  an  apology. 

The  important  responsibility  which  at  the  commencement  of  every  communi- 
ty or  nation,  must  devolve  upon  its  law-givers  and  officers,  is  manifest  to  all 
but  the  heedless,  and  will  be  properly  estimated  by  the  patriotic  and  virtuous  of 
every  country  on  whom  those  duties  may  be  conferred.  Upon  their  exertions 
must  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  a  nation  depend  at  home,  and  by  their 
acts  will  its  character  be  ascertained  and  determined  in  the  opinions  of  the  en- 
lightened abroad.  Our  relations  to  the  nations  of  Europe,  as  well  as  to  the 
Governments  of  South  America,  have  yet  to  be  established,  nor  has  the  impor- 


288  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

tance  of  this  subject  been  disregarded,  particularly  with  England  and  France,  as 
our  commercial  relations,  so  far  as  they  depend  upon  European  supplies,  must 
exist  with  those  nations.  Since  the  departure  of  our  Commissioner  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James,  no  intelligence  from  him  has  reached  this  Government. 

For  the  regulation  of  the  circumstances  of  foreign  ministers,  agents,  and  con- 
suls, it  will  be  necessary  to  pass  enactments,  or  to  adopt  some  system  to  facili- 
tate the  desires  of  the  Government,  and  obviate  the  embarrassments  which  must 
impede  their  success.  Upon  this  subject  a  report  of  the  Secretary  of  State  will 
be  presented  to  Congress  for  consideration. 

The  relations  which  existed  between  this  country  and  the  United  States,  at 
the  period  of  my  last  communication  on  the  subject,  have  undergone  no  impor- 
tant change,  unless  we  regard  the  correspondence  of  our  minister  at  Washing- 
ton, with  the  honorable  Secretary  of  State,  as  indicating  the  determination  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  upon  the  subject  of  our  annexation.  This 
government,  from  the  expression  of  the  people  of  Texas,  having  in  the  most 
frank  and  undisguised  manner  presented  their  desires  for  annexation,  and  en- 
forced them  by  considerations  which  appeared  conclusively  to  be  beneficial  to 
both  countries,  did  hope  that  the  United  States  would  deem  it  their  interest, 
while  in  the  prosecution  of  a  wise  and  just  policy,  to  receive  and  embrace  Texas 
as  an  integral  part  of  the  Union  of  the  North.  The  consummation  of  this  de- 
sire seems  to  be  postponed  for  the  present,  and  will  render  the  course  which  we 
should  adopt  palpabk  and  necessary.  Recognized  as  we  have  been  by  the 
United  States  a  free,  sovereign,  and  independent  nation,  it  becomes  our  imperi- 
ous duty  to  pursue  such  a  course  of  policy  and  legislation  as  will  at  once  com- 
mand the  respect  and  confidence  of  other  nations,  while  our  internal  safety  and 
prosperity  will  be  secured.  A  fair  and  liberal  policy  should  be  extended  to  all 
nations  who  may  desire  to  establish  commercial  relations  with  us,  or  who  may 
deem  it  proper  to  introduce  their  fabrics  or  commodities  into  our  country. 

The  Charge  d'AfFaires  of  the  United  States,  duly  accredited,  has  been  received 
in  the  Government  of  Texas,  and  confidence  is  entertained  that  the  most  friendly  re- 
ciprocal understanding  between  the  two  countries  will  be  established  and  preserved. 
This  circumstance  originating  with  our  mother  country,  the  first  to  hail  Texas 
as  a  member  of  the  great  family  of  nations,  is  calculated  to  awaken  in  us  emo- 
tions the  most  friendly,  and  inspire  us  with  a  manly  confidence  in  our  condition. 
A  well-organized  judiciary,  composed  of  enlightened  and  honest  members,  is 
the  palladium  of  civil  liberty.     The  present  existing  laws  are  doubtless  as  per- 
fect as  could  have  been  expected  to  arise  under  the  circumstances  in  which  they 
were  created.     Experience  and  time  have  demonstrated  to  us  their  insufficiency, 
and  forcibly  inculcate  the  necessity  of  a  remedy.     The  resources  of  the  several 
counties  up  to  this  time,  have  not  authorized  the  creation  of  jails.     For  the 
remedy  of  this  defect,  I  would  recommend  that  authority  be  given  to  the  several 
district  judges  (where  information  shall  be  filed)  in  cases  of  felony,  to  direct  the 
immediate  trial  of  the  accused.     From  this  course  no  prejudice  can  arise  to  the 
culprit,  while  the  country  will  be  relieved  from  a  burden,  and  the  opportunities 
of  the  guilty  to  escape  from  justice  will  be  diminished.     The  regulations  of  fees 
and  perquisites  connected  with  the  judicial  department  of  the  Government  is  a 
subject  of  much  importance,  and  should  claim  the  scrutiny  and  consideration 
of  Congress.     If  this  is  done  we  may  hope  that  cupidity  will  be  disappointed, 
and  extortion  banished  from  our  land. 


Revenue-Laws — Funding  Texan  Debt.  289 

The  finances  of  our  country  since  the  commencement  of  the  revolution  up  to 
this  time,  have  been  in  a  more  embarrassed  situation,  doubtless,  than  any  other 
nation  ever  experienced.  Since  the  commencement  of  the  present  administra- 
tion, during  the  first  year,  there  was  at  the  disposition  of  the  Executive,  or  in 
the  Treasury,  but  five  hundred  dollars  in  cash.  The  several  amounts  which  had 
been  appropriated  for  specific  or  general  purposes  depended  upon  the  sale  of 
scrip,  and  that,  by  acts  of  Congress,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  foreign  agents 
who  were  irresponsible  to  the  Executive,  having  given  no  security  so  as  to  in- 
sure accountability,  and  furthermore,  placed  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  ourselves. 
This  imaginary  and  unfortunate  expedient  is  now  at  an  end,  and  has  left  the 
Government  in  a  situation  to  afford  the  most  ample  redemption  of  all  her  pledges 
and  responsibilities. 

A  boundless  revenue  to  the  country  will  arise  from  the  opening  of  the  Land 
Offices,  and  so  soon  as  that  can  take  place  consistently  with  the  positive  provi- 
sions of  the  Constitution,  and  regulated  by  such  enactments  as  will  guard  the 
public  interest  against  fraud  and  imposition,  it  will  meet  the  desire  of  the  Execu- 
tive, and  promote  the  public  tranquillity. 

Owing  to  the  financial  derangement  in  the  United  States,  from  which  our  cur- 
rency was  almost  entirely  derived,  and  where  it  was  hoped  that  this  country 
could  obtain  a  negotiation  for  five  millions  of  dollars,  our  expectations  have  not 
been  realized.  By  the  last  advices  from  our  agents  of  the  loan  they  had  not  suc- 
ceeded, but  regarded  the  prospect  of  success  greater  than  they  had  been  at  any 
previous  time. 

The  enactments  of  Congress  authorizing  the  funding  of  a  portion  of  the  public 
debt,  in  connection  with  the  issue  of  a  half-million  of  treasury  notes,  is  calculated 
in  a  short  time  to  relieve  the  Government  from  embarrassment  and  establish  a 
currency  of  her  own,  superior  in  value  to  any  which  can  be  introduced  of  the 
non-specie  paying  banks  of  the  United  States.  The  resources  of  the  Govern- 
ment, which  are  pledged  for  the  payment  of  the  interest,  and  the  redemption  of 
our  notes  and  certificates,  are  ample  and  unquestionable,  and  as  long  as  Con- 
gress may  decline  issuing  an  excess  of  notes,  or  does  not  exceed  a  half-million  of 
dollars,  and  that  amount  is  received  at  the  treasury,  for  all  dues  to  Government, 
at  par  with  gold  and  silver,  we  will  have  a  sound  currency,  and  one  that  will 
have  credit  in  countries  which  have  commercial  intercourse  with  us.  Five  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  will  supply  all  the  necessities  of  exchange  among  our- 
selves ;  and  while  it  is  received  for  revenue,  and  in  payment  for  public  lands, 
should  it  not  be  sufficient  for  the  purposes  of  exchange,  the  precious  metals  will 
find  their  way  into  our  country  and  supply  the  deficiency  or  scarcity  of  our  cur- 
rency, giving  to  it  additional  value.  The  issuing  of  a  greater  amount  of  notes 
than  what  would  meet  the  actual  necessities  of  a  circulating  medium  (while  the 
Government  is  continually  receiving  it  in  revenue,  and  paying  it  out  for  demands 
against  it),  would  cause  depreciation  in  its  value,  in  the  same  proportion  to  the 
surplus  amount  that  may  be  issued.  As  no  experiment  has  yet  been  tried  to 
ascertain  the  requisite  amount,  no  possible  prejudices  can  result  to  the  country 
or  to  individuals  by  adhering  to  the  present  enactments  on  the  subject  until  the 
next  session  of  Congress,  while,  by  pursuing  a  contrary  course,  it  may  involve 
our  finances  in  difficulty  irremediable. 

The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  submitted  to  Congress,  and  is 
the  result  of  much  application  and  attention  to  the  subject  of  finance,  and  em- 
19 


290  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

braces  views  and  a  system  as  well  adapted  to  our  situation  as  any  that  could  be 
presented  at  the  present  time.  Intimately  connected  with  the  resources  of  the 
treasury  is  the  accountability  of  the  receiving  and  disbursing  officers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. It  must  be  the  case  with  us  as  with  all  other  countries,  that  defalca- 
tions will  take  place  ;  to  guard  against  this  evil,  it  is  proper  that  responsibility 
should  be  secured  in  future,  and  that  some  mode  should  be  pointed  out  which 
will  authorize  process  to  issue  against  those  who  have  heretofore  been  defaulters 
in  any  office  or  department. 

The  first  Congress  which  met  after  the  Convention  authorized  the  Presi- 
dent to  accept  the  services  of  twenty  thousand  men.  Exercising  his  discretion 
upon  the  subject,  he  has  not  deemed  it  necessary,  thus  far,  to  marshal  so  large  a 
force  and  maintain  it  in  the  field,  or  to  commence  offensive  war,  but  has  deter- 
mined to  await  some  indications  on  the  part  of  the  enemy  that  will,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  world,  justify  the  most  decisive  measures  to  secure  our  independ- 
ence, and  establish  an  honorable  peace.  To  this  end,  the  officers  and  soldiers 
have  been  furloughed,  except  such  a  part  as  was  necessary  for  maintaining  cer- 
tain positions  which  were  regarded  as  most  requisite  for  our  present  cir- 
cumstances. 

It  is  gratifying  to  assure  the  honorable  Congress  that  a  large  portion  of  those 
that  were  furloughed  have  directed  their  attention  to  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts  ;  they  have  become  citizens,  and  now  their  lives,  as  well  as  their 
future  hopes,  are  identified  with  the  destiny  of  Texas. 

Since  the  commencement  of  the  present  administration  the  war  department 
has  been  the  most  laborious  and  difficult  in  the  performance  of  its  duties ;  it  has 
been  improving  in  its  organization,  and  it  is  believed  that,  under  the  direction  of 
the  gentleman  who  is  placed  at  its  head,  a  system  will  very  soon  be  established, 
and  the  facilities  of  the  country,  inasmuch  as  they  are  connected  with  the 
department,  greatly  increased. 

The  militia  of  all  republics  must  be  regarded  and  esteemed  as  the  bulwark  ot 
liberty,  and  particularly  so  while  the  generation  remains  which  have  achieved 
the  emancipation  of  their  country.  With  them  liberty  has  begun,  and  they  will 
preserve  it  at  every  hazard.  Their  organization  and  discipline  should  claim  the 
first  attention  of  Congress,  and,  as  soon  as  it  is  perfected,  Texas  will  be  in  a 
most  confident  attitude  of  success  over  all  her  enemies.  The  present  militia 
laws  are  not  so  perfect  as  to  preclude  amendment,  nor  has  it  been  in  the  power 
of  the  War  Department  to  execute  the  wishes  of  Congress,  owing  to  various 
causes  over  which  it  had  no  control.  It  is  hoped  that  Congress  will  give  such 
direction  to  the  subject  as  will  give  the  greatest  efficiency  to  that  arm  of  the 
service.  The  report  of  the  Secretary  will  be  submitted  to  the  Congress  for 
consideration. 

The  extraordinary  embarrassment  of  the  finances  of  the  country,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  Revolution,  and  its  continuance  until  the  adoption  of  the 
present  system,  has  been  such  as  to  prevent  the  creation  of  an  efficient  navy. 
The  extent  of  our  seaboard  inculcates  the  necessity,  and  manifests  the  advan- 
tages, which  must  result  to  the  Government  from  the  command  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  The  certain  means  which  Texas  now  possesses,  and  must  have  at 
her  disposal,  induce  the  Executive  to  urge  the  most  ample  appropriations,  in  ad- 
dition to  those  which  have  been  made  at  the  present  session  of  Congress.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  but  that  the  enemy  will  avail  themselves  of  every  advantage  by 


Violation  of  Orders  in  the  Texan  Navy.          291 

sea  which  may  be  within  their  power.  Therefore,  it  will  be  incumbent  on 
us,  not  alone  to  make  preparations  to  meet  them,  but  to  maintain  active  opera- 
tions by  sea  and  by  land.  Whenever  our  gallant  tars  have  met  the  enemy  they 
have  evinced  the  most  daring  chivalry  and  indomitable  courage,  nor  has  our  flag 
ever  been  struck  to  less  than  _/£•£/<?  times  our  force,  and  then  not  until  after  a  pro- 
tracted engagement. 

In  the  creation  of  a  navy,  I  recommend  to  the  earnest  attention  of  Congress 
the  enactment  of  such  laws  and  regulations  as  will  enable  the  Government 
to  control  the  conduct  of  its  officers,  and  to  punish  them  promptly  for  dis- 
obedience of  orders.  It  may  be  of  importance  to  our  amicable  relations 
with  other  powers.  A  circumstance  occurring  on  the  last  cruise  which  was 
directed  by  the  Executive,  demands  of  me  in  this  communication  to  notice  the 
same  to  the  honorable  Congress.  Orders  were  issued  from  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment, by  direction  of  the  Executive,  to  the  Commander  of  the  Navy,  that  all 
neutral  flags  should  be  respected,  unless  the  vessel  was  bound  to  an  enemy's 
port,  and  had  on  board  articles  contraband  of  war.  In  violation  of  these  orders, 
the  Eliza  Russell,  an  English  brig,  was  seized  and  sent  into  port,  with  a  valuable 
cargo  of  fine  goods,  but  containing  nothing  contraband  of  war.  Upon  informa- 
tion of  the  circumstances,  the  Executive  directed  her  immediate  release,  and  the 
payment  of  damages,  so  far  as  he  deemed  it  within  his  competency.  The  sub- 
ject will  be  presented  to  Congress  by  the  owner  of  the  vessel,  with  a  minute 
statement  of  all  the  facts.  The  circumstances  of  the  case  were  immediately  com- 
municated to  our  Commissioner  near  the  Court  of  St.  James,  and  the  Executive 
has  been  assured  that  the  despatch  would  reach  England  by  the  time  of  his  ar- 
rival. Other  acts  connected  with  the  cruise,  of  a  character  not  calculated 
to  elevate  us  in  the  scale  of  nations,  were  done  either  without  orders,  or  in 
direct  violation  of  those  which  had  been  issued  by  the  department.  These  facts 
imperiously  demand  of  the  Executive  a  frank  and  solemn  disavowal  of  all 
things  done,  either  in  contravention  or  violation  of  his  orders. 

The  accompanying  report  of  the  Acting-Secretary  of  the  Navy  will  present  his 
views  on  the  subject  of  its  improvement  and  utility  to  the  country.  The  report 
is  referred  to  the  consideration  of  Congress. 

Heretofore,  difficulties  insuperable  were  presented  to  the  establishment  and 
regular  conveyance  of  the  mail,  but  by  indefatigable  attention  and  labor  the 
Postmaster-General  has  been  enabled  to  give  efficiency  to  the  department,  and 
hereafter,  with  suitable  aid  from  Congress,  there  will  be  but  little  difficulty 
in  the  regular  transmission  of  mails  and  the  circulation  of  intelligence  through- 
out the  Republic.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  any  revenue  can  arise  to 
the  Government  from  this  department,  but  it  is  thought  that  a  higher  rate 
of  postage  might  be  established  without  oppressing  any  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity, but  with  advantage  to  the  revenue,  as  it  will  be  seen  by  a  report  of  the  de- 
partment herewith  submitted. 

It  is  much  to  be  deplored  that  one  important  item  of  intelligence  has  not  been 
circulated  throughout  the  Republic.  The  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  the  duty 
of  having  the  laws  published  was  assigned. by  Congress,  has  used  every  exertion 
possible  to  attain  the  object,  but  for  the  want  of  means  (as  Congress  had  omitted 
to  make  an  appropriation  necessary  for  the  payment  of  printing),  he  has  not  had 
it  in  his  power  to  have  it  completed.  But  for  this  circumstance  the  work  would 
have  been  finished,  and  the  laws  distributed.  This  subject  is  presented  to  Con« 


292  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

gress  without  any  suggestion,  as  its  importance  to  the  community  will  be  a  suf- 
ficient recommendation  to  its  attention. 

It  is  of  much  interest  to  our  country  that  our  relations  with  our  Indian  neigh- 
bors should  be  placed  upon  a  basis  of  lasting  peace  and  friendship.  Convinced 
of  this  truth,  it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  administration  to  seek  out  every 
possible  means  to  accomplish  this  object,  and  give  security  to  our  frontier.  At 
this  time  I  deem  the  indications  more  favorable  than  they  have  been  since  Texas 
assumed  her  present  attitude.  Measures  are  in  progress  with  the  several  tribes, 
which,  with  the  aid  of  suitable  appropriations  by  Congress,  may  enable  us  to  at- 
tain the  objects  of  peace  and  friendly  intercourse.  Apprised  of  these  facts,  it  is 
desirable  that  the  citizens  of  Texas  should  so  deport  themselves,  as  to  become 
the  aggressors  in  no  case,  but  to  evince  a  conciliatory  disposition  whenever  it 
can  be  done  consistently,  with  justice  and  humanity.  Unofficially  it  has  been 
communicated  to  the  Executive  that  several  small  tribes  residing  within-  our 
settlements  express  a  disposition  (if  the  Government  will  assign  to  them  a  coun- 
try on  the  frontier)  to  remove  from  their  present  situations.  The  undeviating 
opinion  of  the  Executive  has  been,  that  from  the  establishment  of  trading- 
houses  on  the  frontier  (under  prudent  regulations),  and  the  appointment  of  capa- 
ble and  honest  agents,  the  happiest  results  might  be  anticipated  for  the  country. 
The  intercourse  between  the  citizens  and  Indians  should  be  regulated  by  acts  of 
Congress  which  experience  will  readily  suggest.  The  situation  of  Texas  at  this 
time  would  doubtless  justify  the  establishment  of  martial  law  at  such  out-posts 
as  are  detached  from  the  body  of  our  population,  and  it  does  seem  to  me  that 
no  injury  could  arise  from  the  adoption  of  the  measure.  In  this  communication 
the  Executive  has  no  hesitancy  in  presenting  the  claims  of  those  who  have  been 
wounded  and  disabled  in  the  defence  of  the  liberties  of  Texas.  It  is  the  policy 
of  all  Governments  to  reward  those  who  have  rendered  great  and  important  ser- 
vices to  their  country,  and  when  disabled  to  secure  to  them  pensions,  propor- 
tionate to  their  disability.  The  Texan  Congress  can  not  eschew  the  necessity 
of  adopting  this  course  in  relation  to  her  brave  and  gallant  defenders.  The 
widows  and  orphans  of  those  matchless  spirits  who  perished  in  the  Alamo,  and 
the  heroic  and  gallant  band  who  were  basely  massacred  on  the  plains  of  Goliad, 
have  peculiar  claims  upon  the  sensibility  and  justice  of  the  Congress  and  the 
nation.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  merits  of  this  subject  have  not  had  the 
good  fortune  to  claim  the  earlier  notice  of  Congress.  Therefore  it  is  recom- 
mended to  their  immediate  attention  and  provision. 

In  relation  to  Mexico  it  is  proper  to  state  that  previous  to  the  capture  of  the 
Texan  schooner  of  war,  Independence,  by  two  Mexican  brigs  and  a  schooner  of 
war,  the  Executive  had  issued  an  order  for  the  release  of  all  the  prisoners  of 
war  who  had  been  taken  at  San  Jacinto,  which  order  owing  to  the  news  of  the 
capture  was  countermanded  for  the  purposes  of  reprisal,  if  the  Government  of 
Mexico  should  again  disregard  or  violate  the  laws  of  war.  With  a  desire  to  re- 
lease the  chivalric  officers  and  gallant  crew  who  had  so  bravely  maintained  the 
honor  of  our  flag  and  the  citizens  of  Texas  (among  whom  was  our  minister,  the 
Hon.  Wm.  H.  Wharton),  the  Government  dispatched  Col.  John  A.  Wharton 
and  thirty  Mexican  prisoners,  with  a  cartel.  He  was  treated  by  the  authorities 
at  Matamoras  in  a  manner  which  has  always  characterized  a  vain  and  ignorant 
nation.  Although  Col.  Wharton  presented  himself  under  the  protection  of  a 
flag  of  truce,  he  represents  "  that  he  was  not  received  by  the  Mexican  authorities, 


Mexican  Inhumanity  and  Infatuation.  293 

cut  on  the  contrary,  was  treated  with  every  incivility  and  indignity  that  could  be 
offered  to  an  ordinary  criminal  or  pirate." .  In  addition  to  the  prisoners  sent 
with  Col.  Wharton,  a  vessel  had  been  chartered  and  upwards  of  sixty  prisoners 
were  sent  from  Galveston  to  Matamoras.  Those  of  the  officers  and  citizens 
who  had  not  escaped  were  subsequently  released,  after  a  cruel  and  rigid  confine- 
ment of  months.  The  ground  on  which  they  were  released  is  unknown  to  the. 
Executive,  inasmuch  as  no  communication  accompanied  their  return. 

To  speculate  upon  the  course  which  Mexico  intends  to  pursue  would  be  idle 
and  ridiculous.  Since  the  first  invitation  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  to  this  coun- 
try, the  narrative  of  her  conduct  would  be  but  the  history  of  her  perfidy,  and  a 
manifestation  of  our  wrongs.  The  first  settlers  of  Texas  entered  a  wilderness, 
and  expelled  the  savage  cannibals  who  had  maintained  this  fair  region  against 
the  boasted  power  of  Mexico.  The  enterprise  of  the  people,  with  the  accumu- 
lation of  plenty,  excited  the  cupidity  of  their  Government ;  and  persons 
were  sent  among  us  to  grant  pretended  titles  to  lands,  while  they  extorted  from 
industry  its  honest  gains,  and  left  us  in  a  situation  liable  to  further  demands  and 
extortion,  without  a  right  to  the  soil  which  had  been  pledged  to  us  by  every 
legal  and  political  solemnity.  The  form  of  government  under  which  we  were 
invited,  and  for  which  the  citizens  of  Texas  periled  their  lives,  in  eighteen  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two,  was  the  constitution  of  eighteen  hundred  and  twenty-four. 
It  was  changed  and  the  iron  yoke  of  slavery  was  tendered  in  its  stead.  Op 
pression  begot  resistance,  and  rebellion  gave  us  liberty  and  independence. 

It  is  vain  to  suppose  that  Mexico,  imbecile  as  she  is,  and  distracted  by  in- 
ternal factions,  can  ever  reconquer  the  fair  region  of  Texas,  and  maintain  her 
conquest.  The  same  spirits  who  have  subdued  the  wilderness,  and  repelled  the 
boasted  invincibility  of  Mexico,  yet  live.  Our  soil  is  consecrated  by  the  blood 
of  martyrs,  and  we  will  defend  it  or  perish ! 

A  blind  infatuation  may  impel  Mexico  to  another  attempt  to  subjugate  free- 
men, and  precipitate  her  own  catastrophe — while  wisdom  and  a  just  policy 
might  enable  her  to  improve  her  own  social  and  political  relations,  and  establish 
her  Government  on  a  rational  and  firm  foundation.  Were  it  possible  for  Mexico 
to  drive  from  the  soil  of  Texas,  or  massacre  the  race  which  now  inhabit  its 
bright  regions,  their  last  faint  whisper,  arousing  their  kindred  of  the  United 
States  of  the  North,  would  be  the  death  knell  of  Mexico,  and  their  chivalric  and 
daring  enterprise  would  not  alone  prompt  them  to  avenge  the  wrongs  of  brothers, 
but  would  impel  them  to  loftier  achievements,  and  Mexico  herself  become  an 
object  of  conquest.  Let  Mexico  then  counsel  with  her  safety  ! ! ! 

The  cause  of  Texas  being  just,  let  us  look  with  heartfelt  reverence  to  the 
great  Arbiter  of  Nations,  and  by  our  virtues  as  a  people,  endeavor  to  insure  a 
continuance  of  His  benefactions. 

(Signed),  SAM  HOUSTON. 


294  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

FIRST   GENERAL   MESSAGE   TO   THE   CONGRESS   OF   THE 
REPUBLIC   OF   TEXAS. 


ENT,       ) 
>,  1841.  ) 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
CITY  OF  AUSTIN,  Dec.  20, 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

It  affords  me  pleasure  to  salute  you  as  the  representatives  of  the  nation.  Ele- 
vated a  second  time,  by  the  suffrages  of  a  free  and  enlightened  people,  to  the 
chief  magistracy  of  our  country,  I  proceed  to  the  discharge  of  the  embarrassing 
and  weighty  responsibilities  of  my  office  with  the  utmost  solicitude.  It  seems 
that  we  have  arrived  at  a  crisis,  in  our  national  progress,  which  is  neither  cheer- 
ing for  the  present  nor  flattering  for  the  future.  I  heartily  regret  that  truth  will 
not  allow  me  to  approach  the  Congress  with  the  usual  felicitations  of  present 
and  prospective  happiness.  The  time  has  arrived  when  facts  must  be  submitted 
in  their  simplest  dress.  Unawed  by  sectional  or  party  influences,  I  shall  occupy 
the  position  my  constituents  have  assigned  me  with  unslumbering  vigilance,  and 
a  sacred  determination  to  act  with  decision  and  to  speak  with  candor.  The  peo- 
ple must  be  heard  and  their  rights  protected.  The  constitution  must  be  ob- 
served, and  the  laws  must  be  obeyed. 

My  intention  was  to  have  made  this  communication  to  the  honorable  Con- 
gress at  an  earlier  day  ;  but,  notwithstanding  my  unremitting  exertions  since  my 
inauguration,  to  make  myself  acquainted  with  the  true  condition  of  the  Govern- 
ment, I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  derive  that  clear  and  satisfactory  information 
which  I  deemed  important  to  the  correctness  of  my  opinions.  The  conclusion  I 
have  arrived  at,  in  reference  to  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  the  measures  to 
be  adopted  to  extricate  ourselves  from  crushing  embarrassment,  and  to  provide 
for  the  absolute  wants  of  the  Government  and  people,  will  be  laid  before  Con- 
gress with  all  the  brevity  the  importance  of  the  subjects  alluded  to  will  permit. 

The  annual  message  of  my  predecessor,  at  the  opening  of  the  present  session 
of  Congress,  has  placed  the  condition  of  our  foreign  relations  generally  before 
you.  As  yet,  I  have  been  unable  to  examine  the  voluminous  correspondence  of 
our  agents  abroad,  on  file  in  the  State-office.  I  can  not,  therefore,  advise,  at 
this  time,  any  particular  legislation  on  this  subject. 

From  our  contiguity  to  the  United  .States,  and  our  intimate  and  daily 
intercourse  with  its  citizens,  the  Executive  views  it  as  a  matter  of  much  magni- 
tude to  effectuate,  at  the  earliest  period,  a  treaty  with  that  power  of  a  more  defi- 
nite and  specific  character  than  that  which  constitutes  the  basis  of  our  subsist- 
ing relations.  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  Congress  will  provide  the  necessary  means 
of  attaining  an  object  at  once  so  desirable  and  necessary. 

We  stand  in  the  same  attitude  toward  Mexico  as  we  did  in  1836.  Overtures 
have  been  made  by  my  predecessors  for  the  purpose  of  securing  an  amicable  ad- 
justment of  existing  difficulties  ;  but,  as  often  as  made,  they  have  been  reject- 
ed under  circumstances  which  have  not  exempted  this  Government  from  humil- 
iation. Therefore,  until  a  disposition  is  evinced  on  the  part  of  Mexico  herselt 
to  solicit  friendly  relations,  the  present  Executive  of  Texas  will  neither  incur  the 
expense  nor  risk  the  degradation  of  further  advances.  Aware  of  the  Mexicans, 
and  believing,  as  I  always  have,  that  Mexico  is  and  will  remain  unable  to  invade 
us  with  any  hope  of  success,  I  would  recommend  the  kindest  treatment  of  her 
citizens,  so  far,  at  least,  as  they  might  be  disposed  to  engage  in  commerce  with 


Mexican  and  Indian  Depredations.  295 

ours.  But  in  every  instance  where  they  shall  enter  our  territory  with  inimical  or 
hostile  intentions  they  should  be  treated  as  common  enemies.  I  believe  that  any 
interference  in  the  revolutions  and  distractions  of  Mexico  is  not  only  incompat- 
ible with  the  dignity  and  interests  of  Texas,  but  directly  calculated  to  exasperate 
our  national  enemy,  while  it  weakens  our  resources  by  sacrificing  those  of  our 
citizens  who  may  engage  in  their  partisan  quarrels  to  their  proverbial  perfidy  and 
to  certain  destruction.  This  is  demonstrated  by  the  issue  of  every  enterprise 
of  the  kind  in  which  our  countrymen  have  been  participants.  The  feuds  and 
contests  which  have  arisen,  and  may  continue  to  arise,  have  for  their  object  per- 
sonal aggrandizement ;  the  leaders  in  which  are  better  entitled  to  the  appellation 
of  bandits  than  of  either  patriots  or  statesmen.  These  individuals  have  no  ex- 
alted principles  of  action,  and  should  receive  no  encouragement  from  us.  The 
Executive,  therefore,  should  be  fully  empowered  to  arrest  and  prevent  the  pred- 
atory warfare  occasionally  carried  on  within  our  territories,  to  the  injury  of  our 
Western  settlers. 

It  is  my  desire  that  this  Government  should  assume  a  station  in  relation  to 
this  subject  not  inconsistent  with  national  respectability,  and  conducive  to  our 
best  interests.  Mexico  has  more  to  lose  in  a  contest  with  Texas  than  Texas  has 
with  Mexico.  Her  civil  commotions  will  exhaust  her  resources  and  diminish  her 
means  of  aggression  ;  while  emigration  to  Texas  will  give  us  population  and  re- 
sources, and  they  will  give  us  power  to  resist  aggression. 

Our  Indian  relations  are  far  from  being  satisfactory.  For  years  large  appro- 
priations have  been  made  by  Congress  for  the  defence  of  the  frontiers.  With 
what  success  they  have  been  employed  the  whole  country  is  familiar.  The  meas- 
ures adopted  under  the  late  administration  were  directly  at  variance  with 
those  recommended  by  the  first  constitutional  Executive.  On  the  safety  and  se- 
curity of  our  frontier  settlements  materially  depend  the  increase  of  emigration, 
the  extension  of  our  limits,  and  the  general  quietude  and  prosperity  of  all  our 
citizens.  It  is,  therefore,  important  that  means  should  be  provided  for  the  Ex- 
ecutive and  placed  at  his  disposal,  to  enable  him  to  accomplish  these  objects, 
and  to  meet  pressing  emergencies.  That  they  are  within  our  reach  I  have 
no  doubt.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Indian  character  has  induced  a  firm 
belief  on  my  part  that  a  sum  less  than  one-fourth  of  the  amount  heretofore  an- 
nually expended  for  these  purposes  would  procure  and  maintain  peace  with  all 
the  Indian  tribes  now  upon  our  borders.  I  would  suggest  that  a  number 
of  posts  be  established  at  suitable  points,  extending  from  our  western  border  to 
Red  River ;  that  treaties  be  concluded  with  the  several  tribes,  and  that  one 
or  more  traders  be  established,  under  proper  regulations,  at  each  of  these  posts, 
with  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  men  for  their  protection.  I  do  not  doubt  that 
this  system,  once  established,  would  conciliate  the  Indians,  open  a  lucrative  com- 
merce with  them,  and  bring  continued  peace  to  our  entire  frontier.  Their  inter- 
course with  us  would  enable  them  to  obtain  articles  of  convenience  and  comfort 
which  they  could  not  otherwise  procure,  unless  by  a  very  indirect  trade  with 
more  remote  tribes  who  have  commerce  with  traders  of  the  United  States. 
Finding  a  disposition  on  our  own  part  to  treat  them  fairly  and  justly,  and  dread- 
ing a  loss  of  the  advantages  and  facilities  of  trade,  they  would  be  powerfully  af- 
fected, both  by  feelings  of  confidence  and  motives  of  interest,  to  preserve  peace 
and  maintain  good  faith.  The  hope  of  obtaining  peace  by  means  of  war  has, 
hitherto,  proved  utterly  fallacious.  It  is  better  calculated  to  irritate  than  to 


296  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

humble  them.  Neither  can  we  pursue  with  the  hope  of  exterminating  them. 
Millions  have  been  expended  in  the  attempt,  and  what  has  been  the  result  ? 
War  and  theft  are  their  vocation  ;  and  their  incursions  are  made  upon  us  with 
impunity.  We  can  not  pursue  them  with  success.  Our  citizens,  so  continually 
harassed,  are  dispirited.  Industry  and  enterprise  are  alike  embarrassed;  the 
former  prevented,  and  the  latter  discouraged.  How  far  it  is  necessary  for  Con- 
gress to  provide  for  the  attainment  of  these  objects  is  referred  to  their  con- 
sideration. 

In  commencing  my  official  duties,  it  was  reasonable  to  suppose  I  should  have 
found  the  ordinary  facilities  of  conducting  the  affairs  of  government.  On  the 
contrary,  I  find  it  in  a  condition  more  deplorable  than  it  was  at  the  period  of  its 
commencement.  There  is  not  a  dollar  in  its  treasury  ;  the  nation  is  involved 
from  ten  to  fifteen  millions.  The  precise  amount  of  its  liabilities  has  not  been 
ascertained,  nor  does  the  Executive  expect,  deprived  as  he  is  of  the  means 
of  transacting  the  public  business,  to  be  able  to  ascertain  its  true  condition 
within  any  reasonable  time.  Business  connected  with  some  of  the  important 
branches  of  the  different  departments  has  remained  unsettled  and  unascertained 
for  the  last  three  years.  Until  its  true  condition  is  known  the  adequate  remedies 
can  not  be  applied.  We  are  not  only  without  money,  but  without  credit,  and, 
for  want  of  punctuality,  without  character.  At  our  first  commencement  we 
were  not  without  credit,  nor  had  a  want  of  punctuality  then  impaired  our 
character  abroad  or  confidence  at  home.  Patriotism,  industry,  and  enterprise 
are  now  our  only  resources,  apart  from  our  public  domain  and  the  precarious 
revenues  of  the  country.  These  remain  our  only  hope,  and  must  be  improved 
husbanded,  and  properly  employed. 

As  my  predecessor  recommended  no  definite  course  in  relation  to  our 
finances,  I  will  not  hesitate  in  recommending  the  only  plan  which,  to  my 
mind,  appears  practicable  and  efficient.  View  it  as  we  may,  it  will  at  least  find 
justification  in  necessity.  We  have  no  money — we  can  not  redeem  our  liabilities. 
These  facts  are  known,  and  we  had  as  well  avow  them  by  our  legislation  as 
demonstrate  them  by  every  day's  experience.  I  would,  therefore,  recommend  to 
the  honorable  Congress  a  total  suspension  of  the  redemption  of  our  liabilities  to 
a  period  sufficiently  remote  to  enable  the  Government  to  redeem,  in  good  faith, 
such  as  it  ought  to  redeem.  It  is  known  to  the  Executive  that,  to  a  considerable 
amount,  they  have  been  justly  incurred,  whilst  he  has  reason  to  believe  that 
many  will  be  brought  forward  not  by  any  means  entitled  to  governmental  con- 
sideration. To  attempt  a  redemption  of  our  present  liabilities  by  taxing  our 
population  to  the  amount  necessary  would  be  to  them  ruinous.  Much  as  we 
might  have  deprecated  this  course  of  policy,  we  have  now  no  other  remedy  left. 
The  evil  is  upon  us.  While  many  just  claims  are  thus  deferred,  we  can  only  re- 
fer our  creditors  to  our  inability  to  pay  our  debts. 

To  sustain-  our  present  system  of  government,  it  is  proper  that  we  should 
adopt  such  a  course  of  policy  as  will  not  prove  insupportable  to  its  citizens,  and 
at  the  same  time  provide  for  its  necessary  expenditures  and  preserve  a  due  ad- 
vertency to  our  existing  obligations.  I  would,  therefore,  recommend  that  the 
law  authorizing  the  assessment  of  double  taxes  be  repealed  ;  that  the  direct  tax 
be  reduced  one-half,  and  that  all  taxes  hereafter  assessed  be  receivable  only  in 
gold  and  silver,  or  paper  of  unquestionable  character — the  receiving  office  to  be 
held  responsible  for  its  value.  I  would  further  recommend  that  all  dues  and 


Public  Lands  Hypothecated — Direct  Taxes.       297 

duties  which  may  hereafter  accrue  to  the  Government  be  paid  in  gold  and  silver, 
or  equivalent  currency.  The  present  tariff  may  require,  some  revision  and  modi- 
fication, and,  on  some  articles,  a  reduction.  This,  however,  will  become  a  matter 
of  consideration  for  the  Congress.  I  would  further  recommend  to  the  attention 
of  the  honorable  Congress  the  propriety  and  absolute  necessity  of  resorting  to  a 
new  issue  of  paper,  not  exceeding  in  amount  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars — not  more  than  fifty  thousand  dollars  of  which  to  be  issued  in  any  one 
month  until  the  whole  shall  be  put  in  circulation.  Tfie  Government  must  be 
supported,  and  the  people  must  have  a  currency.  It  is  designed  for  this  new 
issue  to  take  the  place  of  the  present  promissory  note  system,  and  be  receivable 
for  all  the  revenues  of  the  Government  as  equivalent  to  specie.  For  the  redemp- 
tion of  this  new  species  of  paper  I  would  recommend  that  one  million  acres 
of  the  public  domain,  lying  within  the  territory  known  as  the  Cherokee  country 
be  specially  set  apart  and  reserved ;  and  these  lands,  or  the  proceeds  thereof, 
when  brought  into  market,  be  pledged  as  a  guaranty  for  that  purpose.  It  is  fur- 
ther recommended  to  the  Congress  to  authorize  the  negotiation  of  a  loan  of  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  meet  the  emergencies  of  the  country.  The  security 
upon  which  this  loan  is  intended  to  be  made  will  be  specific  portions  of  the  pub- 
lic domain  set  apart,  designated  and  specially  reserved  for  its  final  payment ;  in 
default  of  which,  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  said  lands  to  become  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Government  bondholders,  on  such  conditions  as  may  be  agreed  upon 
by  the  contracting  parties  ;  and  the  lands  thus  hypothecated  not  to  be  subject  to 
any  legislation  that  might  divert  their  proceeds  from  the  objects  avowed. 

The  Executive  feels  fully  satisfied  that  this  system,  once  adopted  in  good 
faith,  and  adhered  to,  will  furnish  the  country  with  a  sufficient  currency,  and 
maintain  its  credit  unimpaired.  The  excessive  and  unnecessary  emission  of  the 
promissory  notes  of  the  Government  has  produced  the  depreciation  of  and 
destroyed  the  currency  of  the  country.  An  amount  not  exceeding  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  will  answer  all  the  conveniences  of  Government,  and,  in  my 
opinion,  remain  in  value  equal  to  gold  and  silver.  Experience  has  instructed  us 
in  the  ruinous  policy  of  issuing  a  greater  amount  of  governmental  liabilities  than 
were  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  trade  and  commerce.  The  rock  on  which  we 
have  been  wrecked  must,  in  future,  be  avoided.  So  long  as  the  amount  did  not 
exceed  six  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  our  money  remained  nearly  at 
par  in  foreign  markets,  whilst  at  home  it  suffered  no  depreciation.  In  the  ratio 
of  excessive  increase  in  issue  was  its  depreciation,  until  it  sunk  into  its  present 
almost  valueless  condition.  In  commencing  anew,  it  is  proper  that  we  adopt  a 
system  from  which  no  emergency  will  induce  a  departure.  Instructed  by  experi- 
ence in  the  fallacy  of  the  past,  we  can  have  no  excuse  for  a  failure  in  our  pledges 
of  the  future. 

The  principal  reason  why  I  incline  to  diminish  direct  taxation  and  rely  upon 
impost  duties  as  a  source  of  revenue,  is  that  I  deem  them  the  most  just  and 
equitable,  and  least  burthensome  to  the  actual  laborer  and  productive  classes  of 
the  country.  Direct  taxation  bears  immediately  upon  the  farmer,  whilst  a  larger 
portion  of  the  community  can  only  be  reached  by  impost  duties.  It  is  not  the 
agriculturist  that  is  generally  the  consumer  of  articles  of  foreign  manufacture  and 
importation  ;  but,  those  who  produce  nothing  from  the  soil,  and  rely  upon  other 
pursuits  for  a  subsistence,  and  who  are  not  so  directly  engaged  in  developing  the 
resources  of  the  country,  will  be  most  sensibly  affected  by  tariff  regulations,  and 


298  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

thereby  contribute  a  fair  proportion  to  the  support  of  the  Government.  If  the 
farmer  is  necessarily  compelled  to  purchase  articles  for  consumption  of  foreign 
importation,  he  will  contribute  through  the  merchant  to  that  branch  of  revenue 
— the  merchant  having  added  the  duty  to  the  price  of  the  article  sold.  The 
merchant  will  receive  the  produce  of  the  farmer  in  exchange  for  his  goods, 
whereas,  otherwise,  the  farmer  would  pay  cash  into  the  treasury  for  his  direct 
taxes,  where,  of  course,  nothing  could  be  receivable  but  money. 

Thus  have  I  submitted  my  views  to  the  Congress,  in  relation  to  the  finances  of 
the  country,  not  in  the  spirit  of  dictation,  but  of  recommendation  and  advise- 
ment. Upon  the  system  that  may  be  adopted  depends  our  national  existence. 

The  Executive  being  held  responsible  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the 
defense  of  the  nation,  must  have  the  necessary  means  placed  at  his  command  for 
their  accomplishment.  At  this  time  there  are  none  ;  nor  has  the  President,  on 
any  occasion,  any  disposition  to  violate  trie  Constitution  by  expending  the  sub- 
stance of  the  country,  or  incurring  national  liabilities,  by  the  use  of  means  which 
have  not  been  appropriated  to  him  by  the  laws.  This  will  become  a  subject  for 
the  consideration  of  the  honorable  Congress,  and  is  so  impressively  manifest 
that  I  need  not  urge  it  as  a  subject  of  importance  upon  your  attention.  It  is  ex- 
pected by  our  constituents,  and  they  ought  not  to  be  disappointed.  It  is  the  pe- 
culiar province  of  the  Congress  to  furnish  the  Executive  with  means  to  execute 
his  duties  to  the  country  in  affording  protection  to  its  citizens.  Without  means 
he  can  neither  execute  his  trusts  nor  redeem  his  obligations. 

During  my  former  term  of  service,  as  the  Executive  of  the  nation,  the  then 
Congress  denied  me  all  requisite  aid  for  the  defense  of  the  country.  Repeated 
calls  were  made  upon  me  for  assistance  and  protection  against  Indian  incursion 
and  depredation,  and  I  could  render  neither  because  the  means  had  been  denied 
me,  and  my  power  had  been  transferred  to  the  Major-General  of  the  Militia. 
Evil  was  produced  to  the  country  by  these  unauthorized  acts,  whilst  the  Execu- 
tive was  held  responsible  by  the  people  or  misfortunes  which  are  attributable  to 
the  Congress  alone.  It  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that  like  unfortunate  and 
improvident  legislation  may  never  again  be  experienced  in  our  country. 

With  regard  to  our  navy,  I  deem  but  few  remarks  necessary.  Its  situation 
and  condition  have  been  subjects  of  discussion  before  the  honorable  Congress  for 
some  time  past,  and  as  its  final  action  has  not  been  taken  in  relation  to  the  mat- 
ter, a  becoming  sense  of  official  decorum  will,  for  the  present,  suspend  the  ex- 
pression of  my  opinion.  If  the  law,  directing  the  course  which  shall  be  pursued 
with  the  navy,  remains  unaltered,  I  shall  proceed  forthwith  in  its  execution,  ac- 
cording to  the  intention  and  in  the  spirit  with  which  it  was  enacted. 

The  subject  of  reform  is  one  which  has  claimed  the  attention  and  considera- 
tion of  the  people,  and  one,  in  my  opinion,  of  general  as  well  as  vital  importance 
to  the  country.  A  judicious  system  of  economy  now  adopted  may  be  of  advan- 
tage for  the  future.  It  must  be  beneficial  if  its  provisions  are  not  violated.  The 
time  when  retrenchment  was  necessary  and  important,  and  would  have  pre- 
vented our  present  calamities,  has  gone  by.  Whether  the  precautionary  meas- 
ures adopted  by  legislation  have  been  executed  or  not,  is  for  the  Congress 
to  determine.  Reform,  it  would  seem,  is  intended  for  the  remedy  of  evils  which 
have  existed — the  greatest  of  which  is  the  unnecessary  expenditure  of  the  pub- 
lic resources.  To  prevent  this  for  the  future,  if  it  has  already  been  the  case,  is 
not  only  the  duty  of  the  Legislature  but  of  the  Executive,  so  far  as  the  Execu- 


Army  Retrenchment  and  Frontier  Defence.       299 

tive  may  have  delegated  to  him  the  power.  The  Constitution  provides  that  cer- 
tain means  should  be  placed  within  his  control,  to  enable  him  to  exercise  all  his 
legitimate  powers.  Amongst  these  are  the  services  of  certain  officers,  such  as 
are  necessary  for  the  collection,  safe  keeping,  and  disbursement  of  the  treasure 
of  the  country.  These,  also,  are  to  be  responsible  and  accountable  to  the  Execu- 
tive for  the  trusts  delegated  to  them.  If  their  trusts  are  violated,  they  are 
amenable  to  the  laws  and  accountable  to  the  Executive.  He  is  responsible  to 
the  nation,  and  if  the  means  necessary  are  placed  in  his  power,  and  he  does  not 
employ  them  to  the  advancement  of  the  public  good,  or  should  use  them  for  pur- 
poses not  contemplated  by  law,  he  is  answerable  for  their  perversion.  I  would 
respectfully  suggest  to  the  honorable  Congress  that  I  desire  to  exercise  no  privi- 
leges or  power  but  that  which  is  delegated  to  me  by  the  Constitution,  or  accorded 
to  me  by  the  Congress  under  the  sanction  of  that  instrument.  I  do,  at  the  same 
time,  solicit  from  your  honorable  bodies,  as  the  representatives  of  the  nation, 
such  provision  and  assistance  as  has  heretofore  been  deemed  indispensable 
to  the  administration  of  the  Government.  The  same  facilities  will  be  required 
by  the  present  Executive  that  were  accorded  to  his  predecessor  during  the  first 
two  years  of  his  administration.  Indeed,  there  is  reason — pressing  reason — 
why  those  facilities  should  not  be  diminished.  The  accumulation  of  business  in 
the  offices,  and  the  derangement  which  has  been  consequent  upon  the  consoli- 
dation of  several  departments  during  the  last  Congress,  and  the  unsettled  state 
of  some  bureaus  for  years  past,  overwhelm  the  officers  now  in  service  with  a 
task  which  they  are  totally  unable  to  perform. 

The  objects  of  retrenchment  should  be  to  dispense  with  all  the  unnecessary 
officers,  and  retain  those  only  which  are  necessary  to  the  speedy  and  accurate 
transaction  of  business.  Persons  who  have  public  business  to  transact  in  the 
offices  will,  otherwise,  be  detained  at  the  seat  of  government  at  great  individual 
expense  and  detriment  for  weeks  and  months.  That  there  should  be  a  respon- 
sible head  to  each  department  of  the  Government,  agreeably  to  its  first  organiza- 
tion, to  my  mind  is  clear  and  decided  ;  and  that  they  should  receive  a  just  and 
liberal  compensation's  beyond  all  question.  Men  of  capacity  and  character  can 
not  afford  to  bestow  their  time,  and  incur  the  responsibilities  of  office,  without 
an  adequate  reward.  With  such  men  employed,  the  Government  has  a  right  to 
expect  beneficial  results.  If  adequate  salaries  are  not  given  to  them  to  com- 
mand their  services,  the  consequence  will  be  that  necessity  will  compel  the  selec- 
tion of  such  to  fill  those  high  places  as  will  bring  into  the  Government  neither 
capacity,  character,  nor  responsibility.  If  those  aids,  which  I  regard  as  indis- 
pensable, are  furnished  the  Executive  in  the  administration  of  the  Government, 
he,  at  all  times,  will  be  prepared  and  willing  to  meet  his  responsibilities  to  the 
nation.  If  they  are  within  his  control,  he  will  be  answerable  for  their  employ- 
ment. He  will  be  able  to  hold  the  subordinates  of  his  administration  account- 
able, and  to  establish  the  strictest  accountability  in  the  offices  of  the  various  de- 
partments. Without  these  aids,  so  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the  Govern- 
ment, many  important  duties  must  be  neglected. 

The  people  hope  much,  and  expect  much,  in  our  present  calamitous  condition. 
Should  the  Executive  not  receive  the  necessary  support  from  Congress,  their 
hopes  as  well  as  expectations  must  be  disappointed.  The  co-operation  of  Con- 
gress, with  the  aid  of  the  judiciary,  will  be  necessary  to  their  accomplishment. 
With  this  assistance  afforded,  I  will  always  be  proud  and  happy  to  respond 


300  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

to  the  requisitions  of  my  countrymen.  If  the  power  is  given  me,  and  I  do  not  ex- 
ercise it  with  fidelity  and  ability  in  the  promotion  of  the  best  interests  of  the  na- 
tion, I  will  never  assume  the  plea  of  incapacity,  for  I  would  feel,  after  the  confi- 
dence expressed  by  my  countrymen  in  my  capacity  and  patriotism,  that  I  should 
be  accountable  for  the  motives  of  my  heart  as  well  as  the  exercise  of  my  intellect- 
ual faculties. 

In  the  promotion  of  the  prosperity  and  glory  of  my  country,  every  energy  ot 
m.y  mind  shall  be  employed  ;  and,  to  extricate  our  fair  land  from  the  misfortunes 
which  overshadow  its  present  prospects,  my  exertions  shall  be  continued,  with  a 
fervent  and  devout  invocation  to  the  God  who  buildeth  up  nations,  that  the 
clouds  which  now  lower  upon  our  destiny  may  be  dispelled,  and  that  His  wis- 
dom may  direct  us  in  the  path  of  glory  and  honor,  and  that  the  people  of  this 
nation  may  be  established  in  virtue,  prosperity,  and  happiness. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


MESSAGE  AT  EXTRA  SESSION  TO  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE 
REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  June  27,  1842 


.1 


GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

Events  have  transpired  since  your  adjournment  which,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Executive,  demand  the  action  of  Congress  in  extraordinary  session.  The  ter- 
mination of  your  last  session  left  the  Executive  surrounded  with  numerous  and 
insuperable  difficulties,  to  which  circumstances,  since  arising,  have  added  causes 
of  embarrassment  requiring  the  exercise  of  all  the  wisdom,  energy,  and  patriot- 
ism which  the  nation  can  command.  The  necessary  aids  were  solicited  to  meet 
the  emergencies  which  have  since  taken  place  and  which  were  anticipated  by 
the  Executive  ;  but  the  honorable  Congress  did  not  accord  in  his  suggestions, 
and  the  precautionary  measures  requisite  were  not  adopted. 

A  demonstration  by  Mexico  on  our  frontier  has  taken  place  ;  and  a  maraud- 
ing party,  under  the  most  imposing  aspect,  has  penetrated  our  territory  as  far 
as  San  Antonio.  A  violent  excitement  and  commotion  throughout  the  country 
were  the  consequence ;  and  our  brave  citizens  of  the  frontier,  without  order, 
legularity,  or  discipline,  rushed  to  the  supposed  scene  of  action.  On  the  arrival, 
however,  at  the  point  of  expected  conflict,  they  found  that  the  enemy  had  re- 
treated with  great  precipitation.  No  organization  of  the  men  took  place,  nor 
was  any  report  made  to  the  Executive,  or  Department  of  War,  of  their  numbers 
or  condition.  Rumor,  however,  at  last  induced  the  belief  that  there  was  an  as- 
semblage of  citizens  at  Bexar  who  were  ready  to  rush  with  impetuosity  across 
the  Rio  Grande.  Acting  under  this  impression,  the  Executive  directed  the  or- 
ganization of  the  men,  and  the  prosecution  of  a  campaign,  if  it  could  be  com- 
menced with  any  prospect  of  success.  But  for  various  reasons  this  was  not 
done.  No  organization,  although  attempted,  could  be  accomplished.  Diffi- 
culties arose  among  themselves  as  to  who  should  lead  them ;  and,  in  the  end, 
they  found  themselves,  on  examination,  totally  unprepared  for  a  campaign — in- 
asmuch as  they  had  left  their  homes  upon  a  momentary  summons,  and  were 


Question  of   War  with  Mexico.  301 

destitute  of  the  means  for  efficient  and  protracted  service.    The  result  was,  they 
returned  to  their  homes,  and  the  orders  of  the  Government  were  not  executed. 

Before  the  excitement  incident  to  this  incursion  had  subsided  in  the  commu- 
nity, the  pompous  declaration  of  the  self-created  potentate  of  Mexico  had 
reached  our  shores,  denouncing  the  subjugation  of  Texas,  and  lavishing  upon 
its  Government  and  people  unmeasured  abuse.  Disregarding  all  the  pledges 
which  he  had  voluntarily  made  of  a  friendly  disposition  toward  the  recognition 
and  establishment  of  our  rights,  he  evinces,  upon  his  assumption  of  power,  the 
most  malignant  hostility  toward  our  country,  and  holds  out  the  idea  of  immedi- 
ate invasion  and  "  molestation." 

It  is  not  for  us  to  act  upon  the  supposition  that  this  declaration,  deliberately 
made  by  him  while  in  supreme  authority,  was  intended  merely  to  give  him  a 
temporary  popularity  at  home  and  to  furnish  a  pretext  for  levying  contributions 
and  maintaining  a  large  standing  army,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  himself 
permanently  in  the  possession  of  usurped  power  and  securing  the  means  of  op- 
pressing his  countrymen,  or  that  it.  was  designed  only  to  embarrass  our  inter- 
course and  relations  with  other  countries,  and,  if  possible,  in  that  way  retard 
the  prosperity  of  Texas.  But  we  are  to  regard,  with  peculiar  vigilance  and  at- 
tention, our  internal  safety  and  well-being,  as  well  as  our  foreign  relations,  and 
secure  ourselves  in  season  against  every  contingency  which  might  arise  from  his 
threats.  Our  past  and  present  position  toward  Mexico  are  matters  which  can 
not  be  viewed  with  indifference  or  contemplated  with  apathy. 

If  it  be  within  the  power  of  the  nation,  it  is  indispensable  that  protection  be 
given  to  the  frontiers.  Our  citizens  have  been  and  are  still  liable  to  continual 
annoyances  from  the  enemy.  No  formidable  invasion,  it  is  true,  has  been  at- 
tempted since  1836  ;  nor  do  I  believe  they  will  be  ever  able  to  effect  its  accom- 
plishment. But  thbugh  this  is  my  firm  conviction,  I  am  nevertheless  equally 
satisfied  that  they  will  interpose  every  impediment  to  the  peace,  prosperity,  and 
settlement  of  our  frontier.  I  esteem  it,  therefore,  the  high  and  imperious  duty 
of  those  to  whom  the  Government  of  the  country  is  confided,  to  adopt  such  a 
course  of  policy  as  will  effectually  counteract  the  designs  of  Mexico.  The  ques- 
tion then  arises,  are  we  capable,  with  the  resources  at  our  command,  of  prevent- 
ing these  evils  ;  and  if  so,  shall  those  resources  be  employed  for  that  object  ? 

From  the  circumstances  which  have  transpired,  the  Executive  was  induced  to 
believe  that  it  was  now  quite  time  to  adopt  and  pursue  such  a  course  of  policy 
as  will  secure  to  us  peace  and  the  recognition  of  our  independence.  Under  the 
conviction  that  immediate  invasion  was  meditated,  he  felt  himself  fully  author- 
ized, under  existing  laws,  to  invite  emigrants  from  the  United  States  with  a  view 
of  giving  protection  to  our  advanced  settlement ;  and,  so  far  as  he  had  power, 
and  even  beyond  the  means  afforded  him  by  Government,  he  has  proceeded  in 
the  organization  of  the  militia,  so  as  to  place  them  in  the  best  possible  condition 
to  prosecute  a  war,  should  the  honorable  Congress  deem  it  necessary  or  expedi- 
ent to  adopt  such  a  course.  At  an  early  day  it  is  expected  that  the  proper  de- 
partment will  be  prepared  to  report  the  condition  of  the  militia. 

Emigration,  to  some  extent,  has  been  the  consequence  of  the  invitation  of  the 
Executive ;  and  thus  far,  the  emigrants  have  been  sustained  almost  entirely  by 
private  contributions.  That  they  can  be  any  longer  supported  without  the 
action  of  the  Government,  can  not  be  expected.  No  matter  how  great  the  feel- 
ing of  patriotism  may  be,  nor  how  strong  the  conviction  on  the  frontier  of  th<» 


302  Houston 's  Literary  Remains. 

necessity  for  offensive  action  against  Mexico,  individuals  can  not  sustain  a  war 
which  properly  belongs  to  the  whole  nation.  The  prompt  attention  of  Congress 
is,  therefore,  invited  to  this  subject.  The  time  between  the  2oth  and  28th  of 
July,  has  been  designated  for  the  general  rendezvous  of  emigrants  upon  the 
frontier ;  and  if  Congress  should  think  proper  to  decide  that  invasion  should  not 
take  place,  it  is  important  that  the  fact  should  be  immediately  known.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  war  should  be  determined  on,  it  is  indispensable  that  co-opera- 
tion should  immediately  take  place  between  the  emigrants  and  the  militia  of  the 
country  in  its  prosecution. 

The  citizen  who  resides  upon  the  frontier  of  the  Southwest,  subject  to  con- 
tinual alarms,  and  he  who  is  located  in  conscious  security  upon  the  banks  of  the 
Sabine,  constitute  such  an  integral  part  of  the  national  community,  that,  under 
the  law,  the  protection  of  them,  as  well  as  all  our  citizens,  in  the  rights  of  life 
and  property,  should  be  the  object,  as  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government.  Unless 
continued  and  permanent  protection  is  given  to  our  frontier  inhabitants,  our  set- 
tlements must  recede  from  point  to  point ;  which  will  not  only  contract  our 
limits,  but  have  a  tendency  to  create  discontent  and  distrust  in  our  capacity  for 
self-government.  The  infelicity  arising  from  such  a  state  of  things  must  arrest 
our  prosperity,  and  finally  prove  disastrous  to  the  country. 

Were  we  to  retaliate  upon  the  enemy  by  aggressive  warfare,  we  could  at  least 
impress  them  with  the  calamities  which  have  thus  far  been  incident  to  us  alone, 
and  create  in  them  a  desire  for  that  peace  which  would  be  mutually  advanta- 
geous to  both  parties.  Can  this  be  done  without  invasion  on  our  part  ? 

To  enable  us  to  adopt  this  course,  the  positive  action  of  Congress  will  be 
necessary.  It  rests  with  them  to  decide. 

By  the  constitution,  the  power  to  call  out  the  militia  is  given  exclusively  to 
the  Congress ;  and  however  great'  the  necessity  for  calling  them  out  might  be 
deemed  by  the  Executive,  he  would  only  feel  authorized  to  do  so  in  case  of 
actual  invasion  or  insurrection. 

Not  having  heretofore  been  an  advocate  for  offensive  measures,  the  Executive 
has  looked  with  peculiar  interest  and  solicitude  to  the  subject — owing  to  our  re- 
cent and  present  condition.  If  we  could  possibly  anticipate  the  establishment 
of  amicable  relations  with  Mexico,  from  the  mediation  of  any  power  mutually 
friendly,  the  urgency  of  the  action  on  the  part  of  the  Government  would  be 
diminished,  and  we  might  hope  to  arrest  evils  which  the  conduct  of  Mexico 
seems  to  enforce  upon  us.  Our  citizens  could  cultivate  their  farms  in  peace  and 
grow  rich  by  industry,  while  the  emigration  of  foreign  capitalists  to  the  country 
would  add  to  the  material  wealth  and  increase  our  store  of  intelligence  and  en- 
terprise. But  from  the  manner  in  which  offers  of  mediation  have  been  received 
and  treated  by  Gen.  Santa  Anna,  the  Executive  is  confidently  assured,  upon  the 
highest  authority,  that  Texas  can  expect  nothing  from  that  desire.  Being  ad- 
monished of  this  fact,  then,  we  must  assume  an  attitude  that  will  protect  us  from 
future  inconvenience  and  danger. 

Should  the  honorable  Congress,  however,  deem  it  unwise  or  impracticable  to 
invade  Mexico,  and  think  proper  to  place  at  the  disposition  of  the  Executive  an 
amount  comparatively  trifling,  with  power  to  establish  such  regulations  ?.s  he 
may  think  proper,  he  will  be  enabled  to  maintain  such  a  force  on  the  south- 
western frontier  as  will  secure  it  from  alarm  and  danger,  unless  produced  by 
a  regular  and  formidable  invasion. 


JRepairs  and  Support  of  Navy.  303 

The  honorable  Congress  at  the  last  session,  though  respectfully  called  on  by 
the  Executive,  refused  to  indicate  any  wish  or  opinion  in  relation  to  the  naval 
arm  of  her  defense,  although  at  the  time  it  was  engaged  in  foreign  service 
unauthorized  by  law,  and  unexampled  in  the  history  of  any  other  country ;  and 
thus  was  thrown  upon  the  Executive  the  responsibility  of  keeping  it  employed 
without  adequate  provision  or  appropriations  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  serv- 
ice— of  continuing  it  in  the  situation  in  which  it  then  was,  or,  when  its  com 
mander  might  think  proper  to  return,  of  causing  it  to  be  laid  up  in  ordinary 
without  means  for  its  preservation  from  ruin.  The  contract,  however,  under 
which  it  was  absent  at  length  expired,  and  it  returned  at  a  crisis  when  it  was 
deemed  advisable  by  the  Executive  to  have  it,  without  expense  to  the  Govern- 
ment, refitted  and  continued  in  active  operation.  It  is  expected  that,  in  a  few 
days,  the  principal  part  of  the  squadron  will  be  on  the  gulf  prepared  for  active 
and  efficient  service. 

In  order  to  preserve  one  of  the  vessels  from  utter  ruin,  she  has  been  placed  in 
charge  of  an  individual  who  is  bound  to  refit  and  equip  her  for  service,  and  hold 
her  in  a  condition  advantageous  to  the  country.  The  steamship  Zavala,  though 
reputed  one  of  the  best  vessels  of  her  class  in  American  waters,  for  the  want  of 
repairs  and  the  means  of  preservation,  is  now  sunk  ;  but  in  such  a  situation 
that,  if  the  Congress  desire  it,  and  she  is  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the  Execu- 
tive with  the  necessary  means,  she  can  be  repaired  and  rendered  highly  useful 
to  the  Government. 

I  need  not  urge  the  high  importance  of  this  branch  of  the  public  service  and 
the  necessity  of  maintaining  it  at  all  hazards  in  a  state  of  efficiency.  We  are 
apprised  that  all  the  capacities  and  energies  of  our  enemy  are  directed  to  the 
attainment  of  naval  superiority  over  us  upon  the  gulf;  and  unless  we  are  in  a 
situation  to  successfully  compete  with  them,  our  commerce  will  be  ruined  and 
many  calamities  visited  upon  us.  If  our  sea-coast  is  without  this  means  of  de- 
fense, we  shall  be  in  the  most  vulnerable  condition  for  attack,  and  we  may 
expect  the  infliction  of  wounds  from  which  we  could  not  readily  recover.  This 
subject  and  that  of  our  military  condition  in  connection  with  the  report  of  the 
honorable  the  Secretary  of  War  and  Marine,  are  respectfully  submitted  for  the 
examination  and  action  of  Congress. 

The  crisis  demands  the  employment  of  all  the  wisdom,  energy,  and  resources 
of  the  nation.  To  give  efficiency  to  whatever  course  your  honorable  body  may 
determine  to  be  necessary  in  relation  to  our  enemy,  there  must  be  a  requisition 
made  upon  all  our  means,  and  their  application  must  be  regulated  by  discretion, 
and  the  most  systematic  and  rigid  rules  ;  otherwise,  every  effort  made  by  us  will 
prove  abortive  and  sink  us  but  yet  deeper  into  misfortune.  At  this  time  of  great 
prostration  in  the  financial  concerns  of  the  world,  we,  in  common  with  every 
other  people,  experience  a  portion  of  the  general  inconvenience. 

The  plan  presented  to  the  last  session  of  Congress  in  relation  to  the  revenues 
of  the  country,  was  not  adopted.  It  was  recommended  that  the  direct  tax,  as 
then  existing,  be  reduced  but  one-half;  but,  instead  of  that,  it  was  abolished 
— or,  what  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  reduced  so  low  as  not  to  compensate  for 
its  collection.  The  currency,  therefore,  created  at  that  session  was  left  to  rely 
upon  the  duties  arising  from  importations;  and,  consequently,  the  demand  for 
our  issues  has  been  confined  to  that  channel  of  the  revenue.  Although  but  a 
fraction  more  than  one-third  of  the  amount  authorized  to  be  issued  has  been 


304  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

put  in  circulation,  yet,  from  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  guarantee  given  lor  its 
redemption,  our  exchequer  paper  has  frequently  been  at  a  discount  of  fifty  per 
centum.  At  least  one-half  the  revenue,  .also,  to  which  the'  Government  is  en- 
titled from  import  duties  has  not,  and  will  not  be  collected,  unless  power  is 
given  to  the  Executive,  or  the  head  of  the  Finance  Department,  to  declare  and 
establish  such  ports  of  entry  on  the  Red  River  and  the  Sabine,  as  may  be 
deemed  necessary  to  prevent  smuggling  and  the  illicit  introduction  of  goods  into 
the  country. 

The  Government  can  not  exist  without  a  revenue.  Its  officers  and  agents 
must  be  supported.  The  pittance  afforded  them  at  present  is  utterly  insufficient 
for  that  purpose ;  and  some  of  the  most  active  and  efficient  officers  have  retired, 
and  others  have  notified  the  Executive  of  their  determination  to  do  so.  They 
are  totally  unable,  from  their  salaries,  to  obtain  the  indispensable  necessaries  of 
life.  Without  necessary  and  competent  officers,  no  Government  can  be  properly 
administered.  The  Executive  has  found  his  labors  more  than  twofold  greater 
since  the  commencement  of  his  present  official  term,  than  they  were  during  the 
entire  period  of  his  last  administration — a  period  of  more  than  two  years,  when 
he  had  to  organize  a  Government  out  of  chaos  and  give  it  direction.  The  means 
placed  in  his  hands  at  this  time  for  the  conduct  of  the  Government,  does  not 
exceed  one-sixth  of  the  amount  annually  allowed  to  his  predecessor  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  civil  department. 

The  depreciation  of  our  funds  and  the  embarrassment  of  our  currency  have 
arisen  from  various  causes ;  among  which  are  the  repeal,  in  effect,  of  direct 
taxation,  thereby  cutting  off  an  important  branch  of  revenue— the  want  of 
power  to  enforce  the  collection  of  import  duties,  and  the  establishment  of  the 
warehousing  system.  To  these  may  be  added  the  failure  of  the  recommenda- 
tion made  to  the  last  session  of  Congress  involving,  as  was  conceived  matter  of 
the  highest  consideration  in  the  establishment  of  a  currency:  I  mean  the  hy- 
pothecation or  disposition  of  a  portion  of  the  Cherokee  country,  as  a  guarantee 
for  the  ultimate  redemption  and  absorption  of  the  Exchequer  bills. 

Had  the  Executive  been  authorized  to  have  had  surveyed  and  brought  into 
market  two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  those  lands,  under  such  regulations  as 
he  might  have  deemed  advisable, — fixing  the  minimum  price  at  two  dollars  per 
acre — the  entire  amount  of  Exchequer  bills  would  long  since  have  been  with- 
drawn from  circulation,  and  a  large  amount  of  gold  and  silver  introduced  into 
the  country  as  a  circulating  medium,  whilst  the  import  duties  would  now  have 
been  paid  in  specie.  This,  too,  could  have  been  done  without  incurring  any 
expense  to  the  Government.  The  cost  of  bringing  into  market  and  disposing 
of  the  lands  could  have  been  defrayed  without  requiring  the  advance  of  any 
means  for  that  purpose.  To  these  causes  the  present  condition  of  our  currency, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Executive,  may  be  mainly  ascribed,  and  he  would  most 
earnestly  recommend  them  to  the  scrutiny  and  consideration  of  the  honorable 
Congress,  believing,  as  he  does,  that  the  existence  of  the  Government  depends 
upon  the  policy  and  principles  he  has  laid  down. 

Without  resources  no  civilized  nation  was  ever  known  to  exist,  and  that  we 
have  ample  resources  to  sustain  ourselves  no  one  who  will  reflect  a  moment  can 
doubt.  The  extent  of  public  domain  owned  by  Texas  and  yet  unappropriated 
can  not  amount  to  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  acres— resources, 


Mexican  Incursions,  How  Resisted.  305 

in  proportion  to  our  population,  unparalleled  by  any  other  country  ;  but  yet  they 
lie  neglected  and  profitless. 

Since  the  present  administration  commenced,  contracts  for  colonizing  a  small 
portion  of  our  vacant  territory  have  been  made,  altogether  more  advantageous 
to  the  Government  than  any  previously  entered  into.  But  these  contracts  can 
prove  of  no  immediate  avail  to  our  finances. 

If  the  Executive  had  been  invested  with  authority  to  have  disposed  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  public  domain,  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  might  have  been  employed 
with  great  advantage  to  the  present  and  prospective  condition  of  the  currency. 
The  policy  of  husbanding  means  for  the  use  of  posterity  can  not  be  justified  in 
the  present  emergency  of  our  affairs.  If  we  are  enabled  to  leave  them  in 
the  enjoyment  of  independence,  and  free  from  pecuniary  involvement,  it  is  all 
that  we  should  desire. 

Even  supposing  our  national  debt  to  exceed  twelve  millions  of  dollars,  our 
means  are  more  than  sufficient  to  pay  the  whole  ;  and,  in  a  state  of  peace,  our 
import  duties  alone  would  be  adequate  to  defray  all  the  necessary  expenses 
of  government,  without  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  oppressive  taxation.  Our 
vacant  lands  can  be  applied  to  the  liquidation  of  every  farthing  of  our  national 
liabilities,  and  a  large  portion  still  remain  untouched. 

A  matter  of  the  liveliest  interest  to  the  community  is  the  regular  transporta- 
tion of  the  mails  ;  but,  for  the  want  of  appropriations  by  the  last  Congress,  their 
transportation  throughout  entirely  ceased.  Communication  between  the  differ- 
ent sections,  and  the  circulation  of  intelligence,  have  been  wholly  obstructed.  On 
account  of  this  state  of  things,  the  Executive  has  found  himself  greatly  embar- 
rassed in  disseminating,  as  well  as  receiving,  correct  and  speedy  information,  for 
he  had  not  one  dollar  at  his  disposition  for  the  employment  of  expresses,  even 
under  the  most  urgent  circumstances.  During  the  late  excitement  rumor  was 
generally  the  basis  of  impressions  and  action  which,  as  was  to  be  expected,  not 
unfrequentiy  produced  unpleasant  consequences  in  the  community. 

Owing  to  the  suspension  of  the  mails,  the  laws  and  journals  of  the  last  ses- 
sion of  Congress  have  not  been  distributed,  and,  it  may  be  remarked  that,  for 
some  cause  unknown  to  the  Executive,  an  important  portion  of  the  public  print- 
ing has  not  yet  been  executed. 

In  the  recent  advance  of  the  Mexicans  upon  Bexar,  apprehension  for  the 
safety  of  the  Government  archives  at  the  city  of  Austin  was  so  great,  that  all 
business  in  the  public  offices  was  suspended,  and  those  in  charge  of  them 
deemed  it  a  matter  of  prudence  and  security  to  secrete  the  public  records  in  the 
earth,  so  that  if  the  enemy  should  advance  upon  and  sack  the  place,  they  might 
not  be  so  liable  to  destruction. 

Under  these  circumstances,  and  as  soon  as  the  Executive  was  apprised  of  the 
condition  of  the  frontier,  and  of  the  apprehensions  entertained  by  the  inhabitants, 
he  immediately  directed  the  archives,  and  such  other  property  as  was  portable,  to 
be  removed  to  this  place.  Although  the  emergency  would  have  justified  the 
step  without  any  express  authority  under  the  Constitution  or  laws,  yet,  in  this 
case,  he  was  not  driven  to  the  assumption  of  that  responsibility.  He  acted  in 
strict  accordance  with  his  powers  and  duty  under  the  Constitution.  He  is  also 
fully  satisfied  of  the  policy,  as  well  as  the  necessity,  of  the  location  of  the  seat  o- 
government  at  some  point  within  the  Republic  where  the  archives  will  be  secure 
and  where  the  functions  of  the  Government  can  be  more  efficiently  exercise* 
20 


306  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

than  they  could  be  at  a  point  as  remote  from  the  seaboard,  and  as  much 
detached  from  the  body  of  settlements  and  the  mass  of  population  as  the  city  of 
Austin.  Should  any  occasion  arise  for  the  concentration  of  all  the  effective  force 
of  the  country  at  some  particular  point  on  the  frontier,  the  fact  of  the  location  of 
the  seat  of  government  at  a  point  so  much  exposed  would  necessarily  draw 
off  considerable  strength  from  the  action,  and  perhaps  more  valuable  service  in 
another  quarter,  to  guard  the  archives  against  either  Mexican  or  Indian  enemies. 
This  embarrassment  would  be  obviated  by  its  location  at  some  interior  situa- 
tion, where  it  would  be  secure  from  danger  and  alarm,  accessible  to  intelligence, 
and  convenient  for  its  dissemination  throughout  the  country.  During  the  last 
year,  the  expense  to  the  Government  for  transportation  to  the  city  of  Austin, 
over  and  above  what  it  would  have  been  to  any  point  on  the  seaboard, 
exceeded  seventy  thousand  dollars ;  and  the  extra  cost  of  transportation  of  the 
mail,  aside  from  all  other  expense  and  inconvenience  attending  its  remote 
and  detached  situation,  amounts  to  many  thousands  more. 

If  we  are  to  remain  in  our  present  unsettled  condition,  it  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance that  the  seat  of  government  be  established  at  some  point  convenient 
for  the  speedy  and  efficient  transaction  of  the  public  business. 

From  the  insecurity  of  the  public  records,  the  Executive  was  induced  to  the 
adoption  of  the  course  which  he  has  pursued  ;  and  it  being  in  accordance  with 
the  dictates  of  the  Constitution  and  his  own  judgment,  he  sees  no  reason  to  re- 
voke the  decision,  or  yield  to  the  illegal  resistance  which  has  been  offered  to  the 
execution  of  his  orders  by  an  association  who  constituted  themselves  a  commit- 
tee to  contravene  and  obstruct  the  performance  of  his  constitutional  duty. 

Unfortunately  for  the  peace  and  the  welfare  of  the  community,  no  law  has  yet 
been  passed  denning  the  offense  of  insurrection.  In  view,  therefore,  of  the  con- 
dition of  things  as  they  have  existed,  and  to  some  extent  still  exist,  it  is  hoped 
the  attention  of  Congress  will  be  directed  to  this  subject.  Whilst  persons  are 
permitted  to  resist  the  laws  in  existence,  and  to  act  with  impunity  in  open  de- 
fiance of  them,  obstructing  the  civil  functionaries  of  the  Government  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  legal  and  constitutional  duties,  the  rights  of  individuals  must  be 
sacrificed,  their  lives  and  persons  rendered  insecure,  and  anarchy  triumph  over 
order.  The  Congress  has  the  power  of  remedying  these  evils  by  the  enactment 
of  necessary  and  salutary  laws,  the  omission  to  do  which  can  not  have  any 
other  effect  than  to  license  and  increase  evils  already  existing  to  an  alarm- 
ing extent. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that,  under  no  circumstances  whatever,  will  the  courts 
of  justice  be  suspended  in  the  exercise  of  their  appropriate  jurisdiction,  but  that 
they  will  maintain  their  influence  by  holding  their  regular  sessions,  and  being  at 
all  times  prepared  to  punish  those  who  may  violate  the  laws.  In  the  opinion  of 
the  Executive,  nothing  is  better  calculated  to  strengthen  the  social  and  political 
bonds  which  should  unite  the  members  of  a  community,  one  with  another,  than 
the  maintenance  of  an  able,  honest,  and  independent  judiciary.  If  the  Con- 
gress resolves  upon  the  prosecution  of  active  war,  it  might  be  well,  where  indi- 
viduals were  actually  engaged  in  the  service,  to  suspend  civil  process  as  to 
them,  so  long  as  they  are  absent  in  the  discharge  of  public  or  official  duty, 
but  no  longer. 

In  thus  discharging  the  duty  which  this  occasion  has  devolved  upon  me, 
I  '  have  submitted  for  your  consideration  what  I  conceived  of  the  highest 


Failu\  es  in  Legislation  of  Texan  Congress.       307 

interest  to  the  Republic,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  your  labors  you  have  my 
earnest  desires  that  they  will  be  conducted  by  intelligence  and  influenced  by 
wisdom,  to  the  attainment  of  such  objects  as  will  afford  encouragement  to  everv 
patriot,  and  redound  with  eminent  advantages  to  our  country. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


GENERAL  MESSAGE   TO    THE   SEVENTH   CONGRESS   OF   THE 
REPUBLIC   OF   TEXAS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,      ) 
WASHINGTON,  December  i,  1842.  j 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  . 

Circumstances,  involving  the  general  interests  and  condition  of  the  country, 
have  induced  an  earlier  call  of  the  honorable  Congress  than  was  anticipated. 
During  our  existence  as  a  people,  no  deliberative  body  has  ever  been  convened 
under  more  interesting  and  important  circumstances  ;  nor  do  I  believe  it  will 
ever  devolve  on  any  assembly  of  men  to  act  upon  subjects  of  more  vital  impor- 
tance to  their  country  and  mankind. 

Since  the  commencement  of  legislation  in  Texas,  as  a  separate  and  indr 
pendent  power,  we  find  the  proceedings  of  Congress  but  too  frequently  charac 
terized  by  acts  of  selfishness  and  partiality.  The  public  good  has  but  too  often 
been  disregarded,  and  the  national  interests  left  out  of  view  ;  and  thus,  without 
establishing  any  general  principle  or  system  of  legislation,  temporary  expediency 
has  been  substituted  for  a  due  consideration  of  the  public  good.  Under  this 
state  of  things,  it  is  but  true,  that  the  nation  has  been  gradually  declining.  In- 
stead of  deriving  advantages  and  facilities  from  the  lapse  of  time,  its  decline, 
since  the  year  1838,  to  its  present  point  of  depression,  has  been  regular  and 
more  rapid  than  perhaps  that  of  any  other  country  on  the  globe  possessing  the 
same  natural  advantages.  From  possessing  a  currency  nearly  at  par,  with  a 
circulating  medium  but  little  more  than  half  a  million,  and  with  a  credit  un- 
paralleled for  a  country  of  its  age,  we  find  ourselves  in  a  condition  utterly  desti- 
tute of  credit,  without  a  currency,  without  means,  and  millions  in  debt.  In- 
stead of  improving  from  an  increased  immigration,  the  introduction  of  wealth, 
and  the  improvement  of  our  social  condition,  we  discover  that  a  want  of  confi 
dence  at  home  and  distrust  abroad  are  impediments  which  have  to  be  counter- 
vailed before  our  prosperity  can  be  advanced. 

Very  few  congressional  enactments,  it  is  believed,  will  be  necessary  at  least  to 
arrest  the  evils,  if  not  to  produce  for  and  to  place  Texas,  once  more,  in  an  attitude 
cheering  to  the  patriot  and  creating  confidence  throughout  the  land.  Our  ex- 
ternal difficulties,  if  managed  with  propriety,  are  of  less  magnitude  than  they 
have  been  regarded  ;  and  no  country  on  the  globe  can  boast  natural  advantages 
and  facilities  comparable  to  those  of  Texas.  We  possess  every  needful  re- 
source of  competency,  wealth,  an.d  national  independence.  To  develop  these, 
and  convert  them  to  the  benefit  of  the  nation,  will  require  but  little  legislation  ; 
and  that  course  of  policy  adopted  to  this  end  should  be  pursued  by  the  function- 
aries of  the  Government. 

The  chimera  of  a  splendid  government,  administered  upon  a  magnificent 
scale,  has  passed  off,  and  left  us  all  the  "realities  of  depression,  national  calamity, 


308  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

and  destitution.  The  lessons  of  prudence  and  economy  which  experience  has 
inculcated  should  not  be  lost,  but  rendered  available,  that  some  of  the  evils  in- 
curred may  be  remedied  whilst  others  may  be  averted. 

Although  we  have  an  enemy  upon  our  frontier,  and  are  not  in  a  situation  to 
retaliate  in  such  manner  as  our  disposition  would  urge  us  to  do,  and  to  carry  war 
into  their  territory ;  yet,  if  our  resources  are  carefully  economized  and  properly 
employed  we*  can  render  their  predatory  warfare  harmless.  Instead  of  permit- 
ting ourselves  to  be  excited  and  irritated,  so  as  to  vanquish  ourselves  by  dis- 
orderly rallies  to  the  frontiers,  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  maintain  a  force  suffi- 
cient, under  regular  discipline,  to  secure  us  against  serious  aggression,  and  de- 
ter the  enemy  from  repeated  incursions.  As  it  has  hitherto  been,  the  people 
have  rushed  to  the  frontier  on  the  first  alarm  given  of  the  enemy's  approach.  A 
want  of  discipline  and  subordination  was  the  consequence ;  and  after  consum- 
ing the  substance  of  the  frontier  settlers,  they  have  returned  to  their  homes, 
leaving  behind  them  an  exhausted  country ;  and,  for  the  want  of  order  and  dis 
cipline,  have  permitted  the  enemy  to  escape  without  chastisement. 

When  alarms  have  been  given,  instead  of  apprising  the  Executive,  through  the 
department  of  war  by  express,  and  giving  notice  to  the  several  counties  on  the 
frontier,  whose  duty  it  was  to  hold  their  militia  in  instant  readiness,  they  have 
appealed  directly  to  the  citizens  and  invoked  their  aid,  with  whom  concert  of 
action  could  not  be  expected.  The  consequence  was,  that  the  Executive,  upon 
the  receipt  of  this  irregular  information,  issued  the  proper  orders  ;  but  owing  to 
the  delays  incident  to  a  want  of  effective  organization  in  the  militia,  celerity 
could  not  be  given  to  the  movements  required  ;  and  the  enemy,  after  having 
produced  great  excitement,  effected  their  retreat.  These  circumstances  caused 
a  campaign  to  be  projected  by  individuals,  not  functionaries  of  Government, 
without  first  having  obtained  the  advice  and  sanction  of  the  Executive — they 
pledging  ample  supplies  for  those  who  should  engage  in  the  campaign  to  the 
Rio  Grande.  Whatever  the  opinions  of  the  Executive  under  these  circum- 
stances may  have  been,  aware  that  the  opinion  prevailed  that  it  was  practicable 
by  private  means,  to  conduct  a  campaign,  and  having  ordered  out  such  of  the 
militia  as  would  have  it  in  their  power  to  reach  the  frontier  before  the  season 
would  be  too  far  advanced  to  meet  the  emergency  which  had  but  recently  ex- 
isted, he  determined  to  give  all  the  aid,  efficiency,  and  direction  to  the  patriotic 
ardor  of  the  people  that  the  means  in  his  power  would  permit.  But  it  is  im- 
possible that  campaigns  can  be  either  projected  or  conducted  with  success  or 
advantage  to  the  country,  unless  under  the  auspices  of  the  Government.  In- 
dividuals can  not  know  the  situation  of  our  relations,  either  foreign  or  domestic. 
A  campaign  may  be  designed  by  the  Government  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  a 
particular  object ;  for  instance,  a  surprise  of  the  enemy.  It  may  require  all  the 
resources  of  the  country,  the  greatest  secrecy,  and  that  the  whole  force  of  the 
country  should  be  in  readiness  to  act  in  concert  so  as  to  effect  the  design.  If 
individuals  assume  the  right  of  projecting  campaigns,  they  are  liable,  not  only  to 
thwart  the  designs  of  the  Government,  but,  by  a  diversion  of  a  portion  of  its 
means,  bring  on  disaster  and  insure  the  greatest  calamities  to  the  country.  In- 
deed, it  has  not  been  unfrequent  upon  the  frontier  to  project  and  conduct  cam- 
paigns without  reporting  to  the  proper  department  any  fact  or  circumstances 
connected  with  them  from  beginning  to  end.  Public  stores  and  munitions  of 


Force  Needed  on  the  Mexican  Frontier.          309 

war  have  also  been  applied  in  this  way  without  the  sanction  or  even  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Government. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  administration,  it  was  the  earnest  desire 
of  the  Executive  to  be  enabled  by  acts  of  Congress  to  maintain  a  force  on  the 
frontier,  amounting  to  from  one  to  two  hundred  men.  Could  this  have  been  done, 
he  remains  satisfied  and  confirmed  in  the  opinion  that  the  recent  calamities  and 
annoyances  upon  the  frontier  would  not  have  occurred.  Less  than  one-fourth 
of  the  amount  which  the  incursions  of  the  enemy  have  cost  the  country  and  the 
frontier  citizens  would  have  sustained  the  force  requisite.  Unless  something  can 
be  done  to  prevent  the  system  of  molestation  practiced  by  the  enemy,  it  will 
cause  Texas  to  subdue  herself.  If  the  whole  country  is  to  be  agitated  and  called 
from  their  homes  at  the  appearance  of  a  few  hundred  rancheros,  who  can  make 
a  display,  on  our  frontier  and  again  recross  the  Rio  Grande  before  our  citizens 
have  left  their  homes,  a  few  only  having  rallied,  in  numbers  sufficient  to  jeopard- 
ize themselves  without  effecting  any  useful  object,  we  can  never  hope  for  security 
to  our  frontier  or  tranquillity  to  its  citizens.  If  it  is  impossible  to  maintain  such 
a  regular  force,  as  would  be  adequate  with  the  present  means  of  the  Govern 
ment,  it  is  at  least  within  the  power  of  Congress  to  enact  such  laws  as  will 
compel  the  requisite  number  of  militia  to  be  furnished  by  draft  from  the  coun- 
ties as  will  meet  the  necessities  of  the  frontier.  In  this  way  we  have  the  means 
of  giving  protection  to  that  interesting  portion  of  our  countrymen,  who  have 
adventured  to  the  West  and  South.  And  the  Executive  continues  to  regard  it, 
as  he  has  ever  done,  of  vital  importance  to  the  citizens.  They  have  taken  their 
position  on  the  frontier  and  sustained  themselves  under  every  disadvantage. 
They  have  claims  upon  the  sympathies  as  well  as  the  protection  of  the  country. 

No  doubt  can  now  be  entertained  that  the  prime  object  of  the  enemy  is  to 
molest  our  frontier  and  harass  and  annoy  our  seaboard.  To  use  such  pre- 
cautions as  their  policy  will  enjoin  upon  us,  should  be  equally  the  primary 
object  of  the  honorable  Congress.  Should  assurances  of  undoubted  character 
have  been  given  that  the  enemy  are  strengthening  themselves  by  water,  every 
means  should  be  employed,  and  precaution  taken,  to  render  abortive  any  attack 
which  they  might  make  upon  our  seaboard.  The  Port  of  Galveston  is  .now  in 
a  condition  of  defense  more  efficient  than  could  be  expected  when  we  take  into 
view  the  means  placed  at  the  disposition  of  the  Government,  and  the  necessity 
of  relying  mainly  upon  the  contributions  and  labor  of  the  citizens  of  that  place. 
Col.  George  W.  Hockley,  an  officer  of  skill  and  great  efficiency,  was  appointed 
Acting  Colonel  of  Ordnance  by  the  Executive,  and  assigned  to  the  duties  of 
engineer  and  ordnance  officer  for  that  station,  to  continue  during  the  emergency 
which  enforced  the  necessity  of  his  appointment. 

For  the  want  of  means,  every  possible  embarrassment  has  been  presented  to 
the  administration.  Texas,  in  truth,  presents  an  anomaly  in  the  history  of 
nations  ;  for  no  country  has  ever  existed  without  a  currency,  nor  has  any  Gov- 
ernment ever  been  administered  without  means.  The  transition  from  a  state  of 
things,  where  unrestricted  and  unlimited  extravagance  prevailed  and  disburse- 
ments were  made  without  appropriations  by  Congress,  to  a  state  of  things 
where  we  are  without  means,  without  appropriations,  and  without  disburse- 
ments, is  well  calculated  to  bring  odium  upon  the  administration  of  the  Govern- 
ment, unless  examination  is  made  into  the  causes  which  have  led  to  its  situation 


310  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

and  the  circumstances  which  have  involved  it  in  its  present  unfortunate 
dilemma. 

Aware  of  the  attitude  in  which  the  country  must  be  placed,  the  present  Ex- 
ecutive, upon  coming  into  office,  recommended  such  measures  of  finance  as  he 
was  satisfied  would,  to  some  extent,  relieve  the  existing  embarrassments,  and 
eventually  extricate  the  country  from  its  involvements.  The  system  recom- 
mended was  not  adopted.  The  issue  of  Exchequer  bills,  the  representative  part 
of  the  system,  was  adopted ;  but  the  foundation  of  the  issue  was  not  regarded. 
Authority  to  hypothecate  the  Cherokee  lands,  or  to  make  sale  of  them  or  any 
portion  thereof,  was  omitted  to  be  given.  The  collection  of  the  direct  tax  was, 
also,  postponed  for  six  months  after  the  usual  period  for  its  collection  ;  and  the 
Exchequer  bills  of  necessity  referred  for  redemption  to  imports  and  licenses 
alone.  The  excitements  in  the  country  have  prevented  importations  ;  and  per- 
sons owing  their  license  tax  have  refused  to  pay.  The  process  of  collection  is 
so  tedious  that  unless  some  prompt  remedy  is  devised  by  Congress,  it  is  useless 
to  regard  such  tax  as  a  source  of  public  revenue.  The  Exchequer  bills  being 
thus  left  dependent  upon  import  duties  for  their  redemption — no  other  demand 
existing  for  them — depreciated,  and  at  one  time  were  worth  in  market  but 
twenty-five  cents  on  the  dollar,  though  the  whole  amount  issued  up  to  this  time 
is  only  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  and  the  amount 
now  in  circulation  can  not  by  possibility  exceed  thirty  thousand.  Had  the 
requisite  authority  been  given  for  the  hypothecation  of  the  Cherokee  country  for 
the  redemption  of  these  bills,  and  had  the  time  for  the  collection  of  the  direct 
tax  not  been  postponed,  and  the  license  tax  been  collectable,  and  the  ware- 
housing system  been  abolished,  it  is  believed  a  sum  more  than  double  the 
amount  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  could  have  already  been  brought  into 
the  treasury. 

At  the  extra  session  in  June  last,  a  law  was  passed  authorizing  the  Executive 
to  have  surveyed  and  brought  into  market  four  hundred  thousand  acres  of  the 
Cherokee  lands,  but  under  such  restrictions  that  they  amounted  to  a  prohibition. 
Competent  surveyors,  after  contracting  for  the  execution  of  the  work,  declined 
its  prosecution,  having  been  assured  that  such  hindrances  would  be  interposed 
as  would  render  their  efforts,  if  not  abortive,  at  least  unpleasant. '  For  the  pur- 
pose of  placing  this  subject  at  rest  in  future,  and  that  the  just  may  not  be  preju- 
diced any  longer  in  its  interests,  there  will  be  laid  before  the  honorable  Congress 
at  an  early  day  an  opinion  of  the  Attorney-General  which  for  ability,  clearness, 
and  conclusion  must  place  the  question  of  right  in  the  Government  forever  at 
rest,  and  enable  the  Congress  to  adopt  such  measures  as  will  convert  some  ot 
the  most  valuable  resources  of  the  nation  into  means ;  and  have  a  tendency, 
with  other  measures,  to  sustain  further  issues,  if  needful,  under  the  Exchequer 
law,  to  an  extent  double  that  now  authorized  to  be  issued.  It  is  recommended 
to  the  honorable  Congress  that  a  law  be  passed  prohibiting  the  circulation  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  Republic,  of  the  notes  of  all  foreign  banks,  and  that  all 
individual  and  corporation  notes  intended  for  circulation  as  currency  in  the 
Republic  be  suppressed  ;  and  that  engraved  Exchequer  bills  of  denominations 
ranging  from  twelve  and  a  half  cents  to  one  dollar,  and  from  one  dollar  to  one 
hundred  dollars,  be  issued  and  made  receivable  for  all  dues  to  the  Government, 
except  those  arising  from  imports  and  tonnage ;  and  that  these  latter  be  receiv- 
able in  nothing  but  gold  and  silver.  That  the  Exchequers  can  be  sustained  by 


Failure  in  Collection  of  Revenue.  311 

a  course  of  this  kind,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Up  to  this  time,  none  of  them 
have  been  husbanded  but  for  the  purposes  of  paying  duties.  The  demand  will 
be  greatly  increased,  and  as  soon  as  the  taxes  are  collected  they  will  become 
an  object  of  procurement.  If  prudence  is  observed  in  their  issue,  the  whole 
amount  now  authorized  would  not  be  sufficient  to  pay  the  direct  taxes,  and  that 
deficit  must  be  made  up  in  gold  and  silver.  It  is  impossible,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, that  the  money  should  not  be  at  par — from  the  time  that  taxes  are 
collectable,  as  the  demand  would  be  greater  than  the  amount  in  circulation  to 
meet  it.  According  to  the  amount  of  circulating  medium  in  the  United  States, 
estimating  our  population  at  one  hundred  thousand  souls,  our  circulation  ought 
to  be  six  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  six  dollars  for  each  individual.  Supposing 
this  data  to  be  correct,  a  circulating  medium  of  one-third  of  that  sum  would, 
from  the  force  of  circumstances,  sustain  itself  at  par,  controlled  by  the  absolute 
wants  of  the  country.  I  view  the  subject  of  the  finances  of  the  nation  as  of 
vital  importance  to  its  existence,  and  that  they  can  be  sustained  in  a  sound  and 
healthy  condition,  the  Executive  entertains  not  a  doubt. 

To  enforce  the  collection  of  the  revenues  is  also  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance. The  enactment  of  laws  without  their  enforcement  is  of  no  avail  to 
the  country.  If  resistance  is  made  to  the  constituted  authorities,  of  what  avail 
are  enactments  on  paper  without  the  means  or  the  power  to  punish  ?  It  is  the 
duty  of  Congress  to  enact  such  laws  as  will  enable  the  Executive  to  com- 
mand the  power  commensurate  to  their  execution.  Resistance  to  the  con- 
stituted authorities,  and  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  is  one  of  the  most  flagrant 
offenses  that  can  be  committed  against  society,  and  is  entitled  to  no  milder 
appellation  than  that  of  sedition  or  rebellion.  The  Constitution  has  declared 
these  offenses,  but  has  not  prescribed  a  remedy  for  the  punishment  of  offenders. 
That  power  is  delegated  to  Congress.  The  attention  of  the  honorable  Congress 
has,  therefore,  been  called  to  it,  and  salutary  enactments  requested.  They  are 
now  urged  as  indispensable  to  the  public  safety  and  the  execution  of  the  laws. 
The  law  has  delegated  to  the  President  the  power  to  call  out  the  militia  to  sup- 
press insurrection,  without  giving  any  definition  to  the  crime,  or  authorizing  the 
infliction  of  any  adequate  punishment.  No  tribunal  is  appointed  for  the  trial  of 
the  offense.  Instances  have  occurred  within  the  last  three  years  of  a  character 
well  calculated  to  enforce  a  conviction  upon  the  mind  of  every  patriot  that  the 
offense  should  no  longer  be  disregarded  or  the  delinquents  unpunished.  Our 
prosperity  as  a  nation  depends  upon  the  security  of  life  and  property  being  guar- 
anteed to  the  peaceful  citizen,  and  the  punishment  of  those  who  disregard  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  our  social  compact.  When  men  take  the  laws  into  their  own 
hands,  or  undertake  to  construe  the  Constitution  in  derogation  of  the  constituted 
authorities  of  the  land,  it  manifests  a  diseased  condition  of  the  body  politic,  and 
demands  of  the  law-making  power  the  prescription  of  a  remedy,  whilst  the 
Executive,  by  his  oath,  is  bound  to  enforce  it.  The  punishment  of  offenses 
ought  to  "be  as  prompt  and  summary  as  the  nature  of  our  institutions  will 
admit.  The  reason  is  manifest.  There  are  not  jails  and  prisons  in  the  country, 
for  the  confinement  of  the  accused,  nor  are  the  several  counties  in  a  situation  to 
pay  a  tax  sufficient  to  ensure  the  safe-keeping  of  culprits." 

Our  foreign  relations  have  undergone  no  material  change  since  the  last  Execu- 
tive communication  to  the  honorable  Congress,  with  the  exception  of  the 
exchange  of  ratification  of  the  treaties  of  Great  Britain.  No  information  has 


312  Houston 's  Literary  Remains. 

been  received  in  relation  to  the  mediation  of  that  power  between  Texas  and 
Mexico.  It  is  hoped,  however,  that  before  the  adjournment  of  the  present  ses- 
sion it  will  be  in  the  power  of  the  Executive  to  submit  to  the  honorable  Congress 
important  information  embracing  that  subject.  A  treaty  of  amity,  commerce, 
and  navigation  has  been  negotiated  by  our  minister,  the  Hon.  James  Reily,  with 
the  Government  of  the  United  States.  The  treaty  not  having  yet  been  received, 
it  will  not  be  within  the  power  of  the  Executive  to  submit  it  to  the  honorable 
Senate  for  their  consideration  as  early  as  he  anticipated.  Its  arrival,  however,  is 
daily  expected. 

Nothing  is  better  calculated  to  present  the  deplorable  financial  condition 
of  Texas  than  the  situation  of  our  post-office  and  mail  establishment.  For  the 
years  1840  and  1841,  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  four  hun- 
dred and  seventy  dollars  in  promissory  notes,  besides  four  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight  dollars  in  Exchequer  bills,  were  appropriated  to  sustain  the 
establishment.  For  the  service  of  the  present  year,  Congress  appropriated  only 
five  thousand  dollars  in  Exchequer  bills,  without  making  any  allowance  for  their 
depreciation,  nor  did  they  leave  any  discretion  with  the  Executive  to  sustain  this 
important  branch  of  the  Government.  Texas,  at  this  time,  furnishes  the  singu- 
lar fact  of  a  government  without  the  means  of  conveying  intelligence,  or  distrib- 
uting the  laws  throughout  the  Republic.  It  is,  doubtless,  the  only  community 
on  earth  at  this  time,  purporting  to  be  a  nation,  that  is  similarly  situated. 
Instead  of  inquiring  into  causes  which  have  produced  this  state  of  things,  and 
the  reasons  which  enforce  them  upon  the  country,  it  is  imputed  to  the  delin- 
quency of  the  administration.  It  is .  for  Congress  to  determine  whether  means 
can  be  devised  ;  and  if  they  can,  whether  they  will  be  employed  in  sustaining  the 
mail  establishment.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  proceeds  arising  from 
a  well-regulated  mail  establishment  would  go  far  towards  defraying  the  expenses 
incident  to  its  maintenance.  The  diffusion  of  general  intelligence  throughout  a 
country  like  ours,  subject  to  the  frequent  causes  of  excitement  on  the  frontier,  is 
of  great  importance.  The  ready  circulation  of  intelligence  would  prevent  much 
confusion  and  commotion  throughout  the  country,  and  enable  the  Executive  to 
command  the  means  of  its  defense  with  some  degree  of  certainty ;  whereas,  he 
has  had  to  rely 'alone  upon  the  procurement  of  expresses,  without  the  means  at 
his  command  of  even  defraying  their  expenses  while  in  service.  When,  indeed, 
he  could  obtain  them  at  all,  they  had  to  rely  upon  the  future  ability  of  the  Gov- 
ernment for  compensation.  A  free  government  can  not  exist  without  mails.  At 
the  called  session  in  June,  the  attention  of  the  honorable  Congress  was  most 
earnestly  invoked  to  this  subject,  but  met  with  no  favorable  response,  and  has 
therefore  remained  neglected  up  to  this  time  for  the  want  of  means,  though, 
with  great  exertions,  some  of  the  principal  routes  have  been  partially 
maintained. 

Another  subject  of  some  importance  in  the  present  crisis  I  deem  it  my  duty  to 
present  to  the  honorable  Congress.  In  the  month  of  March  last,  during  the  in- 
cursion of  the  enemy,  under  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  the  President  felt 
it  to  be  his  imperative  duty  to  order  a  removal  of  the  archives  and  heads  of  de- 
partments from  the  city  of  Austin  to  a  place  of  safety.  As  to  the  propriety  and 
necessity  of  the  act,  no  reasonable  doubt  could  exist.  The  Constitution  declares 
that  the  President  and  heads  of  departments  shall  remain  and  keep  their  offices 
at  the  seat  of  government,  unless  removed  by  the  permission  of  Congress, 


Removal  of  Archives  Illegally  Resisted.         313 

'  or  unless  in  cases   of  emergency,  in  time  of  war,  the  public  interest  may 
require  their  removal" 

That  this  emergency  did  exist  to  a  most  palpable  extent  is  demonstrated 
by  the  fact  that,  for  temporary  security,  the  archives  were  buried,  with  a  view  to 
secure  them  from  injury.  The  Executive,  in  accordance  with  this  information, 
ordered  their  immediate  removal  to  the  city  of  Houston  as  a  place  of  undoubted 
security.  Agents  were  ordered  to  provide  transportation,  so  as  to  effect  it  with 
the  greatest  dispatch,  and  to  secure  the  public  arms  and  stores  which  were 
at  that  point,  and  which  have  since  sustained  much  damage  and  loss  by  their 
non-removal.  The  President  considered  that  he  was  the  sole  judge  of  the  emer- 
gency requiring  their  removal.  Resistance,  however,  has  been  offered  and  con- 
tinued up  to  the  present  time.  Acts  of  the  most  seditious  and  unauthorized 
character  have  been  perpetrated  by  persons  styling  themselves  the  "  Archives 
Committee,"  positively  refusing  obedience  to  the  orders  of  the  Executive,  and  re- 
fusing to  permit  individuals  to  remove  from  that  place  with  their  effects  unless 
a  passport  was  granted  by  some  member  of  said  committee.  The  Executive  felt 
a  reluctance  to  have  recourse  to  such  measures  as  would  have  enabled  him 
to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution.  During  the  late  incursion  of  the 
Mexicans,  the  Executive  has  been  informed  that  a  prominent  individual  made 
application  to  call  and  select  such  papers  as  he  deemed  of  importance,  for  the 
purpose  of  conveying  them  to  a  place  of  safety.  The  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Office,  anxious  to  secure  the  archives  in  his  charge  from  injury, 
attempted  their  removal,  but  his  authority  was  resisted — the  committee  pro- 
posing to  remove  them,  but  at  the  same  time  to  retain  a  supervision  of  them, 
and  to  designate  the  point  to  which  they  were  to  be  removed — thereby  clearly 
conceding  the  insecurity  of  their  present  situation,  and  assuming  to  themselves 
the  power  of  resisting  the  constitutional  authorities  of  the  country,  and  inter- 
fering with  the  constitutional  right  and  duty  of  the  Executive.  The  causes 
which  at  first  existed  under  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  for  the  order 
for  their  removal  by  the  Executive  still  exist  with  undiminished  force.  This 
flagrant  violation  of  all  civil  rule  inculcates  the  indispensable  necessity  of  some 
Congressional  enactment  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  insurrectionary  acts 
toward  the  authorities  of  the  country.  If  individuals  are  permitted  to  associate 
themselves  into  bodies  for  the  purpose  of  resisting  the  Constitution  and  laws  of 
the  country,  the  laws  cease  to  be  operative.  The  salutary  provisions  of  the  Con- 
stitution are  nugatory,  and  rebellion  and  anarchy  take  their  place.  The  reasons 
for  the  removal  of  the  archives  from  the  city  of  Austin  still  existing,  it  was 
deemed  most  proper  to  convene  the  Congress  at  this  point.  The  subject 
was  laid  before  Congress  at  the  late  extra  session,  and  no  definitive  action  took 
place.  In  addition  to  the  fact  that  the  Supreme  Court  had  been,  by  law, 
recently  removed  to  the  town  of  Washington,  and  the  removal  of  the  archives  to 
the  same  place  would  be  attended  with  no  public  expense,  the  Executive  regard- 
ed it  as,  in  many  respects,  under  existing  circumstances,  the  most  eligible,  safe, 
and  convenient  location  for  the  seat  of  government. 

The  Executive  has  been  informed  that  public  arms,  and  other  Government 
property  of  much  value,  and  which  would  be  of  great  convenience  in  our  present 
circumstances,  are  distributed  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  having  been  ap- 
propriated by  individuals  to  their  private  use,  which  they  refuse  to  give  up  in  com- 
pliance with  the  orders  of  the  Government.  It  is  therefore  suggested,  whether 


314  Life  of  Sam  Houston. 

it  would  not  be  proper  to  invest  the  Executive  with  authority  to  enforce  the  col- 
lection of  the  same,  that  it  may  be  applied  to  the  public  benefit. 

While  presenting  subjects  to  the  consideration  of  your  honorable  body,  of 
vital  importance  to  the  nation,. our  Indian  relations  will  be  entitled  to  at  least 
secondary  estimation.  Soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  present  adminis- 
tration the  President,  anxious  to  renew  that  course  of  policy  which  he  was  sat- 
isfied could  alone  give  peace  and  security  to  the  frontiers,  availed  himself  of 
every  means  of  information  upon  the  subject,  and  from  assurances  of  the  Indians 
themselves,  as  well  as  officers  of  the  United  States  Government  employed  in  the 
Indian  Department,  he  was  satisfied  that  a  sincere  disposition  toward  peace 
was  entertained  by  the  Indians.  He  accordingly  dispatched  Commissioners  to 
the  east  of  Red  River  (whither  the  Indians  of  Texas  had  generally  retired  with 
their  families,  and  from  whence  they  sent  out  war  parties  to  the  frontiers  of 
Texas)  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  amicable  relations.  They  met  the  Indi- 
ans, and  entered  into  negotiations  with  them,  with  the  ulterior  arrangements  to 
meet  again  on  the  Brazos  at  the  Waco  Village,  as  the  Commissioners  under- 
stood it,  in  the  month  of  October  last.  The  Commissioners  attended,  but, 
owing  to  some  cause,  the  Indians  were  unable  to  attend.  Some  difficulties  in- 
tervened at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  treaty  east  of  the  Red  River.  The 
principal  ground  on  which  it  was  believed  the  Comanches  would  not  enter  into 
a  treaty  or  adventure  themselves  to  a  council  arose  from  the  circumstances  at- 
tending the  unfortunate  affair  which  occurred  in  Bexar  in  the  Spring  of  1840,  in 
which  they  lost  many  of  their  principal  chiefs,  after  they  had  received  a  solemn 
invitation  to  come  in  and  establish  friendly  relations.  It  was  alleged  that  they 
were  yet  crying  for  their  kindred,  and  that  the  clouds  of  sorrow  yet  rested  upon 
their  nation,  because  their  chiefs  were  no  more,  and  they  had  not  the  light  of 
their  counsel  to  point  to  the  path  in  which  they  should  walk.  Other  tribes  who 
had  been  friendly  with  the  colonists  of  Texas,  and  had  always  been  friendly  and 
commercial  with  the  first  settlers  of  the  country,  though  they  had  occasion  to 
deplore  many  circumstances,  were  nevertheless  anxious  to  return  with  their 
women  to  where  buffalo  were  abundant,  and  where  they  could  obtain  subsist- 
ence for  their  families,  live  at  peace  with  the  citizens  of  Texas,  and  carry  on 
trade,  and  maintajn  friendly  intercourse. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  indicated  a  willingness  to  guaran- 
tee peace  and  maintain  the  treaty  stipulations  which  may  be  entered  into  on 
the  part  of  the  Indians,  provided  Texas  maintains  good  faith  on  her  part.  That 
friendly  relations  can  be  established  there  is  no  doubt,  and  messengers  are  now 
out  among  the  various  tribes  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  particular  rea- 
sons why  the  chiefs  of  the  several  tribes  did  not  meet  our  Commissioners  at  the 
Waco  Village ;  and  the  Executive  will  not  be  remiss  in  the  proper  appliance  of 
whatever  may  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  our  object,  so  truly  desirable  to 
the  interests  of  the  country.  It  has  not  been  to  him  a  matter  of  much  aston- 
ishment that  the  chiefs  did  not  attend.  The  season  has  been  one  of  unprece- 
dented character.  The  high  waters,  the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  and  the 
range  of  the  buffalo  being  further  south  than  is  usual  at  this  season  of  the  year, 
would  interpose  difficulties  to  the  attendance  of  the  Indians  that  seem  to  be 
quite  satisfactory  for  their  absence.  If  a  treaty  is  once  concluded,  and  good 
faith  maintained  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Texas,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
friendly  relations  will  be  maintained  with  the  Indians.  When  only  a  few  hun- 


Cause  of  Indian  Depredations.  315 

dred  families  existed  in  the  colonies  Texas  had  friendship  and  commerce  with 
the  border  tribes.  Those  who  engaged  in  the  commerce  found  it  profitable, 
and  but  few  interruptions  took  place  between  the  whites  and  the  Indians.  Since 
then  causes  have  arisen  that  have  broken  off  all  commerce,  and  such  has  been 
the  exasperation  of  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  that  there  was  no  medium 
by  which  they  could  be  approached,  unless  through  tribes  resident  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States,  or  the  Indian  agents  of  that  country.  The  fact  of 
all  the  commerce  of  the  Indians  with  Texas  ceasing  would  induce  them  to  seek 
a  market  for  their  spoils  acquired  by  depredations  committed  upon  our  citizens. 
This  they  could  readily  find  at  trading  houses  on  the  Red  River,  and  with  the 
various  tribes  in  friendship  with  the  United  States  who  could  furnish  them  arti- 
cles obtained  from  the  United  States  traders,  who  would  regard  it  as  a  fair  traf- 
fic. The  border  Indians  having  secured  their  wives  and  children  beyond  the 
limits  of  our  territory,  were  incited  to  continual  outrage  on  our  citizens,  and 
regarded  us  as  irreconcilable  enemies  to  them.  Extermination  of  all  Indians 
within  our  borders  having  been  announced  by  the  former  Executive  upon  his 
coming  into  office,  they  viewed  every  act  of  hostility  on  their  part  as  one  of 
retaliation,  and  their  hostility  having  nothing  of  interest  to  counteract  or  restrain 
it,  has  exposed  the  frontiers  of  Texas  to  continual  depredations.  Let  peace 
once  be  made  with  them,  let  them  realize  that  they  can  obtain  such  articles  as 
they  require  within  the  vicinity  of  their  families  and  hunting-grounds,  maintain 
good  faith  on  our  part,  and  they  will  at  once  perceive  that  their  interest  is  to 
remain  at  peace  and  in  commerce  with  us  ;  that  their  women  and  children  may 
remain  secure  in  their  wigwams,  and  renew  their  agriculture.  Their  warriors  will 
be  changed  into  hunters  ;  and  should  they  entertain  a  passion  for  war,  its  theater 
will  be  distant  from  their  families ;  they  will  find  new  enemies  to  make  war 
upon,  at  least  as  profitable  as  Texas ;  and  we  shall  enjoy  the  benefits  of  a  lucra- 
tive commerce,  and  become  the  recipients  of  the  fruits  of  their  enterprise, 
whilst  our  citizens  will  enjoy  security,  and  our  frontiers  exemption  from  alarm. 

All  the  information  within  the  control  of  the  Executive  will  be  submitted  to 
the  honorable  Congress  in  the  progress  of  the  session. 

Gentlemen,  that  your  deliberations  may  be  attended  with  the  most  salutary 
benefits  to  the  country,  and  that  in  its  present  depressed  condition,  it  may  derive 
under  a  munificent  providence  essential  aid  from  the  exercise  of  your  patriotism 
and  wisdom,  is  my  most  fervent  desire. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


GENERAL  MESSAGE  TO  THE  EIGHTH  CONGRESS  OF  THE 
REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,      » 
WASHINGTON,  December  12,  1843.  \ 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 
It  affords  me  pleasure  to  greet  you  as  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  and  to 
felicitate  you  upon  the  present  promising  aspect  of  our  affairs.  Abroad  we  are 
at  peace  with  all  the  world  ;  at  home  plenty  fills  the  land.  Our  population  is 
increasing,  and  our  settlements  rapidly  extending. 


316  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

In  augmenting  and  securing  permanently  these  blessings  to  the  country  I 
confidently  rely  upon  your  intelligent  and  patriotic  co-operation.  I  rejoice  that 
you  have  it  in  your  power  to  aid  the  Executive  in  pursuing  such  a  policy  and 
perfecting  such  measures  as  may  redound  to  our  present  and  future  prosperity. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  present  administration,  as  all  will  recollect,  the 
country  was  in  a  troubled  and  embarrassed  condition.  Our  relations  with 
Mexico  were  of  the  most  annoying,  hostile,  and  unpleasant  character.  No  pros- 
pect of  an  amicable  adjustment  of  existing  difficulties  appeared.  Hundreds  of 
our  citizens  were  prisoners,  and  in  chains ;  our  navy  was  subsidized  to  a  revo- 
lutionary portion  of  that  country,  and  the  enemy  meditating  and  making  incur- 
sions within  our  limits,  and  executing  every  annoyance  upon  our  border  inhabi- 
tants. As  a  nation,  we  were  without  a  currency,  without  credit  at  home  or 
abroad,  and  without  mails  to  disseminate  intelligence.  Our  resources  could  not 
be  rendered  available,  and  by  this  chain  of  untoward  circumstances  our  citizens 
were  despondent  as  to  the  future ;  and  those  governments  with  which  friendly 
relations  had  been  established  regarded  our  condition  with  apathy.  We  seemed 
to  stand  surrounded  with  difficulties,  and  without  power  or  expedients  to  redeem 
us  from  the  thralldom. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  the  various  Indian  tribes  upon  our  frontier,  extending 
from  the  Red  River  to  the  Rio  Grande,  were  hostile.  Their  frequent  inroads 
upon  our  adventurous  and  enterprising  settlers  had  been  attended  with  many 
melancholy  scenes  of  blood.  The  husband  and  the  father  being  dead  in  the  field 
which  his  industry  had  opened,  and  his  wife  and  children  carried  into  a  cruel 
captivity,  were  almost  daily  occurrences  in  our  border  neighborhoods.  There 
was  not  a  cent  in  the  coffers  of  the  Government,  whereby  it  might  afford  relief 
to  our  people  thus  exposed  and  suffering. 

These  circumstances  naturally  deterred  emigration,  and  spread  abroad  dis- 
trust in  the  minds  of  the  public  as  to  the  willingness  of  the  Government  to 
afford  protection  which  the  condition  of  the  frontiers  so  imperiously  demanded. 

This  want  of  confidence  deprived  us  of  many  a  strong  arm  for  the  sword  or 
the  plough,  and  prevented  the  introduction  of  capital  so  necessary  to  the  speedy 
development  and  increase  of  our  national  wealth. 

Our  situation  is  now  different.  For  more  than  a  year  past  we  have  experi- 
enced no  annoyance  from  our  Mexican  adversary.  The  great  powers  which 
have  recognized  our  independence  have  evinced  by  their  endeavors  to  bring 
about  a  friendly  and  permanent  adjustment  of  our  difficulties  with  Mexico  the 
most  lively  and  efficient  solicitude. 

In  accordance  with  the  desire  of  this  Government,  made  known  to  the  Gov- 
ernments of  the  United  States,  France,  and  Great  Britain,  that  they  should  so 
far  interpose  as  to  prevent  the  mode  of  aggression  practiced  against  us  by 
Mexico  as  being  repugnant  to  the  genius  of  the  age ;  they  have  given  us  the 
kindest  assurances  that  they  would  employ  their  good  offices  in  a  manner  con- 
sistent with  the  friendly  relations  in  which  they  stood  to  the  contending  parties  ; 
and,  if  possible,  by  changing  the  mode  of  warfare  waged  by  Mexico,  divest  it  of 
many  characteristics  incompatible  with  the  practice  of  civilized  belligerents. 

The  uniformly  active  and  friendly  offices  which  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment has,  at  the  earnest  request  of  this,  interposed  between  Texas  and 
Mexico  can  not  fail  to  be  regarded  as  highly  gratifying  evidence  of  its  generous 
and  friendl)  disposition,  and  of  a  sincere  and  disinterested  desire  to  produce 


England^  Interposition  with  Mexico.  317 

results  as  far  as  may  be  compatible  with  the  relations  subsisting  between 
Great  Britain  and  Mexico,  in  complete  accordance  with  the  assurances  which 
have  been  given.  Nor  has  the  Executive  any  distrust  that  all  the  professions 
on  the  part  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  will  not  be  efficiently  fulfilled. 

In  the  month  of  June  last,  a  dispatch  from  the  Charge  d' Affaires  of  Great 
"Britain  near  this  Government  announced  the  willingness  of  Mexico  to  proclaim 
an  armistice,  and  suspend  all  hostile  action  in  case  the  same  policy  should  be 
adopted  by  this  Government.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  Executive  did 
not  hesitate  to  meet  the  proposition  and  embrace  the  policy  indicated.  He  ac 
cordingly  issued  his  proclamation  declaring  the  establishment  of  the  armistice  , 
and  commissioners  were  subsequently  appointed,  and  dispatched  to  the  point 
designated  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  with  the  Mexican  commissioners  the 
terms  of  the  armistice  preliminary  to  further  negotiations  for  peace  at  the  capi- 
tal. Since  their  departure  the  Executive  has  received  no  important  intelligence 
from  them,  but  confidently  expects,  during  the  present  session  of  the  honorable 
Congress,  to  be  able  to  lay  before  them  some  account  of  the  progress  of  the 
mission.  He  is  satisfied  that  nothing  will  be  wanting  on  the  part  of  the  gentle- 
men chosen  for  that  service  to  forward  an  object  for  which  their  patriotism  and 
qualifications  seemed  to  point  them  out.  The  Executive  has  no  disinclination 
to  an  honorable  peace ;  and  he  hopes  that  Mexico,  like  Texas,  will  be  disposed 
to  put  an  end  to  a  protracted  war,  the  further  continuance  of  which  can  only 
prove  detrimental  to  both.  As  far  as  a  frank,  sincere,  and  upright  policy  will 
go  in  the  attainment  of  an  honorable  and  permanent  peace,  it  shall  not  be  want- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  Executive,  whatever  might  be  the  advantages  anticipated 
from  a  continuance  of  the  contest  with  the  increased  population  and  resources 
of  this  country.  That  Mexico  will  evince  the  same  disposition,  and  avert  the 
evils  of  war  by  a  mild  and  pacific  policy  is,  I  am  quite  sure,  desired  by  the 
mutual  friends  of  the  two  countries.  If  peace  can  once  be  established,  the  com- 
mercial intercourse  of  the  people  of  both  could  not  fail  to  create  that  state  of 
feeling  which  would  soon  obliterate  the  recollection  of  past  conflicts,  and  cement 
the  two  nations  together  by  all  the  ties  of  the  most  agreeable  understanding. 

A  further  prosecution  of  the  war  could  have  no  other  effect  than  to  insure 
the  destruction  of  human  life,  the  consumption  of  resources  of  both  parties, 
and  the  demoralization  of  their  national  character.  The  wisdom  and  policy  of 
the  statesmen  of  the  present  day  are  repugnant  to  war  and  bloodshed.  In  this 
respect  the  social  and  political  feelings  of  civilized  nations  seem  to' have  under- 
gone a  revolution.  Governments  that  heretofore  sought  to  increase  by  every 
means  the  number  of  their  triumphs,  and  embodied  their  national  glory  in  the 
number  of  their  victories,  are  now  yielding  to  the  policy  and  dictates  of  peace ; 
by  which  intelligence  is  advanced,  national  wealth  increased,  and  the  moral 
tone  of  society  improved. 

Immediately  upon  the  receipt  of  authentic  intelligence  of  the  capture  of  our 
men  at  Meir,  the  Government  adopted  such  measures  as  it  was  hoped  would 
preserve  their  lives  and  restore  them  to  liberty.  Letters  were  addressed  to  the 
friendly  powers  upon  this  subject,  soliciting  their  prompt  and  efficient  interpo- 
sition. But,  although  remonstrances  were  made  by  the  British  and  American 
ministers  at  Mexico,  and  although  the  greatest  expedition  was  used,  their  inter- 
po^ition  did  not  prevail  until  some  of  our  brave  men  had  been  consigned  to 
destruction.  The  fact  that  individuals  associated  with  Gen.  Somervell's  com 


318  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

mand  at  Loredo,  had  perpetrated  acts  of  a  most  unwarrantable  and  disgraceful 
character,  and  such  as  were  not  sanctioned  by  the  general  sentiment  of  the 
army,  operated  as  a  reason  for  the  expedition  and  urgency  of  the  Government 
It  was  apprehended  that  so  soon  as  our  men  fell  into  the  power  of  the  enemy, 
they  would  retaliate ;  and  men  innocent  of  all  crime  or  outrage  fell  victims  to 
the  faults  of  others. 

Intelligence  was  received  some  time  since  from  Mexico  through  Her  Britannic 
Majesty's  minister  near  this  Government,  that  the  supreme  Government  of 
Mexico  was  willing  to  restore  all  Texans  held  as  prisoners  by  that  Government, 
provided  we  should  pursue  a  reciprocal  course.  Accordingly,  a  proclamation 
was  issued  restoring  all  Mexican  prisoners  to  full  liberty  and  tendering  them 
free  passport  and  safe  convoy  to  the  Rio  Grande.  A  similar  proclamation  had 
been  issued  in  April,  1837. 

The  Government  of  his  Majesty  the  King  of  the  French  continues  to  mani- 
fest, as  it  has  heretofore,  the  most  friendly  disposition  toward  Texas ;  and  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  its  friendly  offices  will  neither  be  suspended  nor 
withdrawn.  In  confirmation  of  this,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  Government 
of  the  King  has  expressed  the  desire  and  intention  of  establishing  between  our 
own  ports  and  those  of  France,  a  more  direct  and  convenient  intercourse  by  a 
line  of  royal  steamships.  The  establishment  of  this  line  will  have  a  powerful 
tendency  to  increase  our  commerce  with  that  country,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
afford  highly  desirable  facilities  for  the  transmission  of  intelligence  and  for  emi- 
gration— both  of  which  are  important  desiderata.  These  objects  have  pre- 
sented themselves  since  the  present  Executive  came  into  office ;  for  then  our 
relations  with  France  were  not  of  the  most  agreeable  character.  He  conse- 
quently found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  re-establishing  the  friendly  relations 
which  had  been  broken  off  by  his  predecessor,  by  making  reparation  for  the 
treatment  which  the  Charge  d'Affaires  of  the  king  had  received,  not  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  relations  which  should  be  maintained  with  friendly  powers 
through  their  public  ministers. 

With  the  view  of  extending  our  friendly  and  commercial  relations  with  the 
continent  of  Europe,  since  the  adjournment  of  the  last  Congress,  a  diplomatic 
agent,  in  the  character  of  Charg6  d'Affaires  to  the  Netherlands,  but  empowered 
to  form  treaties  of  amity,  navigation,  and  commerce  with  Belgium  and  the 
Hanse  Towns,  has  been  appointed.  Commerce  with  these  latter  has  already 
opened  and  is  increasing.  Several  vessels  from  Bremen,  richly  freighted  with 
merchandise,  have  visited  our  ports,  and  returned  laden  with  the  cottons  and  other 
productions  of  Texas.  The  Bremen  Senate  have  also  communicated,  through 
their  commercial  agent  in  this  country,  a  resolution  of  that  Government  declar- 
ing that,  upon  the  adoption  of  a  similar  resolution  by  this  Government,  commer- 
cial relations  shall  at  once  be  established  between  us,  upon  a  reciprocal  footing. 
This  subject  will  claim  the  early  attention  of  the  honorable  Congress. 

Our  minister  at  Paris  has  also  been  furnished  with  proper  powers  to  open 
relations  with  the  Government  of  Spain  —provided  he  shall  be  able  to  give  it, 
in  addition  to  the  many  other  onerous  and  important  duties  which  now  devolve 
upon  him,  his  attention.  The  importance  of  a  commercial  treaty  with  Spain, 
from  our  contiguity  to  the  rich  and  prolific  island  of  Cuba,  which  would  afford 
a  market  for  many  of  our  redundant  products,  would  seem  to  demand  aarly 
exertions  to  open  this  intercourse.  And,  if  the  means  of  the  nation  will  justify 


Infraction  of  Texan  Revenue  Laws  ty  U.  S.  Citizens.  319 

it,  the  Executive  has  no  hesitation  in  recommending  that  suitable  provision  be 
made  for  a  diplomatic  agent  at  that  court. 

From  the  commencement  of  our  national  existence  until  within  the  last 
spring  and  summer,  no  circumstance  of  an  unpleasant  character  has  occurred 
between  the  United  States  and  Texas.  It  is  true  that  the  treaty  of  amity, 
navigation,  and  commerce,  concluded  at  Washington  in  July,  1842,  for  causes 
unknown  to  the .  Executive,  was  not  ratified  by  the  Government  of  the  former ; 
but  it  is  possible  that  the  action  necessary  to  its  ratification  will  yet  be  taken. 
It  may,  however,  admit  of  a  doubt  whether  the  rejection  of  that  treaty  may  not 
prove  signally  advantageous  in  the  end  to  our  citizens  ;  for  it  will  be  recollected 
that,  by  a  comparatively  small  expenditure,  the  course  of  trade  may  be  turned 
from  the  Red  River  into  our  own  ports  and  commercial  towns,  through  the 
medium  of  a  turnpike  or  railroad  and  the  channels  of  our  rivers.  Indeed,  it  is 
natural  always  to  prefer  the  least  obstructed  and  most  advantageous  way  to 
market.  And  the  time  may  not  be  far  distant  when  a  rich  commerce,  which 
has  hitherto  found  its  way  to  the  ocean  through  the  rivers  and  ports  of  other 
countries,  will  be  poured  into  our  own,  and  materially  assist  in  building  up  and 
supporting  our  institutions. 

It  is  with  sincere  regret  that  I  feel  called  upon  to  lay  before  the  honorable 
Congress  the  fact  of  an  infraction  of  our  revenue  laws  by  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  attended  with  circumstances  of  a  very  unpleasant  character.  It 
appears  that  a  quantity  of  goods,  ascending  Red  River,  were  landed  within  our 
territory  and  there  stored,  without  any  communication  with,  and  without  the 
knowledge  of,  any  of  our  revenue  officers,  and  when  discovered  and  legally 
seized  by  the  collector  of  customs,  were  reclaimed  by  force,  and  that  officer 
treated  in  the  most  harsh  and  cruel  manner.  Having  been  seized  and  bound, 
his  life  was  menaced  with  drawn  weapons  if  he  attempted  to  make  any  resist- 
ance, and  he  remained  in  this  situation  until  the  goods  were  reloaded  by  the 
force  in  attendance  for  the  purpose  of  violently  reclaiming  them. 

In  addition  to  this,  I  deem  k  proper  to  present  to  the  honorable  Congress 
some  notice  of  the  usage  received  from  the  United  States  officers  by  a  battalion 
of  men  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Jacob  Snively,  who  had  been  out  for  the 
purpose  of  making  reclamation  for  the  injuries  sustained  by  the  members  of  the 
Santa  Fe  expedition,  and  for  goods  taken  from  traders  sent  out  by  order  of  the 
President  in  1841. 

The  command  of  Colonel  Snively  had  all  the  official  sanctions  of  this  Govern- 
ment necessary  to  protect  them  from  interference  or  molestation  by  the  troops 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  Executive  entertains  not  a  doubt  that  they  were 
acting  within  the  limits  of  Texas.  They  were,  however,  disarmed  by  the  troops 
of  the  United  States,  under  the  command  of  an  officer  of  the  regular  army.  The 
alternative  presented  to  them  by  that  officer  was,  either  to  march  to  Missouri  or 
attempt,  at  imminent  hazard,  a  return  to  our  settlements  through  a  wilderness 
infested  by  large  bands  of  Kiaway  and  other  hostile  Indians,  with  only  five  guns 
to  every  hundred  men.  They  were  thus  exposed  to  extreme  jeopardy,  but  owing 
to  a  combination  of  fortunate  circumstances  did  not  become  victims. 

The  question  of  how  far  one  friendly  nation  has  the  right  to  invade  the 
territory  of  another,  without  the  most  urgent  necessity,  and  interfere  with  its 
officers  and  troops  acting  under  authority,  is  a  subject  proper  for  discussion  at 


320  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

this  time.  These  things  have  been  the  subject  of  representations  to  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  and  as  a  reparation  has  been  asked  for  the  injuries 
and  indignities  thus  inflicted,  it  does  not  appear  necessary  that  the  present  Con- 
gress should  take  any  special  action  in  reference  thereto. 

Although  officers  of  the  United  States  Government  were  concerned  in  these 
matters  of  complaint,  either  before  or  after  their  perpetration,  the  Executive 
can  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that  when  the  facts  are  presented,  with  the 
proofs  of  which  they  are  susceptible,  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
will  withhold  that  reparation  due  from  a  great  nation  to  a  power  unable  to 
coerce  a  compliance  with  the  rules  of  justice.  The  characteristic  magnanimity 
of  the  United  States,  their  immediate  neighborhood  to  this  country,  and  all 
the  circumstances  connected  therewith,  induce  the  belief  that  speedy  and 
ample  justice  will  be  accorded  to  Texas,  and  all  cause  of  complaint  cease 
to  exist. 

Through  agents  appointed  by  the  Executive,  the  Government  has  succeeded 
in  approaching  and  concluding  treaties  of  friendship  and  intercourse  with  the 
various  tribes  of  Indians  inhabiting  the  territory  of  Texas,  south  of  Red  River, 
with  the  exception  of  the  kindred  bands  of  Comanches  and  Kiaways.  These 
latter  tribes,  owing  to  the  occurrences  of  some  few  years  since,  the  recollection  of 
which  was  still  strong,  were  disinclined  to  any  intercourse  with  the  Government 
or  the  people  of  Texas,  and  much  time  and  trouble  were  necessarily  required  to 
conciliate  them  so  far  as  to  consent  to  a  suspension  of  hostilities,  which,  I 
am  happy  to  say,  has  been  done.  They  have  agreed  to  meet  the  commissioners 
of  the  Government  for  the  purpose  of  concluding  a  peace. 

Everything  has  been  done,  commensurate  with  the  means  appropriated  by 
Congress,  for  pacificating  and  tranquillizing  all  our  border  enemies.  The  three 
commissioners  of  the  Government  were  for  months  arduously  engaged  in  execut- 
ing the  duties  assigned  them.  Their  zeal,  ability,  and  disregard  of  privation, 
enabled  them  to  triumph  over  every  obstacle  that  energy  and  patriotism  could 
overcome.  With  a  suitable  appropriation,  it  is  confidently  expected  that  re- 
lations of  intercourse  and  friendship  with  all  the  tribes,  to  whose  depredations 
our  frontiers  have  been  exposed,  can  be  established  ;  and  with  some  slight 
amendments  to  existing  laws  we  may  look  forward  to  the  preservation  of  unin- 
terrupted peace.  It  is  clear  to  the  mind  of  the  Executive  that  if  good  faith 
is  maintained  on  the  part  of  the  whites,  and  the  Indians  treated  with  mildness 
and  justice,  the  best  protection  will  be  afforded  to  our  frontiers,  with  all  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  lucrative  commerce  through  our  traders.  Those  tribes  which  de- 
sire to  establish  habitations  and  cultivate  the  soil  will  find  inducements  to  settle 
near  the  sources  and  upon  the  tributaries  of  our  rivers ;  and  those  who  adhere 
to  their  roving  habits  will  find  the  prairies  sufficiently  extensive,  far  beyond  the 
abode  of  the  white  man,  to  furnish  them  with  game  for  their  families  ;  whilst 
their  friendly  intercourse  with  our  traders  will  enable  them  to  engage  with  more 
facility  in  the  chase.  By  rendering  them  dependent  upon  us  for  the  most  essen- 
tial articles  of  Indian  use  and  consumption,  they  will  find  it  to  their  interest 
to  maintain  peace.  Our  Government,  at  the  same  time,  by  enacting  and  en- 
forcing salutary  laws,  can  restrain  the  whites  from  aggression,  and  thus  impress 
the  Indians  with  a  due  sense  of  our  justice  toward  them.  In  this  way,  our 
former  enemies  may  be  converted  into  useful  and  lasting  friends. 


Indian  Policy  and  Currency.  321 

Nothing  shall  be  wanting  on  the  part  of  the  Executive,  within  the  means 
afforded  him,  for  the  promotion  of  a  policy  dictated  by  a  sense  of  justice,  and 
approved  by  experience.  He  is  satisfied  that  it  will,  if  carried  out,  do  more  to 
give  security  to  our  frontiers  than  millions  expended  in  fitting  expeditions  which 
have  never  resulted  in  anything  beneficial  to  the  country.  Instead  of  the  large 
sums  heretofore  annually  expended  for  the  purpose  of  frontier  protection,  it  is 
believed  that  the  expense  of  the  present  year  connected  with  the  Indian  opera- 
tions of  the  Government  will  exceed  but  little,  if  any,  the  sum  of  ten  thousand 
dollars. 

A  policy  that  was  once  condemned,  and  opposed  with  the  greatest  vehemence 
and  its  projector  and  advocate  denounced,  seems  now,  from  the  results  which 
have  already  been  attained,  to  receive  that  consideration  satisfactory  to  every 
patriot.  It  has  for  many  months  past  arrested  the  tomahawk,  rendered  useless 
the  scalping-knife,  and  afforded  the  most  remote  and  exposed  settlers  on  our 
frontier  the  opportunity  of  cultivating  their  fields  in  peace  and  reposing  in  se- 
curity. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  administration  the  Government  came  to  my  hands 
without  a  currency,  as  well  as  without  credit,  or  the  prospect  of  obtaining  the 
means  for  conducting  its  affairs.  It  was  found  to  be  indispensably  necessary  for 
the  Congress  to  declare  our  inability  to  redeem,  at  that  time,  the  paper  which 
had  been  lavishly  issued,  estimated  at  at  least  twelve  millions.  Appalling  and 
disheartening  as  was  our  situation,  a  plan  for  a  currency  was  recommended  to 
the  representatives  of  the  people  for  their  adoption.  The  recommendation  met 
the  concurrence  of  Congress  only  in  part ;  for  some  of  the  guarantees  essential, 
as  the  Executive  conceived,  to  restore  confidence,  and  ensure  the  redemption  of 
the  new  currency,  were  withheld.  And  notwithstanding  the  wants  and  difficul- 
ties of  the  Government  at  that  period,  the  direct  taxes  were  actually  greatly  re- 
duced, and  their  collection  postponed  nearly  twelve  months  beyond  the  time 
they  had  usually  been  paid  in.  Thus  was  the  Government  left  to  rely  solely 
upon  the  duties  upon  imports,  which  from  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country 
arising  from  rumors  of  invasion,  were  very  limited.  Under  these  embarrassing 
circumstances  the  experiment  of  creating  and  sustaining  the  new  currency  was 
made.  The  consequence  was  that  the  value  of  Exchequer  bills  fell  as  low  as 
twenty-five  cents  on  the  dollar.  And,  in  addition  to  the  many  other  impedi^ 
ments  to  be  encountered,  it  seemed  to  be  the  private  interest  of  many  to  depre- 
ciate their  value  ;  and,  by  promoting  their  individual  advantage,  to  deprive  the 
Government  of  this  slender  means  of  existence. 

By  a  judicious  restraint,  however,  upon  the  issues,  reducing  them  much  with 
in  the  amount  authorized  by  law,  a  currency  has  been  established,  notwithstand- 
ing the  hindrances  mentioned,  and  the  delinquency  of  officers  entrusted  with  the 
collection  of  the  revenue.  The  wise  and  economical  administration  of  the 
finances  of  the  country  by  the  head  of  the  Treasury,  has  raised  its  value  to  a 
par  with  gold  and  silver ;  and  by  the  continuance  of  the  same  course  it  can  not 
be  doubted  that  the  same  value  can  be  supported.  It  is  certainly  a  subject  for 
gratulation  that  the  practicability  of  re-establishing  the  soundness  of  our  cur- 
rency, and  maintaining  our  credit,  has  at  length  been  demonstrated. 

It  is  necessary  and  proper  that  the  country  should  be  supplied  with  a  circu- 
lating medium.     This  may  be  effected  by  issuing  no  more  Exchequers  at  any  one 
time,  than  the  Government  can  redeem  in  gold  and  silver.     It  is  estimated  that 
21 


322  Houston's  Literary  JKemains. 

but  about  thirteen  thousand  dollars  of  these  bills  are  now  in  circulation ;  and 
there  is  but  little  reason  to  anticipate  an  emergency  while  the  Government  is 
administered  upon  its  present  economical  system,  which  would  require  a  larger 
issue  than  the  Government  will  have  it  in  its  power  to  control  or  redeem. 

The  Executive  believes  that  one  of  the  strongest  supports  to  our  currency  will 
be  the  exclusion  by  law  from  circulation  within  our  limits  after  some  given 
period,  say  three  months,  all  foreign  bank  paper.  Within  the  last  few  years,  the 
people  of  this  country  have  sustained  frequent  and  heavy  losses  by  the  failure  ot 
foreign  banks,  and  the  depreciation  of  their  paper,  as  well  as  from  the  circula- 
tion of  spurious  notes,  purporting  to  be  issued  by  banks  which  never  had  ex- 
istence. To  these  may  be  added  the  circulation  of  counterfeits.  It  is  impossi- 
ble for  the  community  generally  to  judge  of  the  genuine  character  or  real  value 
of  this  foreign  currency,  and  of  their  liability  to  be  cheated  and  defrauded  by 
every  swindler,  whether  he  be  the  special  agent  of  some  broken  bank,  or  a 
dealer  in  spurious  or  counterfeit  notes.  These  evils  have  not  been  light ;  and, 
as  it  is  the  right  as  well  as  the  duty  of  Government  to  regulate  its  currency 
and  protect  its  citizens  from  imposition  and  harm,  the  Executive  recommends, 
as  the  most  efficient  means  of  performing  this  duty,  the  entire  exclusion  of  the 
bills  of  all  foreign  banks.  Congress  has  the  undoubted  right  of  inhibiting  by 
law  counterfeiting  and  the  passing  of  counterfeit  paper  ;  and  they  have  equally 
clearly  the  power  to  inhibit  the  introduction  and  circulation  of  all  valueless 
foreign  bank  issues,  or  those  liable  to  become  so  in  the  hands  of  our  citizens. 

In  connection  with  this,  I  would  also  recommend  the  prohibition  and  sup 
pression  by  statute  of  every  description  of  paper  in  the  character  of  bank,  indi- 
vidual, or  corporation  notes  issued  within  the  Republic,  and  intended  or  used 
for  circulation  as  currency.  If  the  honorable  Congress  should  concur  in  the 
adoption  of  this  measure,  the  Executive  is  convinced,  by  experience,  that  it 
would  go  far  to  sustain  the  national  currency;  and  better  enable  the  Govern- 
ment to  furnish  a  circulating  medium. 

The  defects  in  the  system  now  in  force  for  the  collection  of  the  revenues  are 
of  such  a  magnitude  as  to  require  the  particular  attention  of  the  honorable  Con- 
gress. The  reliance  heretofore  placed  upon  the  collection  of  the  direct  taxes  for 
the  purposes  of  Government  has,  under  the  existing  system,  proved  almost 
wholly  fallacious.  That  the  Government  must  be  supported,  and  that  those 
who  render  service  to  it  must  be  remunerated,  all  who  have  an  abiding  interest 
in  the  Government  will  admit.  To  insure  efficient  government,  or  even  to  sup- 
ply its  absolute  wants,  some  system  must  be  devised  which  will  secure  the 
prompt  and  faithful  collection  of  the  revenues  provided  by  law.  Hitherto,  in 
many  parts  of  the  country,  the  most  flagrant  dereliction  of  duty  has  occurred  on 
the  part  of  collectors  of  direct  taxes.  In  several  instances  sheriffs  have  failed 
and  refused  to  give  bond  for  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duties,  and  for  the 
payment  to  Government  of  the  public  moneys  received  by  them.  In  this  way 
there  can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  the  Government  has  been  deprived  of  the 
revenues  paid  by  the  people  for  its  support,  which  have  been  used  by  unfaithful 
agents  for  purposes  of  speculation  and  private  emolument. 

It  is  believed  that  this  state  of  things  arises,  in  a  great  degree,  from  the  mode 
of  selecting  the  collectors  of  the  revenue.  Our  sheriffs  are  elected  by  the  people, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  are  not  readily  controlled,  except  through  the  same  tardy 
and  uncertain  medium.  The  control  of  the  Treasury  Department  in  the  collection 


Charge  of  Repudiation   Unfounded.  323 

of  the  taxes  is  thus  almost  totally  destroyed.  Were  the  country  laid  off  into 
convenient  collectoral  districts,  and  a  collector  appointed  for  each  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  and  nominated  by  the  President  to  the  Senate,  it  is  believed 
that  existing  defects  might  in  a  great  measure  be  obviated.  The  collector  thus 
appointed,  under  bonds  in  amount  sufficient  to  indemnify  the  Government,  and 
with  appropriate  penalties,  would  be  more  directly  responsible  to  the  head  of 
the  Treasury  for  the  honest  and  faithful  discharge  of  his  duties.  As  it  is,  that 
department  remains,  in  many  instances,  ignorant  of  the  very  names  of  the  col- 
lectors of  taxes  until  they  themselves  choose  to  make  their  report,  and  is  thus 
deprived  of  the  means  of  protecting  the  public  interests,  and  of  enforcing  in  all 
sections  of  the  Republic,  as  is  contemplated  by  the  laws,  an  equal  support  of  the 
institutions  of  the  country.  The  Executive,  therefore,  earnestly  recommends 
the  adoption  of  this  system,  believing  it  will  tend  to  the  general  welfare,  and 
operate  impartially  upon  all  our  citizens. 

It  may  be  well  to  allude  to  a  fact  which  has  greatly  prejudiced"  the  charac- 
ter of  the  nation.  The  charge  that  we  had  repudiated  our  government  lia- 
bilities has  been  industriously  urged,  not  only  abroad  but  at  home,  as  a  cause  of 
distrust  and  an  accusation  of  bad  faith.  Other  governments  of  high  respectabil- 
ity have  done  so.  Texas  never  has,  and,  I  trust,  never  will.  It  is  true  that  our 
liabilities  were  increased  to  so  large  an  amount,  during  the  administration  of  my 
predecessor,  as  to  render  it  not  only  expedient,  but  indispensably  necessary,  to 
defer  their  payment  until  the  country  could  so  far  recover  as  to  be  able  to  com- 
ply fully  with  all  its  obligations.  The  fact  that  many  of  these  liabilities  were  in- 
curred for  purposes  not  only  not  sanctioned  by  the  Legislature,  but  entirely  ille- 
gal and  impolitic,  has  never  with  me  constituted  a  reason  for  a  refusal  to 
pay  them  at  the  earliest  moment  within  our  power.  Notwithstanding  the 
mischievous  and  utterly  groundless  publications  emanating  from  some  of 
our  public  journals,  the  good  faith  of  the  nation  will  finally  be  thoroughly  vindi- 
cated by  the  redemption  of  every  dollar  for  which  it  stands  pledged.  That  we 
have  not  been  able  to  do  so  before  this  time  has,  perhaps,  been  a  fault  as  well 
as  a  misfortune  ;  but  nations,  like  individuals,  are  sometimes  compelled  to  yield 
to  the  force  of  circumstances. 

But  Texas  has  done  all  in  her  power,  consistent  with  a  due  regard  to  self-ex- 
istence, to  preserve,  even  under  these  adverse  circumstances,  the  national  faith. 
From  an  examination  of  our  statute-book,  it  will  appear  that  holders  of  our 
liabilities  have  had  a  fair  and  favorable  chance  for  secure  and  profitable  invest- 
ment. Our  public  domain  comprises  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
choice  lands,  which  have  been,  and  are  now,  held  subject  to  the  redemption  of 
our  public  debt.  The  adaptation  of  our  climate  and  soil  to  the  production  of  the 
great  staples  of  the  southwestern  States  of  the.  American  Union  is,  perhaps, 
superior  to  that  of  any  other  upon  the  North  American  continent.  These  lands 
may  be  easily  acquired,  under  existing  laws,  by  all  holders  of  our  promissory 
notes,  at  two  dollars  per  acre.  The  opportunities  thus  presented  to  foreigners, 
or  non-residents,  to  become  possessed  of  them,  are  certainly  very  desirable.  Oui 
Constitution  inhibits  foreigners  from  holding  lands  unless  the  title  emanate  di- 
rectly from  the  Government  to  the  purchaser,  which  would  be  the  case  under 
the  law  alluded  to.  A  large  portion  of  our  national  debt  was  created  by  the  is- 
suance of  promissory  notes  at  six  for  one  ;  that  is,  at  a  par  value  of  sixteen  and 
two-thirds  cents  in  the  dollar,  and  many  of  them  have  been  obfained  by  the 


324  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

present  holders  at  a  much  lower  rate.  Hence,  the  real  price  at  which  our  pub- 
lic lands  may  be  acquired  will  not  exceed  thirty-three  and  one-third  cents  per 
acre. 

As  a  further  evidence  of  the  disposition  of  the  Government  to  comply,  as  far 
as  possible,  and  as  soon  as  possible,  with  its  engagements,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  all  land  dues  and  fees  for  patents,  as  well  as  all  the  taxes  assessed  previous 
to  the  last  year,  large  amounts  of  which  still  remain  unpaid,  are  yet  receivable 
in  the.  promissory  notes  of  the  Government. 

From  these  facts,  it  must  be  apparent  to  all,  except  the  £ye  of  prejudice,  that 
Texas  has  never  entertained  the  design  of  repudiation.  Had  such  been  the  case, 
these  laws  providing  for  the  redemption  of  our  promissory  notes  would  not  have 
remained  in  force. 

The  Executive  has  looked  upon  the  question  whether  our  liabilities  were 
legally  or  judiciously  incurred,  as  one  not  proper  to  be  examined;  but,  simply, 
whether  the  national  faith  is  involved  in  their  redemption.  He  has,  heretofore, 
and  will  ever  continue  to,  set  his  face  against  every  measure  which  may  even 
have  the  appearance  of  sullying  the  national  character.  He  sees  neither  reason 
nor  necessity  for  deviating  from  this  course.  He  is  clearly  of  opinion  that  our 
public  faith  should  be,  and  will  be,  held  sacred,  and  that  all  our  obligations 
will  be  redeemed  to  the  uttermost  cent  at  the  earliest  period  our  means 
will  justify. 

To  prevent  the  evil  of  further  involvement  to  the  country,  the  Executive 
respectfully  suggests  to  the  honorable  Congress  the  total  repeal  of  all  laws 
heretofore  enacted  authorizing  the  negotiation  of  foreign  loans.  The  action 
under  these  laws  has  already  been  productive  of  serious  detriment ;  and  the 
nation  certainly  possesses  resources  within  itself  of  not  only  sustaining  the 
Government,  but,  as  soon  as  they  can  be  made  available,  of  discharging  all  our 
outstanding  liabilities. 

Notwithstanding  an  almost  total  failure  in  the  collection  of  the  direct  taxes, 
the  revenues  of  the  last  two  years  have  been  commensurate  to  the  support 
of  the  Government,  upon  the  rigidly  economical  scale  upon  which  it  has 
been  administered.  For  the  present  year,  there  will  be  a  surplus  in  the 
Treasury. 

Although  the  crops  of  the  present  season,  owing  to  the  continued  rains  which 
have  fallen  during  the  period  when  the  planter  was  gathering  his  products  for 
market,  will  fall  short  of  the  calculation  at  one  time  made,  from  the  prospect  of 
superabundance,  yet  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  our  exports  for 
the  present  year  will  largely  exceed  the  imports.  And  from  the  best  data  in  pos- 
session of  the  Treasury  Department  similar  results  are  anticipated  for  the 
ensuing  year.  This  can  not  but  be  taken  as  encouraging  evidence  of  our 
growing  prosperity. 

The  assessments  of  direct  taxes  amount  to  forty-nine  thousand,  upon  which 
only  thirteen  thousand  dollars  have  been  paid  in.  This  fact  will  satisfacto- 
rily answer  the  question  as  to  the  source  whence  we  must  derive  means  for  the 
purposes  of  government.  Had  it  been  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  relying  alone 
upon  the  direct  taxes,  it  must  inevitably  have  ceased  its  functions. 

The  attention  of  the  honorable  Congress  has,  heretofore,  been  invoked  to  the 
subject  of  devising  some  method  for  enabling  the  officers  of  Government  to  en- 
force the  laws  and  execute  their  duties.  To  enact  laws  without  giving  the  power 


Relations  to  Mexico  and  Border  Force.          325 

of  inflicting  punishment  for  their  infraction  is  certainly  a  political  paradox.  The 
Constitution  and  laws  recognize  the  offenses  of  treason,  insurrection,  mutiny, 
and  sedition  ;  but  the  Congress  has  never  appropriated  anything  to  their 
commission.  Resistance  to  the  execution  of  a  law  by  persons  associated  for  the 
purpose  is  sedition,  and  individuals  setting  themselves  up  in  armed  bodies  in  de- 
fiance of  the  laws,  and  with  a  view  of  preventing  their  operation,  is  insurrection. 
That  acts  of  this  character  have  been  committed  to  no  inconsiderable  extent  is 
well  known  in  the  Republic.  They  have  a  deleterious  effect  upon  our  character 
abroad  as  a  nation,  and  produce  distrust  as  to  our  capability  of  self-government. 
It  is  within  the  power  of  Congress  to  define  these  offenses,  affix  the  proper  pen- 
alties, and  authorize  the  officers  entrusted  with  the  execution  of  the  laws  to 
punish  offenders  in  a  speedy  and  certain  manner.  It  may  become  necessary  to 
our  national  existence  that  these  things  should  be  corrected ;  and  it  is  also  due  to 
the  peaceful  and  law-abiding  citizen  that  his  rights  should  be  protected  and  his 
person  secure  under  the  shield  and  operation  of  the  law.  So  long  as  he  remains 
insecure,  either  in  person  or  property,  the  strongest  incentives  to  a  patriotic 
course  of  conduct  are  wanting.  The  obligations  existing  between  the  Govern- 
ment and  its  citizens  are  reciprocal. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  foretell  the  result  of  the  negotiations  now  pending  be- 
tween this  country  and  Mexico,  it  is  deemed  prudent,  and  the  Executive  earnestly 
recommends  to  the  honorable  Congress,  that  a  sufficient  fund  be  placed  at  his 
disposal  for  any  emergency  that  might  require  the  hostile  action  of  the  Govern- 
ment. And  he  would  likewise  recommend  that  such  laws  be  enacted  as  will 
enable  him  to  reclaim  the  public  property  and  arms  which  have  been  from  time 
to  time  issued  to  individuals,  and  which  are  now  scattered  throughout  the  Re- 
public. 

He  would  also  further  recommend,  during  the  progress  of  the  negotiations 
alluded  to,  that  a  force  be  maintained  at  such  point,  or  points,  on  our  frontier, 
as  may  be  necessary  for  preserving  order,  and  suppressing  any  irregularities  or 
disturbances"  which  might  arise  from  the  acts  of  unauthorized  persons  within 
the  territory  unoccupied  by  either  of  the  parties  concerned  in  those  negotiations. 
A  correct  policy  dictates  the  propriety  of  preventing  for  the  future',  as  far  as 
practicable,  the  existence  of  the  bands  of  robbers  which  have  heretofore  fre- 
quented that  district  of  country.  An  estimate  of  the  amount  for  this  service 
will  be  furnished. 

For  the  last  two  years,  the  officer  acting  upon  our  southwestern  frontier  has 
tendered  the  most  important  services  to  the  country — and  even  more  than  could 
have  been  expected,  from  the  limited  means  appropriated  to  sustain  him.  But 
five  hundred  dollars  were  given  by  the  last  Congress  for  the  support  of  the  force 
under  his  command.  This  was  totally  inadequate ;  and  debts  were  necessarily 
contracted  which,  when  the  services  rendered  are  taken  into  view,  are  of  an 
inconsiderable  amount,  for  the  payment  of  which  it  is  hoped  the  Congress  will 
readily  make  the  requisite  appropriation. 

The  Executive,  during  the  present  session,  will  lay  before  the  honorable  Con 
gress  a  system  of  internal  improvements,  which  will  embrace  the  removal  of 
obstructions  in  our  rivers,  as  well  as  the  construction  of  roads  and  the  erection 
of  bridges,  the  want  of  which  operates  as  an  almost  insuperable  barrier  to  the 
planting  interests  of  the  country  in  the  transportation  of  their  crops  to  market. 
The  facilities  possessed  by  Texas  for  works  of  this  character  will  enable  us  to 


326  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

make  them  with  comparatively  small  cost;  and,  by  the  plan  in  view,  without  the 
increase  of  taxation,  or  the  expenditure  of  any  means  necessary  to  the  support 
of  Government. 

Reports  and  exhibits  from  the  several  departments  accompany  this  commu- 
nication, and  the  Executive  will  always  be  ready  to  furnish,  with  pleasure, 
such  information  to  the  honorable  Congress  as  may  develop  and  explain 
the  minutest  transactions  of  the  administration.  The  ability,  fidelity,  and 
economy  with  which  the  business  of  the  several  departments  has  been  con- 
ducted, leave  him  no  ground  for  wishing  to  eschew  the  examination  ;  and,  on 
his  own  part,  the  most  rigid  accountability. 

The  discharge  of  the  duties  which  necessarily  devolve  upon  the  legislative 
and  executive  departments  of  Government  in  the  present  condition  of  our 
national  affairs,  can  not  fail  to  inculcate  a  unity  of  action,  stimulated  by  a  sin- 
cere and  ardent  desire  to  promote  and  advance  the  only  objects  for  which  Gov- 
ernments are  instituted. 

That  the  result  of  our  joint  labors  may  not  only  meet  the  expectations  of  our 
constituents,  but  that  they  may  add  to  the  general  happiness  and  prosperity  of 
the  country,  is  my  earnest  hope. 

That  our  country  has  enjoyed  frequent  manifestations  of  the  favor  and  kind- 
ness of  an  overruling  Providence,  all  must  be  duly  sensible,  and  it  should  there- 
fore be  our  increasing  care  by  acts  of  justice  and  uprightness  to  merit  a  continu- 
ance of  divine  favor,  without  which  no  people  can  be  happy,  and  no  nation 
great  or  prosperous.  SAM  HOUSTON. 


PRESIDENT   HOUSTON'S   LAST   MESSAGE   TO  THE   CONGRESS 
OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
WASHINGTON,  December  4,  1844. 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

In  meeting  again  and  for  the  last  time  during  my  official  term,  now  about  to 
close,  the  assembled  representatives  of  the  people  of  Texas,  in  their  annual 
session,  I  avail  myself  of  the  occasion  to  congratulate  them  upon  the  condition 
of  the  country,  in  its  foreign  and  domestic  relations,  and  to  join  with  them  in 
unaffected  thanks  to  a  propitious  Providence  for  the  numerous  favors  which 
have  been  vouchsafed  to  us  as  a  people.  We  have  many  reasons  to  feel  grateful 
to  that  omnipotent  arm  which  has  been  so  constantly  stretched  out  to  supply 
our  wants  and  to  sustain  us  in  every  trial,  alike  in  peace  and  war. 

As  my  services  as  Chief  Magistrate  must  now  so  soon  come  to  an  end,  it  will 
only  be  necessary  for  me  to  lay  before  the  honorable  Congress  a  succient  view  of 
the  principal  transactions  of  the  Government  within  the  last  year,  and  to  make 
such  suggestions  as  may  naturally  arise  out  of  the  facts  submitted — leaving  to 
my  successor  the  further  duty  of  proposing  for  legislative  consideration  such 
subjects  as  may  seem  to  him  proper  for  the  security  and  welfare  of  the  nation. 

Since  your  last  adjournment,  our  relations  have  been  extended  upon  the  con- 
tinent of  Europe,  by  the  negotiation  of  treaties  of  amity,  navigation,  and  com- 
merce with  some  of  the  German  States,  with  which  a  respectable  trade,  con- 
venient and  profitable,  has  already  sprung  up. 


Relations  to  Great  Britain,  France,  and  U.  S.      327 

The  Governments  of  Great  Britain  and  France  still  maintain  toward  us  those 
sentiments  of  friendship  and  good  feeling  which  have  ever  marked  their  inter- 
course with  us,  and  which  it  should  continue  to  be  our  studious  care,  by  every 
proper  manifestation  on  our  part,  to  strengthen  and  reciprocate.  There  is  no 
ground  to  suspect  that  the  late  agitation  of  international  questions  between  this 
Republic  and  that  of  the  United  States  has,  in  any  degree,  abated  their  desire 
for  our  continued  prosperity  and  independence,  or  caused  them  to  relax  their 
good  offices  to  bring  about  the  speedy  and  honorable  adjustment  of  our  difficul- 
ties with  Mexico.  That  they  should  evince  anxiety  for  our  separate  existence 
and  permanent  independence  as  a  nation,  is  not  only  natural,  but  entirely  com- 
mendable. They  will  never  require  of  us,  I  am  fully  assured,  any  sacrifice  ot 
honor  or  interest ;  and  if  they  did,  we  should  be  quite  free,  as  I  am  certain  we 
should  be  ready,  to  refuse  it.  They  are  too  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  our 
origin  and  progress  to  suppose,  for  an  instant,  that  we  would,  under  any  circum- 
stances, surrender  one  jot  or  tittle  of  that  liberty  and  right  to  self-government 
which  we  achieved  in  the  sanguinary  conflicts  of  revolution,  or  give  up  a  single 
privilege  secured  to  us  by  our  laws  and  Constitution.  They  will  not  ask  it— 
they  do  not  expect  it — we  would  not  yield  it. 

Our  relations  with  the  United  States  remain  in  the  same  condition  as  at  the 
time  of  my  last  annual  communication.  We  are  still  without  any  treaty  stipu- 
lations between  the  two  countries.  Within  the  last  two  years,  all  attempts  at 
their  establishment  have  been  negatived  by  the  ratifying  power  of  that  Govern- 
ment. That  any  effort  for  the  same  purpose  will  meet  with  better  success,  for 
some  time  to  come,  I  am  wholly  unable  to  determine. 

In  all  but  the  name,  we  still  continue  at  peace  with  Mexico.  Since  the 
autumn  of  1842,  no  incursion  has  been  made  within  our  borders.  The  moral 
effect  of  public  opinion  throughout  the  enlightened  world,  if  not  the  decided  in- 
tervention of  powers  mutually  friendly,  seems  to  have  arrested  that  course  of 
conduct  heretofore  practiced  against  us,  on  the  part  of  our  enemy,  and  so  plainly 
subversive  of  every  rule  of  honorable  warfare. 

Those  of  our  citizens  who  surrendered  to  the  officers  of  Mexico,  under  pledges 
of  the  treatment  usually  accorded  to  prisoners  of  war,  have  all  been  released 
from  the  captivity  in  which  they  were  so  perfidiously  retained,  and  permitted  to 
return  home,  with  the  exception  of  Jose  Antonio  Navarro,  one  of  the  ill-fated 
number  composing  the  Santa  F6  expedition,  who  alone  remains  to  bear  the 
vengeance  of  a  Government  which  seems  to  delight  in  inflicting  upon  a  helpless 
individual  those  wrongs  and  cruelties  which  would  degrade  the  head  of  any 
other  to  a  level  with  the  rudest  savage. 

The  laws  of  the  last  Congress  touching  our  prisoners  in  Mexico  were  carried 
out  as  fully  and  as  speedily  as  circumstances  would  permit. 

The  commission  sent  out  by  this  Government  to  confer  with  a  similar  com- 
mission on  the  part  of  Mexico,  in  regard  to  the  establishment  of  an  armistice 
between  the  two  countries,  concluded  their  labors  in  the  month  of  February 
last.  Under  the  instruction  by  which  they  were  governed,  it  became  necessary 
for  the  Executive  to  approve  or  reject  their  proceedings.  As  soon  as  they  weie 
submitted,  he  did  not  hesitate,  for  reasons  palpably  manifest,  to  adopt  the  latter 
course. 

The  subsequent  manifesto  of  the  Mexican  Government,  in  relation  to  this 
subject,  disregarding,  as  it  did,  every  ordinary  courtesy,  even  between  belliger- 


328  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

ents.  and  descending  into  the  vilest  and  most  unmerited  abuse  of  the  people  of 
Texas,  forced  upon  the  President  the  necessity  of  a  response.  He  accordingly 
replied  in  such  terms  as  he  believed  the  occasion  required  at  his  hands. 

Our  Indian  affairs  are  in  as  good  condition  as  the  most  sanguine  could 
reasonably  have  anticipated.  When  it  is  remembered  that  a  great  while  neces- 
sarily elapsed  before  the  various  tribes,  all  of  whom  were  in  a  state  of  the  most 
bitter  hostility,  could  be  reached  through  the  agents  of  the  Government,  and 
that  they  are  now  taken  as  different  communities,  completely  pacified  and  in 
regular  friendly  intercourse  with  our  trading  establishments,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  unprejudiced  and  impartial,  the  policy  which  could  inculcate  and  maintain 
peace,  and  thereby  save  the  frontiers  from  savage  depredations  and  butcheries, 
will  be  viewed  as  satisfactorily  demonstrated.  It  is  not  denied,  that  there  are 
among  the  Indians,  as  among  our  own  people,  individuals  who  will  disregard  all 
law  and  commit  excesses  of  the  most  flagrant  character;  but  it  is  unjust  to 
attribute  to  a  tribe  or  body  of  men  disposed  to  obey  the  laws,  what  is  properly 
chargeable  to  a  few  renegades  and  desperadoes.  Other  Governments  of  far 
superior  resources  for  imposing  restraints  upon  the  wild  men  of  the  forests  and 
prairies,  have  not  been  exempt  from  the  infraction  of  treaties  and  the  occasional 
commission  of  acts  of  rapine  and  blood.  We  must  therefore  expect  to  suffer  in 
a  greater  or  less  degree  from  the  same  causes.  But  even  this,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  Executive,  does  not  furnish  overruling  testimony  against  the  policy  which  he 
has  constantly  recommended,  and  which  he  has  had  the  happiness  to  see  so  fully 
and  so  satisfactorily  tested. 

The  appropriation  made  by  the  last  Congress,  for  the  service  of  the  Indian 
Department  for  the  present  year,  has  been  found  insufficient  to  meet  the  neces- 
sary expenditures.  An  additional  sum  is  therefore  respectfully  asked  to  cover 
outstanding  liabilities  necessarily  incurred — amounting  altogether  to  not  more 
than  four  thousand  dollars. 

It  will  appear  from  the  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  that  the 
finances  of  the  country  are  in  a  most  healthy  and  prosperous  condition.  It  is 
believed  the  receipts  from  the  various  sources  of  revenue  will  at  least  equal  the 
expenditures  and  perhaps  leave  a  small  surplus  in  the  Treasury.  The  Executive 
has  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  this  would  have  been  the  case  to  a  compara- 
tively large  amount,  if  the  recommendations  he  has  so  frequently  made  in 
relation  to  the  more  prompt  and  certain  collection  of  the  revenues  had  been 
responded  to  by  the  honorable  Congress,  by  the  enactment  of  the  legal  pro- 
visions deemed  absolutely  indispensable  for  this  object.  It  is  plainly  unjust  that 
the  law-abiding  citizen  and  faithful  officer  should  be  charged  with  the  burthens 
of  Government,  and  the  dishonest  and  unpatriotic  be  permitted,  by  the  defects 
of  our  statutes,  to  be  relieved  from  the  contribution  of  their  fair  proportion. 
Had  the  necessary  laws  been  passed  as  recommended,  we  should  have  received 
from  customs,  upon  our  eastern  boundary,  as  is  estimated,  some  seventy-five 
thousand  dollars  more  annually  than  have  been  collected  ;  making,  within  the 
last  three  years,  the  sum  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars, 
which  has  been  totally  lost,  and  which  at  this  time  would  enable  us  to  be  in  a  far 
better  state  of  preparation  for  the  contingencies  to  which  every  nation  is  liable, 
and  for  undertaking  the  various  improvements  which  our  situation  as  a  rising 
people  makes  obligatory  upon  us. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  mention,  in  order  to  show  the  striking  propriety  of  ad- 


Management  of  Finance.  329 

equate  amendments  to  our  revenue  laws,  that  the  defalcations  which  have 
already  occurred  in  the  collection  of  the  direct  taxes  alone,  amount  to  more  than 
fifty-two  thousand  dollars  ;  and  the  defalcations  of  the  late  collectors  of  import 
duties,  at  the  two  ports  of  Galveston  and  San  Augustine,  reach  nearly  thirty 
thousand  dollars.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  laws  must  be  so  improved 
by  the  action  of  the  Legislature  as  to  secure  the  more  certain  and  prompt 
transmission  of  the  public  moneys.  Otherwise,  no  safe  calculation  can  be  made 
as  to  the  means  annually  appropriated  for  the  support  of  Government. 

The  total  amount  of  expenditures  for  all  purposes,  during  the  present  adminis- 
tration, up  to  the  first  of  November  last,  excluding  fifty  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-three  dollars  and  eighty-two  cents,  incurred  during  the  administra- 
tion of  my  predecessor,  and  paid  by  this,  is  four  hundred  and  sixty-six  thousand 
one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  dollars  and  nine  cents,  leaving  a  balance  of  five  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  forty-eight  dollars  and  ninety-one  cents,  after  carrying 
on  the  Government  for  the  last  three  years.  It  should  be  mentioned,  also,  that 
the  estimate  of  expenditures  dates  back  to  the  first  of  December,  1841,  and  that 
of  receipts  to  the  first  of  February,  1842,  at  which  time  Exchequer  bills  began 
to  be  received  for  revenue — a  space  of  two  months  during  which  the  expenses 
of  Government  were  being  incurred,  without  the  receipt  of  a  dollar  to  meet 
them. 

It  appears,  from  the  several  enactments  on  the  subject,  that  the  amount  ap- 
propriated for  sustaining  the  Post-Office  establishment,  during  the  administra- 
tion of  my  predecessor,  was  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  seventy  dollars,  and  that  the  like  appropriations  during  the  last  three  years, 
for  the  same  purpose,  amount  to  but  about  twenty-nine  thousand.  Notwith- 
standing, however,  this  great  difference  in  the  means  afforded  for  the  support  of 
this  important  branch  of  the  public  service,  it  is  believed  that,  by  the  exercise  of 
proper  economy,  the  mails  have  been  regularly  transported  upon  all  the  routes 
prescribed  by  law,  so  as  to  give  the  greatest  benefit  possible  under  the  means 
which  could  be  applied. 

This  statement,  it  is  believed,  will  best  explain  the  conduct  of  the  administra- 
tion in  the  management  of  its  finances,  and,  perhaps,  satisfy  the  people  of  the 
Republic  that  all  within  its  power  has  been  done  to  economize  the  means  which 
they  had  contributed  for  the  support  of  our  institutions.  Much  hardship  has 
been  encountered,  and  sometimes  extreme  perplexity  endured,  by  all  the  public 
officers,  by  the  fluctuations  to  which  the  currency  has  been  subjected.  But  they 
have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that,  although  they  have  frequently  received  less 
than  one-half  the  compensation  assigned  them  by  law  for  their  services,  they 
have  materially  assisted  in  sustaining  their  country  in  the  time  of  difficulty  and 
need. 

During  the  past  summer,  dissensions  of  a  most  unfortunate  character,  arising 
from  private  and  personal  causes,  and  leading  to  the  most  deplorable  excesses 
against  life  and  property,  existed  in  the  county  of  Shelby,  and  extended  in  some 
degree  to  the  surrounding  districts.  The  necessity  for  the  prompt  intervention 
of  the  Government  to  arrest  this  state  of  things  became  imperative,  and,  accord- 
ingly»  the  Executive  proceeded  in  person  to  a  convenient  point  near  the  scene  of 
difficulties,  and  ordered  out  a  military  force  deemed  sufficient  for  the  effectual 
attainment  of  the  object  in  view.  He  is  happy  to  say  that  the  citizen  sol- 
diery obeyed  the  call  upon  their  patriotic  services  with  the  utmost  alacrity 


330  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

by  which    the  reign  of  order  and  the  supremacy  of  the  laws  were  speedily 
re-established. 

It  was  deemed  prudent,  in  order  to  secure  the  maintenance  of  these  blessings, 
and  to  give  due  protection  to  the  civil  authorities  in  the  administration  of  justice, 
to  station  a  company  of  men  in  the  county  of  Shelby.  For  the  purpose,  a  corps 
of  volunteers  were  enrolled,  and  continued  in  service  as  long  as  the  Government 
thought  it  ad  visable  for  the  preservation  of  peace. 

The  Executive  does  not  doubt  that  the  honorable  Congress  will  readily 
perceive  the  necessity  which  existed  for  the  exertion  of  the  strength  of  the  Gov- 
ernment for  the  suppression  of  the  disorders  alluded  to,  and  that  they  will 
as  readily  make  provision  for  the  payment  of  the  expenses  incurred  in 
doing  so. 

It  appears  that  the  force  authorized  to  be  kept  in  service  for  the  protection  of 
the  southwestern  frontier  has  not  been  adequate  to  afford  the  security  antici- 
pated. The  Government,  being  desirous  to  extend  every  facility  in  its  power 
for  the  better  security  of  that  border,  authorized  the  raising  of  a  company  in  ad- 
dition to  that  already  in  the  field.  The  expenses  thus  incurred  are  small,  and  it 
is  hoped  that  the  necessary  means  will  be  provided  for  their  payment. 

Reports  from  the  several  departments  and  bureaus  are  herewith  respectfully 
transmitted,  and  the  attention  of  the  honorable  Congress  invited  to  their  con- 
tents. 

I  have  now  only  to  add  the  hope  that  your  deliberations  may  be  characterized 
by  that  wisdom  and  harmony  so  essential  to  the  attainment  of  those  great  ends 
for  which  you  are  here  assembled ;  with  my  fervent  desire  that  all  your  labors 
may,  under  the  guidance  of  Heaven,  give  additional  force  and  energy  to  all  those 
principles  of  private  and  public  virtue  so  indispensable  to  the  stability,  pros- 
perity, and  success  of  the  Government  and  people  of  the  Republic. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


VALEDICTORY  REMARKS    MADE  AT  WASHINGTON   TO   THE 
CONGRESS  OF  THE  REPUBLIC  OF  TEXAS, 

ON  THE  OCCASION  OF  RETIRING  FROM  THE  PRESIDENCY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC, 

DECEMBER  9,  1844. 

Gentlemen  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and  Fellow- 
citizens  :  This  numerous  and  respectable  assemblage  of  the  free  citizens  of 
Texas  and  their  representatives,  exhibits  the  best  possible  commentary  upon 
the  successful  action  and  happy  influence  of  the  institutions  of  our  country. 
We  have  met  together  for  no  purpose  but  that  of  adding  another  testimonial  to 
the  practicability  of  enlightened  self-government — to  witness  a  change  of  officers 
without  the  change  of  office — to  obey  the  high  behests  of  our  written  Constitu- 
tion in  good-will  and  fellowship,  as  members  of  the  same  great  political  family, 
sensible  of  our  rights  and  fully  understanding  our  duty. 

I  am  about  to  lay  down  the  authority  with  which  my  countrymen,  three  years 
since,  so  generously  and  confidingly  invested  me,  and  to  return  again  to  the 
ranks  of  my  fellow-citizens.  But  in  retiring  from  the  high  office  which  I  have 
occupied  to  the  walks  of  private  life,  I  can  not  forbear  the  expression  of  the 


The  People  his  Support  in  Hasty  Legislation.     331 

cordial  gratitude  which  inspires  my  bosom.  The  constant  and  unfailing  sup- 
port which  I  have  had  from  the  people,  in  every  vicissitude,  demands  of  me  a 
candid  and  grateful  acknowledgment  of  my  enduring  obligations.  From  them  I 
have  derived  a  sustaining  influence,  which  has  enabled  me  to  meet  the  most  tre- 
mendous shocks  and  to  pursue,  without  faltering,  the  course  which  I  deemed  proper 
for  the  advancement  of  the  public  interests  and  the  security  of  "the  general  welfare. 

I  proudly  confess  that  to  the  people  I  owe  whatever  of  good  I  may  have 
achieved  by  my  official  labors,  for  without  the  support  which  they  so  fully 
accorded  me,  I  could  have  acquired  neither  advantage  for  the  Republic  nor 
satisfaction  for  myself. 

It  is  true  that  collisions  have  existed  between  the  Executive  and  the  Legislat- 
ure. Both  were  tenacious  of  what  they  deemed  their  peculiar  privileges  ;  and 
in  the  maintenance  of  which  both  may  have  erred. 

In  various  instances,  the  Executive  was  constrained  by  what  he  believed  to  be 
his  most  solemn  duty  to  his  conscience  and  his  country  to  interpose  his  preroga- 
tive to  arrest  immature,  latitudinous,  and  dangerous  legislation.  Under  the 
Constitution,  his  weight  in  the  enactment  of  laws  is  just  equal  to  two-thirds  of 
either  House  of  Congress.  Were  it  otherwise  he  would  be  but  little  more  than 
a  mere  automaton,  and  the  balance  of  power  and  the  co-ordinate  character  of 
these  two  divisions  of  Government  would  be  utterly  destroyed.  The  Executive 
has  never  denied  to  the  Congress  purity  of  motive  and  honesty  of  purpose.  He 
has  sincerely  lamented  the  existence  of  any  cause,  apparent  or  real,  for  the  occa- 
sional disagreements  which  have  occurred,  and  has  deplored  the  necessity  ot 
resorting  to  the  Executive  veto  to  save  the  country  from  still  greater  evils.  In 
the  exercise  of  this  power  he  was  aware  that  two-thirds  of  the  Legislature  could 
correct  any  error  he  might  commit ;  and  that  beyond  them  stood  the  Judiciary, 
as  the  final  umpire  to  decide  between  him  and  them  and  preserve  the  Constitu- 
tion inviolate. 

1  have  now  no  reason  to  conceal  the  convictions  of  my  judgment  or  the  feel- 
ings of  my  heart.  I  stand  here  not  to  ask  the  concurrence  of  any  branch  of  the 
Government  in  any  of  my  acts,  but  to  declare,  in  all  sincerity,  that  the  differ- 
ences to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  the  necessity  for  which  I  truly  regret,  arose 
on  my  part  from  a  patriotic  conception  of  duty.  I  may  have  been  mistaken. 
In  my  retirement  therefore,  I  take  with  me  no  animosities.  If  ever  they  existed 
they  are  buried  in  the  past ;  and  I  would  hope  that  those  with  whom  it  was  my 
lot  to  come  in  conflict,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  functions,  will  exercise 
toward  my  acts  and  motives  the  same  degree  of  candor. 

In  leaving  my  station,  I  leave  the  country  tranquil  at  home,  and,  in  effect,  at 
peace  with  all  nations.  If  some  annoyances  still  exist  on  the  frontier,  it  will  be 
remembered  that  it  has  taken  years  to  attain  our  present  position.  The  savage 
hordes  by  whom  we  have  been  molested,  have  at  length,  by  the  policy  I  have 
pursued  with  constancy,  become  generally  peaceful.  The  occasional  difficulties 
which  arise  are  not  to  be  compared  with  those  of  former  days. 

It  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  a  work  of  so  great  magnitude  and  im- 
portance could  be  accomplished  in  a  little  while.  Some  twelve  or  fourteen 
different  tribes  of  Indians,  not  harmonizing  among  themselves,  and  accustomed 
to  depredate  upon  all  around  them,  had  long  carried  on  hostilities  upon  our 
borders,  and  despoiled  us  of  our  citizens.  With  them  we  have  at  last,  I  trust, 
succeeded  in  establishing  a  lasting  friendship. 


332  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Our  foreign  relations,  so  far  as  the  United  States,  France,  England,  Holland, 
and  some  of  the  principal  States  of  Germany  are  concerned,  are  of  the  most 
agreeable  character,  and  we  have  every  assurance  of  their  continuance. 

As  to  Mexico,  she  still  maintains  the  attitude  of  nominal  hostility.  Instructed 
by  experience,  she  might  be  expected  to  have  become  more  reasonable  ;  but  the 
vain-glorious  and  pompous  gasconade  so  characteristic  of  that  nation,  would 
indicate  that  she  is  not  quite  ready  to  acknowledge  the  independence  we  have 
achieved.  If.  however,  she  attempts  the  infliction  of  the  injuries  which  she  has 
so  often  denounced,  I  am  fully  assured  that  the  same  spirit  which  animated 
the  heroic  men  who  won  the  liberty  we  now  enjoy,  will  call  to  the  field  a  yet 
mightier  host  to  avenge  the  wrongs  we  have  endured,  and  establish  beyond 
question  our  title  to  full  dominion  over  all  we  claim. 

When  I  look  around  me,  my  fellow-citizens,  and  see  and  know  that  the  pros- 
pects of  the  Republic  are  brightening,  its  resources  developing,  its  commerce  ex- 
tending, and  its  moral  influence  in  the  community  of  nations  increasing,  my 
heart  is  filled  with  sensations  of  joy  and  pride.  A  poor  and  despised  people  a 
few  years  ago,  borne  down  by  depressing  influences  at  home  and  abroad,  we  have 
risen,  in  defiance  of  all  obstacles,  to  a  respectable  place  in  the  eye  of  the  world. 
One  great  nation  is  inviting  us  to  a  full  participancy  in  all  its  privileges,  and  to 
a  full  community  of  laws  and  interests.  Others  desire  our  separate  and  in- 
dependent national  existence,  and  are  ready  to  throw  into  our  lap  the  richest 
gifts  and  favors. 

The  attitude  of  Texas  now,  to  my  apprehension,  is  one  of  peculiar  interest. 
The  United  States  have  spurned  her  twice  already.  Let  her,  therefore,  main- 
tain her  position  firmly  as  it  is,  and  work  out  her  own  political  salvation.  Let 
her  legislation  proceed  upon  the  supposition  that  we  are  to  be  and  remain 
an  independent  people.  If  Texas  goes  begging  again  for  admission  into 
the  United  States  she  will  only  degrade  herself.  They  will  spurn  her  again 
from  their  threshold,  and  other  nations  will  look  upon  her  with  unmingled  pity. 
Let  Texas,  therefore,  maintain  her  position.  If  the  United  States  shall  open  the 
door,  and  ask  her  to  come  into  her  great  family  of  States,  you  will  then  have 
other  conductors,  better  than  myself,  to  lead  you  into  the  beloved  land  from 
which  we  have  sprung — the  land  of  the  broad  stripes  and  bright  stars.  But  let 
us  be  as  we  are  until  that  opportunity  is  presented,  and  then  let  us  go  in, 
if  at  all,  united  in  one  phalanx,  and  sustained  by  the  opinion  of  the  world. 

If  we  remain  an  independent  nation,  our  territory  will  be  extensive — un- 
limited. 

The  Pacific  alone  will  bound  the  mighty  march  of  our  race  and  our  em- 
pire. From  Europe  and  America  her  soil  is  to  be  peopled.  In  regions  where 
the  savage  and  the  buffalo  now  roam  uncontrolled,  the  enterprise  and  in- 
dustry of  the  Anglo-American  are  yet  to  find  an  extensive  field  of  de- 
velopment. 

With  union,  industry,  and  virtue,  we  have  nothing  to  apprehend.  If  left  alone, 
we  have  our  destiny  in  our  own  hands,  and  may  become  a  nation  distinguished 
for  its  wealth  and  power. 

It  is  true  we  have  been  visited  with  inconveniences  and  evils.  It  is  but  a 
short  time  since  we  were  without  a  currency — without  available  means,  and 
everything  to  do,  for  our  national  paper  was  depreciated  to  almost  nothing.  A 
currency  however,  has  been  at  length  established.  Hard  money  is  disbursed  by 


Final  Patriotic  Appeal  to  his  "Countrymen?      333 

the  Government  and  circulates  in  the  community.  The  period  has  arrived,  I 
hope,  when  this  currency  may  be  maintained,  and  all  other  eschewed,  unless  in- 
tended as  a  representative  of  the  precious  metals  actually  in  deposit.  And  I 
would  not  recommend  the  extension  of  the  system  further  than  merely  to  give 
the  necessary  facilities,  as  a  medium  of  transmission  or  exchange.  Relying  upon 
the  disposition  of  Congress  not  to  extend  their  appropriations  beyond  the  reve- 
nues arising  from  import  duties,  and  the  direct  taxes  secured,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  Government  can  move  on,  and,  at  the  same  time,  sustain  the 
currency. 

In  the  advancement  of  the  Republic,  from  the  earliest  period  of  its  history  up 
to  the  present  moment,  we  think  we  have  demonstrated  to  the  world  our  capac- 
ity for  self-government.  Among  our  people  are  to  be  found  the  intelligent  and 
enterprising  from  almost  every  part  of  the  globe.  Though  from  different  States 
and  of  different  habits,  manners,  sects,  and  languages,  they  have  acted  with  •* 
degree  of  concord  and  unanimity  almost  miraculous. 

The  world  respects  our  position,  and  will  sustain  us  by  their  good  opinion, 
and  it  is  to  moral  influences  that  we  should  look,  as  much  as  to  the  point  of  the 
bayonet  or  the  power  of  the  cannon. 

My  countrymen  !  Give  to  the  rising  generation  instruction.  Establish  schools 
everywhere  among  you.  You  will  thus  diffuse  intelligence  throughout  the  mass 
— that  greatest  safeguard  to  our  free  institutions.  Among  us,  education  confers 
rank  and  influence — ignorance  is  the  parent  of  degradation.  Intelligence  ele- 
vates man  to  the  highest  destiny,  but  ignorance  degrades  him  to  slavery. 

In  quitting  my  present  position,  and  a  second  time  retiring  from  the  Chief- 
Magistracy  of  the  Republic,  I  feel  the  highest  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  leave 
my  countrymen  in  the  enjoyment  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  and  surrounded 
by  many  evidences  of  present  and  increasing  prosperity.  This  happy  condition 
Is  ascribable  to  that  wise  and  benign  Providence  which  has  watched  over  our 
progress,  and  conducted  us  to  the  attainment  of  blessings  so  invaluable.  Let 
us,  therefore,  strive  to  deserve  the  favor  of  Heaven,  that  we  may  be  established 
in  all  the  privileges  of  freemen,  and  achieve  that  destiny  which  is  always  accord- 
ed to  the  faithful  pursuit  of  good  and  patriotic  objects. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  detain  you  longer.  I  now,  therefore,  take  leave  ot 
you,  my  countrymen,  with  the  devout  trust  that  the  God  who  has  inspired  you 
with  faithful  and  patriotic  devotion  will  bless  you  with  His  choicest  gifts.  I  shall 
bear  with  me  into  the  retirement  in  which  I  intend  to  pass  the  remainder  of  my 
life  the  grateful  and  abiding  recollection  of  your  many  favors. 


PART    II. 

INDIAN     TALKS. 


TALK  TO  BORDER  CHIEFS. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  July  6,  1842. 
To  THE  CHIEFS  OF  THE  BORDER  TRIBES: 

TV  l\  Y  FRIENDS  : — The  path  between  us  has  been  red,  and  the  blood  of 
*•*'•*  our  people  remains  on  the  ground.  Trouble  has  been  upon  us. 
Our  people  have  sorrowed  for  their  kindred  who  have  been  slain.  The 
red  men  have  come  upon  us,  and  have  slain  and  taken  some  of  our  people. 
We  found  them  and  slew  them,  and  have  their  women  and  children.  They 
are  with  us  and  are  kindly  treated.  Our  people  by  you  have  been  sold  ; 
and  those  with  you  are  held  in  suffering.  This  is  all  bad,  and  trouble  must 
be  while  we  are  at  war. 

I  learn  that  the  red  friends  want  peace  ;  and  our  hand  is  now  white,  and 
shall  not  be  stained  with  blood.  Let  our  red  brothers  say  this,  and  we  will 
smoke  the  pipe  of  peace.  Chiefs  should  make  peace.  I  send  counselors  to 
give  my  talk.  Listen  to  them.  They  will  tell  you  the  truth.  Wise  chiefs 
will  open  their  ears  and  hear — you  shall  have  peace  ;  and  your  people  who 
are  prisoners  shall  be  given  up  to  you  on  the  Brazos,  when  the  council  shall 
meet  there.  You  must  bring  all  the  prisoners  which  you  have  of  ours. 

You  shall  trade  with  our  people  at  new  trading-houses,  and  no  harm  shall 
be  done  to  you  or  your  people.  If  you  are  friendly  and  keep  peace  with  us, 
your  women  and  children  shall  not  be  harmed.  You  shall  come  to  our 
council-house,  and  no  one  shall  raise  a  hand  against  you.  Let  the  toma- 
hawk be.  buried,  and  let  the  pipe  of  peace  be  handed  round  council  of 
friends.  I  will  not  forget  this  talk— nor  my  people. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


LETTER  TO   CHIEF  OF   APACHES. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  September  i,  1842. 

MY  BROTHER  : — We  are  far  from  each  other ;  we  have  not  shaken  hands. 
I  have  heard  from  you.  The  message  was  peace  and  friendship.  With 
your  son  Antonio  I  send  my  friends,  Dr.  Cottle  and  Dr.  Tower,  with  my 
talk.  They  will  make  it  to  you. 

If  you  can  come  to  see  me,  I  will  make  the  path  between  us  white,  and  it 
shall  remain  open.    There  is  no  blood  between  us.     We  have  had  no  wars  ; 
your  enemies  are  our  enemies.     They  will  not  keep  friendship  with  us ; 
(334) 


Appeals  for  Peace  to  Indian  Chiefs.  335 

they  will  not  tell  the  truth.  When  we  shake  hands  we  will  become  friends. 
Our  friendship  shall  not  cease.  We  will  be  friends  when  people  around  us 
are  not  at  war.  The  tomahawk  shall  never  be  raised  between  us. 

You  and  your  friends  shall  trade  with  our  people,  and  you  shall  buy  from 
us  such  things  as  you  need,  and  our  price  shall  not  be  great.  We  will  buy 
from  you  your  furs,  your  horses,  your  silver  and  gold.  Treat  my  friends  as 
brothers,  and  we  will  treat  you  likewise  when  you  come  to  see  us.  We 
shall  then  write  down  a  treaty  which  shall  not  wear  out,  but  shall  remain 
with  our  children,  that  they  may  know  their  fathers  had  shaken  hands  and 
smoked  together  the  pipe  of  peace. 

I  hope  the  Great  Spirit  may  give  light  to  your  path,  and  the  clouds  of 
sorrow  never  rest  upon  your  journey  of  life. 

Thy  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON 


LETTER  TO  CASTRO  AND  FLACO. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  September  I,  1842 
To  CASTRO  AND  FLACO  : 

MY  BROTHERS  : — I  send  to  you  Drs.  Tower  and  Cottle,  on  their  way  to 
the  Apache  nation.  Antonio,  an  Apache,  is  with  them.  They  want  you  to 
send  some  of  your  people  with  them.  I  hope  you  will  do  so  ;  and  if  they 
want  horses,  I  wish  you  would  let  them  have  good  ones  for  them  to  ride. 
I  will  make  presents  to  the  Lipans  who  may  go  with  my  agents  to  the 
Apache  nation. 

I  am,  your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


LETTER  TO   RED   BEAR  AND   OTHER  CHIEFS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,     ) 
WASHINGTON,  October  18,  1842.  ) 
To  THE  RED  BEAR  AND  CHIEFS  OF  THE  COUNCIL  : 

MY  BROTHERS  : — The  path  between  us  is  open ;  it  has  become  white. 
We  wish  it  to  remain  open,  and  that  it  shall  no  more  be  stained  with  blood. 
The  last  Council  took  brush  out  of  our  way.  Clouds  hang  no  longer  over 
us,  but  the  sun  gives  light  to  our  footsteps.  Darkness  is  taken  away  from 
us,  and  we  can  look  at  each  other  as  friends.  I  send  councilors  with  my 
talk.  They  will  give  it  to  you.  Hear  it,  and  remember  my  words.  I  have 
never  opened  my  lips  to  tell  a  red  brother  a  lie.  My  red  brothers,  who 
know  me,  will  tell  you  that  my  counsel  has  always  been  for  peace ;  that  I 
have  eaten  bread  and  drank  water  with  the  red  men.  They  listened  to  my 
words  and  were  not  troubled.  A  bad  chief  came  in  my  place,  and  told  them 
lies  and  did  them  much  harm.  His  counsel  was  listened  to,  and  the  people 
did  evil.  His  counsel  is  no  more  heard,  and  the  people  love  peace  with 
their  red  brothers.  You,  too,  love  peace  ;  and  you  wish  to  kill  the  buffalo 
for  your  women  and  children.  There  are  many  in  Texas,  and  we  wish  you 
to  enjoy  them.  We  are  willing  that  your  women  and  children  should  be 
free  from  harm. 


J336  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Your  Great  Father,  and  ours  of  the  United  States,  wishes  the  red  men 
and  the  people  of  Texas  to  be  brothers.  He  has  written  to  me,  and  told  me 
that  you  wanted  peace,  and  would  keep  it.  Because  peace  is  good,  we  have 
listened  to  him.  You,  too,  have  heard  his  wishes,  and  you  know  the  wishes 
of  our  red  brothers  on  the  Arkansas.  Let  us  be  like  brothers,  and  bury  the 
tomahawk  forever. 

Bad  men  make  trouble  :  they  can  not  be  at  peace  ;  but  when  the  water  is 
clear  they  will  disturb  it  and  make  it  muddy.  The  Mexicans  have  lately 
come  to  San  Antonio  and  brought  war  with  them  ;  they  killed  some  of  our 
people,  and  we  killed  and  wounded  many  of  them.  We  drove  them  out  of 
the  country  ;  they  fled  in  sorrow.  If  they  come  back  again  they  shall  no 
more  leave  our  country,  or  it  will  be  after  they  have  been  taken  prisoners. 
Their  coming  has  disturbed  us  ;  and  for  that  reason  I  can  not  go  to  the  Coun- 
cil to  meet  you,  as  I  had  intended.  But  my  friends  that  I  send  to  you  will 
tell  you  all  things,  and  make  a  treaty  with  you  that  I  will  look  upon  and 
rejoice  at.  You  will  counsel  together.  They  will  bring  me  all  the  words 
that  you  speak  to  them.  The  Great  Spirit  will  hear  the  words  that  I  speak 
to  you,  and  He  will  know  the  truth  of  the  words  that  you  send  to  me. 
When  truth  is  spoken  His  countenance  will  rejoice ;  but  before  him  who 
speaketh  lies,  the  Great  Spirit  will  place  darkness,  and  will  not  give  light 
to  his  going.  Let  all  the  red  men  make  peace ;  let  no  man  injure  his 
brother ;  let  us  meet  every  year  in  council,  that  we  may  know  the  heart  of 
each  other.  I  wish  some  of  the  chiefs  of  my  red  brothers  to  come  and  see 
me  at  Washington.  They  shall  come  in  peace,  and  none  shall  make  them 
afraid. 

The  messenger  from  the  Queen  of  England  and  the  messenger  from  the 
United  States  are  both  in  Texas,  and  will  be  in  Washington,  if  they  are  not 
sick.  They  will  be  happy  to  see  my  brothers.  If  the  Big  Mush  is  in  coun- 
cil he  has  not  forgotten  my  words ;  and  he  knows  my  counsel  was  always 
that  of  a  brother ;  and  that  I  never  deceived  my  red  brothers,  the  Chero- 
kees.  They  had  much  trouble  and  sorrow  brought  upon  them,  but  it  was 
done  by  chiefs  whose  counsel  was  wicked,  and  I  was  far  off  and  could  not 
hinder  the  mischief  that  was  brought  upon  his  people.  Our  great  council 
is  to  meet  within  one  moon  and  I  will  send  a  talk  to  our  agent  at  the  trad 
ing-house,  who  will  send  it  to  my  red  brothers. 

Let  the  war-whoop  be  no  more  heard  in  our  prairies — let  songs  of  joy  be 
heard  upon  our  hills.  In  our  valleys  let  there  be  laughter  and  in  our  wig- 
wams let  the  voices  of  our  women  and  children  be  heard — let  trouble  be 
taken  away  far  from  us ;  and  when  our  warriors  meet  together,  let  them 
smoke  the  pipe  of  peace  and  be  happy. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TALK  TO   BORDER  CHIEFS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,     i 
WASHINGTON,  February  13,  1843.  \ 

BROTHERS  :— The  great  rains,  like  your  sorrows,  I  hope  have  passed  away, 
and  the  sun  is  again  shining  upon  us.     When  we  all  make  peace,  it  will  be 


Sad  Men  who  Warred  on  Indians.  337 

to  the  heart  like  the  sunshine  is  to  our  eyes.  We  will  feel  joy  and  gladness. 
Sorrow  will  no  longer  fill  our  hearts.  The  noise  of  an  enemy  will  not  be 
near  us ;  and  there  will  be  none  to  make  us  afraid.  The  voices  of  our  women 
and  children  will  be  gladness.  They  will  be  heard,  cheerful  as  the  song  of 
birds,  which  sing  in  the  green  woods  of  summer. 

The  sleep  of  your  people  will  not  be  disturbed.  The  hunter  will  not  be 
alarmed  in  his  camp.  When  our  people  meet  their  red  brothers  they  will 
grasp  them  by  the  hand  as  friends  and  they  will  no  more  remember  their 
sorrows. 

I  will  send  good  agents  and  jacks,  or  we  will  buy  your  sheep  and  goats, 
if  you  should  bring  any  to  our  trading-houses. 

I  have  sent  for  fine  lances,  to  make  presents  to  the  chiefs  who  are  most 
friendly,  and  I  will  send  them  by  the  agents  in  October,  or  I  will  send  for 
the  chiefs  and  with  my  own  hand  I  will  present  them.  I  hope  one  chief  of 
each  (at  least)  will  come  to  see  me  so  soon  as  the  treaty  is  over.  My  coun- 
cilors will  show  the  way  to  my  house. 

Come,  and  no  harm  shall  fall  upon  you,  but  you  shall  return  to  your  peo- 
ple with  presents  and  happy.  You  may  rely  upon  my  words — they  are  not 
false — nor  will  I  let  harm  trouble  you  as  it  did  at  Bexar.  These  sorrows 
must  be  forgotten.  The  thoughts  of  them  only  make  the  heart  sad.  Sor- 
row can  not  bring  back  our  friends.  Let  peace  now  be  made,  that  we  may 
lose  no  more,  and  trouble  will  not  come  upon  us.  Let  the  wild  brothers 
who  love  the  prairies  go  to  you  who  will  give  you  my  talk,  and  when  you 
may  wish  it,  they  will  send  your  talks  to  me.  My  ears  will  be  open  to  your 
words.  My  heart  will  be  warm  toward  you  and  your  people. 

If  my  people  act  badly  toward  your  people,  I  will  punish  them.  Our  laws 
have  given  to  the  head  chief  of  Texas  a  right  to  do  so.  If  your  people  do 
wrong  to  us,  they  must  be  punished.  I  will  keep  our  people  from  stealing 
from -you,  and  you  must  not  let  your  people  steal  from  ours. 

Bad  men  who  are  our  enemies  must  be  looked  upon  by  you  as  enemies. 
You  will  be  our  neighbors  and  friends,  and  those  who  would  injure  us  would 
do  you  wrong  likewise.  Let  no  Indians  trouble  our  frontier  and  we  will 
make  you  presents  as  brothers.  When  we  know  that  you  are  our  friends, 
we  will  sell  you  arms,  powder,  and  lead  to  kill  game.  We  will  buy  your 
skins,  your  mules,  horses,  and  hunt  buffalo,  and  those  who  have  houses 
build  them,  and  plant  corn  in  their  own  fields.  While  they  remain  friends 
I  will  keep  trouble  and  sorrow  far  from  them.  Their  women  and  children 
shall  not  weep  for  the  loss  of  warriors  or  friends  in  battle. 

The  Great  Spirit  will  be  kind  to  all  people  who  love  peace.  Let  all  the 
Red  Brothers  listen  to  their  chiefs  when  they  counsel  to  speak  peace  ! 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 

Co  the  Chiefs  of  the  Border  Tribes. 


LETTER  TO    INDIAN   CHIEF   LINNEY. 

WASHINGTON,  March  5,  1843. 

MY  BROTHER  : — Your  talk  came  to  me.    I  read  it  and  was  happy  !    I  re- 
membered other  days.    Our  words  came  back  to  my  thoughts.    We  spoke 

22 


338  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

to  each  other  face  to  face.  Our  hearts  were  open  to  each  other.  Words  ol 
kindness  entered  into  them  and  gave  light  to  our  countenances.  When  we 
talked  together,  our  people  were  in  our  thoughts,  and  we  remembered  the 
women  and  children  of  our  nations, — you  have  kept  your  words,  nor  have  I 
forgotten  mine.  You  wish  to  raise  corn  in  our  country,  and  to  be  our 
friends.  I  know  that  you  and  our  Delaware  brothers  are  good  men  and  will 
not  use  crooked  ways  with  your  friends.  I  have  written  to  our  commissioners 
and  told  them  to  let  the  Shawnees,  Delawares,  and  Kickapoos  settle  on 
the  waters  of  the  Brazos  and  raise  corn.  They  will  also  keep  all  bad  red 
men  from  our  frontier,  or,  if  any  should  come,  they  will  treat  them  as  ene- 
mies. You  will  stand  by  us  and  keep  trouble  from  our  people.  If  red  men 
come  to  our  settlements  or  hurt  our  people  when  they  meet  them,  the  blame 
may  fall  upon  good  red  brothers,  and  cause  injury  to  them  and  their  people. 
So  that  our  brothers  must  watch  all  those  whose  hearts  are  not  straight  and 
who  walk  in  crooked  paths  and  bushes. 

If  your  people  and  my  friendly  brothers  should  raise  corn  and  live  on  the 
Brazos  and  trade  to  our  trading-houses  and  receive  the  talk  of  our  agents, 
you  must  get  the  wild  brothers  to  make  peace  and  keep  it.  If  they  do  not, 
you  must  look  upon  them  as  enemies,  because  they  will  bring  harm  upon 
your  people,  and  this  will  cause  great  sorrow  and  crying  with  your  women 
and  children,  and  the  loss  of  warriors  sinks  deep  in  the  hearts  of  the  chiefs 
and  wise  men  of  a  nation. 

Our  traders  will  buy  from  you  all  that  you  may  have  to  sell,  and  the 
horses  and  mules  which  you  may  bring  to  them  will  get  you  all  the  things 
which  you  may  wish  to  buy  for  your  warriors,  your  women,  and  children. 

The  red  brothers  all  know  that  my  words  to  them  have  never  been  for- 
gotten by  me.  They  have  never  been  swallowed  up  by  darkness,  nor  has 
the  light  of  the  sun  consumed  them.  Truth  can  not  perish,  but  the  words 
of  a  liar  are  as  nothing.  I  wish  you  to  come  and  we  will  again  shake  hands 
and  counsel  together.  Bring  other  chiefs  with  you.  Talk  to  all  the  red 
men  to  make  peace.  War  can  not  make  them  happy.  It  has  lasted  too 
long.  Let  it  now  be  ended  and  cease  forever.  Tell  all  my  red  brothers  to 
listen  to  my  commissioners,  and  to  walk  by  the  words  of  my  counsel.  If 
they  hear  me  and  keep  my  words,  their  homes  shall  be  happy — their  fires 
shall  burn  brightly,  and  the  pipe  of  peace  shall  be  handed  round  the  hearth 
of  their  wigwams.  The  tomahawk  shall  no  more  be  raised  in  war.  Nor 
shall  the  dog  howl  for  his  master  who  has  been  slain  in  battle.  Joy  shall 
take  the  place  of  sorrow ;  and  the  laughing  of  your  children  shall  be  heard 
in  place  of  the  cries  of  women.  Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TALK  TO  VARIOUS   BORDER  TRIBES. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
WASHINGTON,  TEXAS,  March  20,  1843.  ' 
To  THE  HEAD  CHIEFS  OF  THE  WICHETAWS,  IONIES,  IOW-A-ASHES,  WA- 

COES,  TA-WACK-A-NIES,  CADDOES,  AND  OTHER  TRIBES  : 
BROTHERS  : — I  send  this  talk  to  you  by  Gov.  Butler,  the  Agent  of  our 
Great  Brother,  the  President  of  the  United  States.    The  words  I  speak  to 


1  Sorrows  of  War,  Blessings  of  Peace.  339 

you  are  the  words  of  a  brother,  who  has  never  told  his  red  brothers  what 
was  not  true. 

Between  your  people  and  ours  there  has  been  war.  Trouble  has  been  in 
the  path  between  us,  and  it  has  been  stained  with  blood.  While  there  is 
war  no  people  can  be  happy.  When  the  warriors  are  absent  from  home 
their  wives  and  children  may  be  killed  by  their  enemies.  If  the  warriors 
return  with  scalps  or  have  stolen  horses,  it  will  not  bring  back  their  women 
and  children  to  them.  Their  wigwams  will  be  desolate,  and  they  will  have 
to  kindle  new  fires,  and  by  them  watch  for  their  enemies. 

If  they  make  peace,  they  can  rest  with  their  people  and  be  happy.  Th< 
hunter  can  kill  his  buffaloes  and  the  squaws  can  make  corn,  and  there  shall 
be  none  to  trouble  them.  We  are  willing  to  make  a  line  with  you,  beyond 
which  our  people  will  not  hunt.  You  shall  come  to  our  trading-houses  in 
peace  ;  none  shall  raise  a  hand  against  you,  nor  make  war  upon  your  peo- 
ple. Our  traders  will  have  goods  such  as  you  may  wish  to  buy,  so  soon  as 
vou  have  made  peace.  The  goods  shall  be  such  as  you  need,  and  they  will 
be  sold  to  you  cheap.  We  will  have  agents  to  act  for  you,  and  see  that  no 
one  shall  do  wrong  to  you. 

When  you  wish  to  sell  our  traders  horses,  mules,  peltries,  or  any  other 
articles,  you  shall  have  a  good  price  for  them,  and  you  shall  not  be  cheated. 
You  need  not  doubt  the  words  which  I  speak  to  you.  If  wrong  has  been 
done  to 'the  red  brothers  in  Texas,  it  was  not  done  by  the  chiefs  who  are 
now  in  power.  They  were  bad  deeds,  and  the  people  condemn  them. 
They  are  now  passed  away.  It  will  do  us  no  good  to  wrong  the  red  brothers. 
Peace  will  make  the  white  as  well  as  the  red  brothers  happy.  Let  us  meet 
in  peace  and  talk  together,  as  men  who  desire  to  walk  in  straight  paths. 
Let  the  young  men  of  your  nations  take  counsel  of  their  chiefs  and  wise 
men.  Then  they  will  bring  happiness  to  your  people  instead  of  sorrow  and 
trouble. 

Our  Great  Brother,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  desires  that  the 
chiefs  of  Texas  and  the  chiefs  of  the  red  men  should  make  peace,  and  bury 
the  tomahawk  forever.  I  will  send  a  councilor  to  the  Grand  Council  of  the 
Cherokees ;  and  (if  you  send  chiefs  there)  he  will  make  a  treaty  that  will 
take  out  of  our  path  the  stain  of  blood  and  make  it  white,  that  we  can  walk 
in  it  and  live  as  brothers,  and  he  will  appoint  a  great  council  in  Texas. 
Our  Great  Brother  will  look  upon  us  with  pleasure,  and  the  Great  Spirit 
will  give  light  to  the  path  in  which  we  Walk,  and  our  children  will  follow 
our  counsel  and  walk  in  the  path  which  we  have  made  smooth. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TO  THE  LIPANS,  IN  MEMORY  OF  FLACO,  THEIR  CHIEF. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,     ) 
WASHINGTON,  March  28,  1843.  f 
To  THE  MEMORY  OF  GEN.  FLACO,  CHIEF  OF  LIPANS  : 

MY  BROTHER  : — My  heart  is  sad  !    A  dark  cloud  rests  upon  your  nation. 
Grief  has  sounded  in  your  camp.     The  voice  of  Flaco  is  silent.     His  words 


340  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

are  not  heard  in  council.  The  chief  is  no  more.  His  life  has  fled  to  the 
Great  Spirit.  His  eyes  are  closed.  His  heart  no  longer  leaps  at  the  sight 
of  the  buffalo.  The  voices  of  your  camp  are  no  longer  heard  to  cry  :  "  Flaco  ; 
has  returned  from  the  chase  ! "  Your  chiefs  look  down  on  the  earth  and 
groan  in  trouble.  Your  warriors  weep.  The  loud  voices  of  grief  are  heard 
from  your  women  and  children.  The  song  of  birds  is  silent.  The  ears  of 
your  people  hear  no  pleasant  sound.  Sorrow  whispers  in  the  winds.  The 
noise  of  the  tempest  passes.  It  is  not  heard.  Your  hearts  are  heavy. 

The  name  of  Flaco  brought  joy  to  all  hearts.  Joy  was  on  every  face. 
Your  people  were  happy.  Flaco  is  no  longer  seen  in  the  fight.  His  voice 
is  no  longer  heard  in  battle.  The  enemy  no  longer  make  a  path  for  his 
glory.  His  valor  is  no  longer  a  guard  for  your  people.  The  right  of  your 
nation  is  broken.  Flaco  was  a  friend  to  his  white  brothers.  They  will  not 
forget  him.  They  will  remember  the  red  warrior.  His  father  will  not  be  for- 
gotten. We  will  be  kind  to  the  Lipans.  Grass  shall  not  grow  in  the  path 
between  us.  Let  your  wise  men  give  the  counsel  of  peace.  Let  your  young 
men  walk  in  the  white  path.  The  gray-headed  men  of  your  nation  will 
teach  wisdom.  I  will  hold  my  red  brothers  by  the  hand. 

Thy  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


LETTER  TO  A-CAH-QUASH,  CHIEF,  ETC. 

WASHINGTON,  TEXAS,  April  19,  1843 
To  A-CAH-QUASH,  CHIEF  OF  WACOES,  ETC.  : 

BROTHER  *— It  has  been  represented  to  me  to-day  that  upwards  of  two 
hundred  horses  have  been  taken  from  the  Lipans  and  Toncahuas  by  some 
of  the  wild  Indians,  said  to  be  a  party  of  Wacoes.  They  are  supposed  to  be 
the  thirty  out  at  the  time  my  brother  was  here,  and  who  did  not  know  of 
the  treaty. 

As  these  horses  were  stolen  after  my  brother  had  signed  the  treaty  of 
peace,  it  is  expected  that  he  will  see  them  returned  to  the  Delaware  trad- 
ing-house, so  that  the  Lipans  and  Toncahuas  may  get  them.  On  account 
of  the  peace  the  agent  prevented  the  warriors  of  the  Lipans  and  Toncahuas 
from  pursuing  and  retaking  their  horses,  and  referred  the  matter  to  me  to 
say  what  should  be  done.  I  have  told  them  that  you  would  have  them 
returned,  for  I  had  all  confidence  in  your  words.  By  returning  the  horses 
it  will  help  to  make  peace  with  all  the  red  brothers,  and  the  Toncahuas  will 
not  wish  to  fight  or  ever  again  eat  people  ;  and  the  Lipans  will  be  at  peace 
forever  with  the  Wacoes  and  their  friends.  The  Lipans  and  Toncahuas 
say  if  they  do  not  get  their  horses,  that  they  will  make  war  until  they  get 
pay  for  them.  This  my  brother,  the  Waco  chief,  knows.  I  do  not  like  my 
red  brothers  to  have  war.  Let  all  my  red  brothers  make  peace,  and  keep  it. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


Appeal  to  the  Fierce  Comanches.  341 


TALK  TO   PAH-HAH-YOU-CO. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

WASHINGTON,  May  4,  1843. 
To  PAH-HAH-YOU-CO,  COMANCHE  CHIEF,  ETC.  : 

MY  BROTHER  : — Our  fires  have  burned  far  from  each  other.  Your  talk 
has  reached  me  by  our  Delaware  friend,  Jim  Shaw.  My  ears  were  opened 
to  your  words — they  were  words  of  peace.  I  have  laid  them  up  in  my  heart. 
I  send  you  my  words  by  the  same  friend.  With  him  I  send  two  of  my 
young  chiefs.  The  first  is  a  war-chief.  They  have  eaten  bread  with  me. 
They  have  sat  by  my  side.  They  have  learned  to  love  the  red  brothers. 
I  send  them  that  they  may  tell  you  many  things.  They  know  the  counsel 
of  peace  which  I  have  always  given.  They  will  speak  to  you  words  of  truth 
only. 

Chiefs  who  wish  to  be  friendly  should  talk  to  each  other.  They  should 
know  the  thoughts  of  each  other,  and  love  peace.  Peace  will  make  the  red 
and  the  white  men  happy.  If  we  have  war  our  men  must  perish  in  battle. 
They  will  not  return  to  our  feasts,  nor  will  they  again  sit  by  the  council-fire. 
Peace  will  save  our  warriors  from  death.  They  can  then  kill  the  buffalo, 
and  their  women  and  children  have  nothing  to  fear. 

Your  people  can  come  to  our  trading-houses.  Such  things  as  your  peo- 
ple need,  our  traders  will  have  to  sell  to  them.  You  will  not  have  to  go  to 
a  great  distance,  but  in  the  midst  of  your  hunting-grounds  you  can  find 
goods  ;  and  the  journeys  which  you  make  will  be  in  a  land  where  you  have 
buffalo  and  water.  The  warmth  of  the  south  will  give  you  grass  in  winter, 
and  you  will  no  longer  have  to  travel  to  the  snows  of  the  north  to  get  your 
goods.  They  will  buy  your  horses  and  your  mules,  your  silver  and  your 
gold,  and  all  that  you  have  to  sell.  When  you  make  peace  with  us,  and  we 
know  that  you  are  our  friends  and  there  is  no  more  war  upon  our  borders, 
we  will  sell  you  powder  and  lead,  tomahawks,  spears,  guns,  and  knives,  so 
that  you  can  kill  buffalo  enough  for  your  women  and  children.  Friends 
sell  these  things  to  each  other,  and  we  can  not  let  you  have  them  till  there 
is  peace ;  and  when  the  path  between  us  has  become  smooth  and  all 
trouble  is  removed  out  of  it,  we  will  know  that  you  are  our  friends  and  not 
our  enemies.  When  you  make  peace  you  can  come  to  see  me,  and  none 
will  do  you  hurt.  Comanche  chiefs  and  other  red  brothers  came  to  me 
and  made  peace,  and  they  returned  to  their  people  without  harm.  Troubles 
again  grew  up  between  our  people.  Prisoners  were  taken  from  each  other. 
Bad  traders  went  amongst  you  and  hurt  many  of  your  people.  At  a  coun- 
cil in  San  Antonio  your  chiefs  were  slain.  This  brought  great  sorrow  upon 
your  nation.  The  man  who  counseled  to  do  this  bad  thing  is  no  longer  a 
chief  in  Texas.  His  voice  is  not  heard  among  the  people. 

We  must  forget  these  sorrows.  Our  people  have  bled,  and  your  people 
have  done  us  much  harm.  You  must  do  so  no  more  ;  you  have  our  people 
prisoners,  and  your  people  are  amongst  us,  prisoners  likewise. 

When  you  and  your  chiefs  come  to  the  council  at  Bird's  Fort  on  the 
Trinity,  at  the  full  moon  in  August,  and  make  peace,  you  must  bring  all 
our  prisoners,  and  we  will  give  you  your  prisoners  in  return.  We  have  not 


342  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

sold  your  prisoners,  nor  have  we  treated  them  unkindly.  We  have  looked 
upon  them  as  our  children,  and  they  have  not  been  hungry  amongst  us.  I 
send  you  two  prisoners,  that  you  may  see  them,  and  know  that  they  have 
been  well  treated.  You  must  bring  all  our  prisoners  to  the  council ;  and 
when  peace  has  been  made,  and  we  have  become  friends  forever,  we  will 
give  you  all  your  prisoners.  When  you  look  upon  them  you  will  see  that 
the  white  people  have  been  kind  to  their  red  prisoners  ;  and  when  peace  is 
made  no  more  prisoners  will  be  taken,  but  the  path  between  us  will  remain 
open,  and  when  we  meet  our  red  brothers,  the  Comanches,  we  will  take 
them  by  the  hand  as  friends — we  will  sit  by  the  same  fire,  and  the  pipe  of 
peace  which  I  send  you  by  Jim  Shaw,  shall  be  smoked.  It  has  been 
smoked  in  the  council  of  friends,  and  the  smoke  which  rose  from  it  showed 
that  the  red  and  white  man  sat  together  in  peace — that  they  had  made  a 
smooth  path  between  their  fires,  and  had  taken  away  the  clouds  of  trouble 
from  their  nations. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TALK  TO  VARIOUS   BORDER  TRIBES   OF   INDIANS. 

To  THE  HEAD  CHIEFS  OF  THE  WICHETAWS,  IOMIES,  IOW-A-ASHES,  TAH- 
WACKANIES,  CADDOES,  COMANCHES,  AND  OTHER  TRIBES  : 

MY  BROTHERS  : — I  send  this  talk  to  you  by  the  Chief  Counselor  of  my 
warriors.  The,  words  I  shall  speak  to  you  are  the  words  of  a  brother,  who 
has  never  told  his  red  brother  what  was  not  true. 

Those  that  I  send  to  you  have  sat  by  my  side  and  eaten  bread  with  me. 
They  have  learned  to  love  the  red  brothers.  They  know  the  counsels  of 
peace  which  I  have  always  given.  They  will  tell  you  of  many  things  which 
it  will  be  good  to  hear.  They  will  speak  the  words  of  truth  only. 

Chiefs  who  wish  to  be  friendly  should  talk  to  each  other.  They  should 
know  each  other's  thoughts  and  have  peace.  Peace  will  make  the  red  and 
white  men  happy. 

If  we  have  war,  our  men  must  perish  in  battle.  They  will  not  return  to 
our  feasts,  nor  sit  by  our  council  fires.  Peace  will  save  our  warriors  from 
death  and  our  women  and  children  from  trouble.  Then  the  buffalo  can  be 
killed  and  the  wigwams  filled  with  plenty.  Hunger  and  distress  will  be 
far  away. 

When  peace  is  made  firm  between  us,  trading-houses  will  be  established 
and  all  things  that  your  people  need,  our  traders  will  have  to  sell  to  them. 
You  will  not  have  to  go  to  a  great  distance,  but  in  the  midst  of  your  hunt- 
ing-grounds you  can  find  land  where  you  will  find  buffalo  and  water.  The 
warm  sun  of  the  South  will  give  you  grass  in  winter,  and  no  longer  will  you 
have  to  travel  to  the  snows  of  the  North  to  get  your  goods.  You  can  sell 
your  horses  and  your  mules — your  silver  and  your  gold,  and  all  you  have  to 
dispose  of,  to  our  traders.  When  peace  is  made  firm  between  us,  and  we 
know  that  you  are  our  friends,  and  there  is  no  more  war  upon  our  borders, 
we  will  sell  you  powder  and  lead,  tomahawks,  spears,  guns,  and  knives,  so 
that  you  can  kill  your  game  without  trouble.  Friends  only  sell  these  things 
to  each  other ;  and  we  can  not  let  you  have  them  until  we  have  made  a 


Houston  the  Indian's  Brother  always  True.       343 

firm  and  lasting  peace.  When  the  path  between  us  is  smooth  and  white, 
and  all  trouble  removed  from  our  footsteps,  we  shall  then  know  that  you 
are  our  friends  and  not  our  enemies.  When  the  Great  Spirit  smiles,  clouds 
and  darkness  are  taken  away  from  our  path.  When  He  frowns,  war  and 
death  and  trouble  come  upon  us.  Let  us  listen  to  the  counsels  of  the  old 
men.  Let  us  live  like  brothers  and  be  happy. 

When  the  pipe  of  peace  is  smoked,  you  may  come  to  see  me,  and  none 
will  do  you  harm.  The  white  and  the  red  men  will  meet  as  brothers.  The 
Comanches  once  made  peace  with  me  at  Houston. 

We  smoked  together,  and  they  returned  safely  to  their  people.  But  a 
bad  chief  came  in  my  place,  and  bad  traders  went  among  them  and  carried 
trouble  with  them.  At  a  council  in  San  Antonio  many  Comanche  chiefs 
were  killed  by  bad  men.  I  was  then  far  away,  and  did  not  hear  of  it  till  it 
was  over.  I  was  filled  with  sorrow.  My  heart  was  sad.  The  man  who 
counseled  to  do  this  bad  thing  is  no  longer  a  chief  in  Texas.  His  voice  is 
no  longer  heard  among  the  people,  and  he  has  no  more  power  to  harm  the 
red  men. 

These  things  shall  no  more  take  place.  We  must  forget  our  sorrows,  and 
walk  together  like  brothers  in  the  path  of  peace. 

Our  people  have  suffered,  and  we  have  done  each  other  much  harm.  War 
has  been  among  us ;  and  the  white  and  the  red  warrior  have  been  killed 
We  have  prisoners  and  your  people  have  prisoners  of  ours.  When  we  meet 
in  council  they  shall  be  exchanged.  The  white  and  red  prisoners  shall  all 
return  to  their  homes,  and  we  will  take  prisoners  no  more.  When  you  see 
the  red  prisoners  they  will  tell  you  that  they  have  been  well  treated.  They 
have  not  been  hurt ;  and  when  our  prisoners  are  brought  to  the  council 
you  will  find  yours  there  also. 

I  send  my  war  counselor  to  invite  the  chiefs  of  our  red  brothers  in  Texas 
and  on  the  borders,  to  meet  in  council  at  Bird's  Fort  on  the  Trinity,  at  the 
full  moon  in  August.  The  chiefs  of  the  white  and  red  men  will  there  sit 
around  the  same  fire  and  smoke  the  pipe  of  peace.  Many  of  our  Delaware, 
Shawnee,  Waco,  Caddo,  other  friends  and  brothers  will  be  there.  They 
have  made  peace,  and  will  speak  for  us. 

Our  great  brother,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  is  anxious  to  see 
peace  established  between  Texas  and  all  the  red  people.  The  chiefs  he 
sends  to  you  will  say  so. 

A  talk  like  this  has  been  sent  to  the  Comanches  by  our  Delaware  broth- 
ers, and  white  chiefs,  who  will  see  them,  and  invite  them  to  the  council. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 

WASHINGTON,  May  30, 1843. 


LETTER  TO   A-CAH-QUASH. 

TRINITY  RIVER,  September  13,  1843. 
To  A-CAH-QU.ASH,  WACO  CHIEF: 

MY  BROTHER  :— I  send  you  my  friend  to  shake  you  by  the  hand,  and  tell 
you  that  my  heart  is  still  warm  toward  you.     Col.  Eldredge  has  told  me  all 


344  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

your  good  actions,  and  they  are  many.  Your  actions  are  like  the  sun — 
they  do  not  change.  My  heart  is  glad,  and  I  hope  your  path  will  be  sun- 
shine. 

I  hope  to  see  you,  with  Luis  Sanchez,  soon.    Col.  Eldredge  will  see  that 
you  come  in  peace  and  are  happy. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TALK  TO   PAH-HAH-YUCO. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,       » 
WASHINGTON,  December  14,  1843.  ' 
To  PAH-HAH-YUCO,  CHIEF  OF  COMANCHES  : 

MY  BROTHER  : — Your  talk  has  reached  me  through  the  young  chiefs  that 
I  sent  to  see  you  and  talk  to  you  about  peace.  My  ears  were  opened  and 
my  heart  was  very  glad.  Your  words  are  laid  up  in  my  remembrance. 
I  was  happy  to  hear  that  the  little  prisoners  I  sent  you  arrived  safely,  and 
were  restored  to  their  family  and  friends.  We  have  several  more  which  we 
wish  to  send  home. 

My  young  chiefs  were  well  treated  and  protected  from  harm.  This  was 
right :  it  was  the  conduct  of  a  good  friend.  Our  fires  now  burn  far  from 
each  other  ;  but  I  hope  to  shake  you  by  the  hand  and  thank  you  for  all  this. 
We  are  all  brothers  ;  the  same  blood  flows  in  our  veins.  Let  us  all,  then, 
be  friends.  Let  us  meet  and  shake  hands  in  the  prairies,  at  the  council, 
and  at  the  trading-houses.  Chiefs  should  love  peace,  for  war  brings  death 
and  distress  upon  the  people.  The  warrior  is  no  more  seen  around  the 
council-fire,  and  the  women  and  children  weep  in  sorrow.  Peace  will  make 
all  happy  ;  and  plenty  will  fill  the  tent  of  every  family.  The  buffalo  can  be 
hunted  without  fear,  and  the  hunter  return  to  his  home  laden  with  the 
fruits  of  the  chase.  Peace  will  enable  our  traders  to  sell  you  whatever  you 
want  and  buy  whatever  you  have  to  sell.  In  the  midst  of  your  hunting- 
grounds  you  can  find  goods  :  and  you  will  not  have  to  go  so  far  as  hereto- 
fore for  what  you  buy,  or  to  dispose  of  what  you  have  to  sell.  At  a  con- 
venient distance  you  can  find  traders  who  will  purchase  your  mules  and 
your  horses,  your  silver  and  your  gold,  your  skins,  and  all  things  else  you 
have  to  sell.  When  we  know  you  are  our  friends,  and  a  permanent  treaty  is 
made,  we  will  sell  your  people  powder,  lead,  tomahawks,  guns,  spears,  and 
knives,  so  that  they  may  hunt  and  kill  game  and  live  happily.  Friends  only 
sell  these  things  to  each  other.  When  the  path  between  us  is  made 
smooth,  and  all  harm  to  each  other  moved  far  away,  then  we  shall  know 
each  other  to  be  friends  and  not  enemies.  When  peace  is  made  you  may 
come  to  me,  and  no  one  shall  harm  you.  Others  of  my  red  brothers  have 
come  to  see  me  and  shake  me  by  the  hand,  and  have  returned  safely.  The 
Comanche  chiefs  came  and  made  a  treaty  with  me  at  Houston  and  received 
presents,  and  returned  to  their  people  without  harm.  Bad  men  went 
amongst  you,  and  brought  upon  the  white  and  the  red  men  great  trouble. 
But  they  are  no  longer  heard  in  our  councils.  They  have  no  more  any 
power  to  do  harm.  The  people  have  put  them  aside.  They  were  bad  men. 


The  Great  Brother  of  the  IT.  S.  with  Houston.     345 

and  killed  the  Comanche  chiefs  who  came  to  San  Antonio  to  make  peace. 
They  are  now  gone,  and  can  not  do  your  people  any  more  injury.  We  must 
now  forget  past  sorrows,  and  embrace  each  other  as  friends  and  brothers. 
I  have  always  been  the  friend  of  the  red  man.  The  Delawares,  Cherokees, 
and  Shawnees  will  tell  you  this. 

I  saw  the  treaty  which  Pah-hah-yuco  made  with  my  young  chief,  to  do 
no  more  harm  till  the  council.  This  was  very  good,  and  my  heart  was  glad. 
It  shewed  that  you  would  be  a  friend  to  the  whites  and  our  brother.  The 
council  at  Bird's  Fort  and  the  great  rains  and  high  waters,  have  prevented 
my  young  chiefs  from  meeting  you  in  council ;  and  I  send  my  chiefs,  who 
will  give  you  this,  to  tell  you  the  reason,  and  to  request  you  and  all  your 
chiefs  to  attend  a  council  to  be  held  on  or  near  Tahwoccany  Creek,  about 
the  full  moon  in  April  next.  My  Great  Brother,  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  has  been  invited  to  send  some  of  his  chiefs  to  the  council,  and  see 
the  people  of  Texas  make  peace  with  their  red  brothers.  My  Great  Brother 
is  anxious  for  peace,  and  will  see  that  both  the  white  and  red  men  do  right, 
and  injure  each  other  no  more. 

I  hope  my  good  friend  Pah-hah-yuco  and  the  chiefs  of  the  several  bands 
of  the  Comanches  and  Kiaways,  will  be  present  a*  the  council  on  Tahwoc- 
cany Creek  at  the  time  appointed.  I  hope,  also,  that  they  will  send  runners 
and  invite  each  other  to  the  council,  that  all  may  be  there  to  make  peace, 
that  there  may  be  no  more  war  and  distress  between  the  white  and  red 
man,  and  that  the  traders  may  furnish  all  the  several  bands  with  goods. 
The  prisoners  we  have  of  your  people  will  be  at  the  council,  and  when  our 
people  among  you  are  given  up,  they  will  all  be  restored  to  their  kindred 
and  friends,  and  be  happy.  The  little  prisoners  I  sent  you  are  pledges  of 
my  sincerity.  I  never  told  a  red  brother  a  lie.  Bring  all  our  prisoners,  and 
all  yours  shall  be  given  up  as  soon  as  a  peace  is  made.  When  you  see  them 
you  will  say  that  they  have  been  well  treated.  They  have  not  been  hurt.  The 
white  people  have  been  kind  to  the  red  prisoners.  When  peace  is  made  no 
more  prisoners  shall  be  taken.  The  white  and  the  red  man  will  meet  and 
shake  hands,  and  sit  around  the  same  fire  and  smoke  the  pipe  as  friends 
and  brothers.  There  will  be  none  to  make  them  afraid. 

Come  with  your  chiefs  to  the  council ;  and  those  I  send  to  speak  to  you 
will  be  your  friends,  and  will  speak  nothing  but  truth  and  peace. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


LETTER  TO  A-CAH-QUASH. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT 
WASHINGTON,  December  14,  1843. 

TO  A-CAH-QUASH,  CHIEF  OF  WACOES,  ETC.  I 

MY  BROTHER  : — I  have  heard  of  you  in  the  prairies.  I  was  rejoiced. 
My  friends  told  me  that  you  yet  walked  in  the  white  path.  Your 
words  came  to  me  by  the  lean  captain  [Gen.  Geo.  W.  Terrell].  My  heart  is 
warm  toward  my  friends.  I  will  never  forget  that  you  were  amongst  the 
first  to  walk  in  the  path  between  the  red  and  the  white  man.  To  let  you 


346  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

know  that  you  are  not  forgotten,  and  that  I  hold  the  friendly  chief  of  the 
red  men  near  my  heart,  I  send  you  presents.  Our  nation  is  yet  young,  but 
will  make  us  rich,  and  then  I  will  send  many  presents  to  our  red  brothers. 
At  the  council  at  Xahwoccany  Creek  in  April  next,  I  wHl  send  you  a  new 
pipe  that  I  have  had  made  at  a  great  distance  from  here.  It  will  be  a  pipe 
of  peace.  You  will  smoke  it  with  our  red  friends  at  the  council ;  and  if  I 
can  not  be  there  to  meet  you,  you  must  come  to  see  me,  and  we  will  smoke 
at  my  own  fire-side.  I  will  look  for  the  great  chiefs  of  the  different  bands. 
If  they  come  to  see  me  they  shall  not  go  away  hungry. 

I  will  expect  you  to  go  and  stay  with  my  friends  till  they  go  to  the 
Comanches,  and  stay  with  them  till  the  council. 

I  hope  the  Great  Spirit  will  smile  upon  you  and  preserve  you,  and  give 
many  blessings  to  my  red  brothers. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TALK  TO   KECHI  CHIEF. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,     \ 
WASHINGTON,  December  21,  1843.  \ 
To  SAH-HAD-DUCK,  CHIEF  OF  THE  KECHIES  : 

MY  BROTHER  : — My  ears  are  always  open  to  the  voices  of  my  red  broth- 
ers. When  they  speak  I  hear  them.  You  have  brought  a  talk  from  the 
Comanches.  I  am  ready  to  hear  it.  I  will  send  by  you  a  talk  back  to  them. 
It  shall  be  a  talk  of  peace. 

If  you  wish  to  come  and  see  me  and  the  chiefs  of  this  nation  in  council, 
they  are  here.  The  white  chief  who  takes  you  this  talk  will  show  you  and 
your  friends  the  way  to  my  house,  or  he  will  send  a  friend  that  will  bring 
you  in  a  safe  path.  A-cah-quash  and  other  chiefs  have  been  here  with  us. 
They  know  that  we  are  kind  to  our  red  brothers.  When  you  come  to  see 
us  you  will  find  our  hearts  open.  We  do  not  shut  our  doors  against  our 
friends.  Blood  has  been  taken  out  of  our  path  ;  and  when  you  come  to  see 
me,  you  will  find  the  path  white.  The  feet  of  all  good  men  go  in  a  straight 
path. 

When  you  shall  have  come  to  see  me,  I  will  send  men  with  you  who  will 
see  you  safe  back  to  your  hunting-grounds,  with  talks  of  friendship  to  the 
Comanches  and  all  our  red  brothers.  If  the  red  brothers  should  wish  to 
come  down  with  you  to  see  me,  you  may  tell  them  to  bring  their  peltries 
and  trade,  if  they  wish  to  do  so. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


TALK  TO  SAH-SAH-RO-KE,  KECHI  CHIEF. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,     i 
WASHINGTON,  January  31,  1844.  J" 

MY  BROTHER  : — You  started  to  hunt  the  white  path  of  peace — you  found 
and  walked  in  it  amongst  white  people,  until  you  came  to  my  house.  You 
found  the  talk  which  I  sent  you  true.  You  saw  the  great  council  of  your 


Peace  Letters  to  Indian  Chiefs.  34? 

white  brothers,  and  you  know  they  intend  to  have  peace.  As  the  chief  of 
all  this  nation,  I  wish  to  make  peace  with  all  the  red  brothers.  I  have 
spoken  to  you,  and  you  know  what  my  words  are.  The  talk  which  you 
brought  from  the  Comanches  and  other  red  people  is  good.  My  ears  were 
open  to  hear  it,  and  my  heart  rejoiced  that  there  was  to  be  no  more  blood 
in  the  path  between  us.  You  will  now  turn  your  face  to  the  Comanches 
and  Kiaways  and  to  all  the  red  people.  You  will  take  the  words  of  the 
chief  of  Texas  with  you.  Their  ears  will  be  open,  and  they  will  listen  to 
what  you  have  to  say  to  them. 

You  will  tell  them  what  I  have  said  about  peace  and  the  words  which  I 
have  spoken  about  prisoners.  If  ours  are  brought,  they  shall  have  all  theirs. 
In  about  two  and  a  half  moons  I  wish  the  Comanches  to  meet  us  in  council 
at  Tahwoccany  Creek.  I  will  expect  all  the  Comanche  chiefs  to  be  there^ 
that  the  tomahawks  may  be  buried,  and  that  no  more  blood  may  be  shed,  or 
mischief  done  till  the  grass  ceases  to  grow  and  the  water  to  run.  Their 
prisoners  will  all  be  there  to  go  home  with  their  people,  and  ours  must  be 
there  also.  Before  then  I  will  try  and  send  traders  up  to  the  Kechi  village- 
At  the  treaty -ground  there  will  be  corn,  tobacco,  and  some  lead  to  give  to 
those  who  are  friendly  and  make  peace — for  we  will  never  give  these  things 
to  those  who  are  our  enemies. 

You  can  say  to  those  tribes  which  make  corn,  that  they  may  settle  down 
in  their  villages,  and  that  I  will  send  them  hoes  and  axes,  and  when  we  get 
the  trading-houses  built,  that  I  will  send  them  many  other  presents.  This 
will  not  be  done  to  buy  peace,  but  to  help  our  friends  to  make  corn  and 
other  things  for  their  women  and  children  to  eat. 

I  want  you  to  take  this  talk  in  a  hurry,  that  the  Comanches,  Kiaways, 
and  other  red  brothers  may  come  to  the  council  at  the  time  spoken  of. 
After  the  treaty  is  made  an  agent  will  stay  at  the  trading-house  near  the 
treaty-ground.  The  agent  will  send  me  your  talk  in  writing,  and  if  any 
mischief  is  done  to  your  people,  you  will  not  get  mad  till  you  hear  from  me, 
and  I  will  have  the  men  punished  that  did  wrong.  If  the  young  men  of 
your  nations  do  bad,  or  say  that  they  will  not  walk  in  your  counsel,  you 
must  punish  them,  or  it  will  bring  trouble  upon  your  women  and  children. 
You  have  seen  me  and  talked  with  me  and  heard  my  words.  You  know  I 
will  not  lie— and  therefore  keep  them  in  your  heart. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


LETTER  TO   WACO   CHIEF,  ACAH-QUASH. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  May  2,  1844. 
To  ACAH-QUASH  : 

MY  BROTHER  :— I  was  happy  to  hear  from  you.  My  heart  swelled  with 
pleasure.  1  remembered  that  we  were  friends,  and  that  the  path  between 
us  was  white.  I  was  sorry  that  the  Comanches  did  not  come  down  to  the 
treaty,  but  I  expect  them  when  the  leaves  turn  yellow.  In  four  moons  I 
will  expect  some  chiefs  ;  when  green  corn  is  to  be  eaten. 

If  you  can  come  down  with  the  Commissioners,  I  will  wish  you  to  do  so, 


348  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

and  bring  Jose  Maria  with  you.  Lately  I  have  heard  that  bad  men  have 
been  down  from  some  of  the  tribes  of  our  brothers.  They  stole  horses,  and 
two  of  them  were  killed.  Some  of  the  horses  were  taken  by  the  whites, 
and  the  others  they  ran  off  with.  These  I  want  you  to  have  given  up,  that 
there  may  be  no  trouble.  The  men  killed  were  supposed  to  be  Wacoes. 
It  was  wrong  for  them  to  come  down  into  the  settlements  until  a  treaty 
was  made  with  all  our  red  brothers,  and  without  a  paper  from  the  agent, 
Mr.  Sloat.  When  my  red  brothers  wish  to  come  into  the  settlements  to 
hunt  or  see  me,  they  will  call  upon  him  or  Major  Western,  if  he  is  at  the 
trading-house  ;  and  if  it  is  proper,  either  of  them  will  give  a  paper  showing 
that  it  is  a  visit  of  friendship,  and  not  to  steal  horses  or  to  do  any  mischief. 
Then  our  people  will  be  glad  to  see  them. 

When  you  come  down  to  see  me,  we  will  send  away  all  trouble,  and  if  the 
whites  have  done  wrong  they  shall  be  punished,  as  bad  men  should  be. 
You  will  embrace  your  red  brothers  for  me.  When  you  come  to  see  me, 
my  heart  will  be  open  to  receive  you  and  Jose  Maria. 

Your  brother,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


PART    III. 

LETTERS  AND   DOCUMENTS. 


LETTER  TO  SANTA  ANNA. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT, 
CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  March  21,  1842.  . 

MOST  EXCELLENT  SIR  : — Your  communications  to  Mr.  Bee  and  General 
Hamilton,  dated  at  the  Palace  of  the  Government  of  Mexico,  have  been 
recently  presented  to  my  notice.  At  the  first  convenient  leisure,  I  have  not 
failed  to  appropriate  my  attention  to  the  subjects  embraced  within  the 
scope  of  your  remarks. 

They  would  have  met  a  more  ready  attention  had  it  not  been  for  a  ma- 
rtiuding  incursion  made  by  a  Mexican  force  on  the  defenseless  town  of  San  An- 
tonio, on  the  inhabited  frontier  of  Texas.  Apprehending  that  the  force  had 
some  other  character  more  important  than  that  of  bandits  and  plunderers, 
commanded  as  it  was  by  regular  officers,  it  pro'duced  a  momentary  excite- 
ment,  and  claimed  the  attention  of  the  Executive.  But,  as  the  bandits  have 
withdrawn,  characterizing  their  retreat  by  pillage  and  plunder,  as  has  been 
usual  with  Mexicans,  I  am  left  at  leisure  to  resume  in  tranquillity  the  duties 
of  my  station. 

In  reference  to  your  correspondence  with  Mr.  Bee  and  General  Hamilton, 
I  have  no  remark  to  offer  in  relation  to  the  communications  which  those 
gentlemen  assumed  the  individual  responsibility  of  making  to  you.  The  very 
nature  of  the  correspondence  manifests  the  fact  that  it  was  not  done  under 
the  sanction  of  this  Government,  but  rests  solely  upon  their  action  as  indi- 
viduals. '  Had  your  response  regarded  them  in  the  light  in  which  they  were 
presented  to  you,  it  would  have  superseded  the  necessity  of  any  notice  from 
me.  But  as  you  have  thought  proper  to  laud  my  conduct  as  an  individual, 
and  refer  to  transactions  connected  with  this  country,  with  which  I  had 
official  identity,  and  which  I  also  at  this  time  possess,  and  as  you  have  taken 
the  liberty,  to  an  unwarrantable  extent,  to  animadvert  upon  circumstances 
connected  with  Texas  as  a  nation,  I  feel  myself  compelled  by  a  sense  of 
duty  to  refute  a  portion  of  the  calumnies  which  you  have  presented  to  the 
world  under  the  sanction  of  your  official  averment. 

You  appear  to  have  seized  upon  the  flimsy  pretext  of  confidential  com- 
munications unknown  to  the  officers  of  this  Government,  and  unknown  to 
the  world  until  divulged  by  you,  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  a  capital 

(349) 


350  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

of  popularity  at  home,  and  which  you  have  submitted  to  the  world  as  a 
manifesto  in  behalf  of  what  you  are  pleased  to  term  the  rights  of  a  great 
nation,  "  by  so  many  titles  respectable. " 

Whatever  opinions  you  may  have  entertained  in  relation  to  the  difficulties 
existing  between  Mexico  and  Texas  can  not  materially  vary  the  facts  and 
principles  involved,  nor  will  they  materially  influence  the  decision  of  man- 
kind upon  the  justice  of  oar  cause. 

Decency  and  self-respect,  at  least,  should  have  induced,  on  your  part,  the 
pursuit  of  a  course  differejit  from  that  which  you  have  adopted.  The  abuse 
and  ribald  epithets  which  you  have  applied  to  the  citizens  ol  this  country, 
as  well  as  those  of  the  Mississippi  valley  of  the  United  States,  are  doubtless 
characteristic  of  the  individual  who  gave  them  utterance.  So  far  as  the 
people  of  this  country  are  concerned,  I  shall  refer  mankind  to  a  history  of 
facts  and  circumstances  connected  with  the  settlement  of  the  country.  I 
shall  pass  by  with  slight  notice  your  remarks  relative  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  So  far  as  our  origin  is  connected  with  them,  and  the  unity 
of  sympathy  exists,  we  are  proud  to  hail  them  as  our  kindred — kindred  in 
blood,  kindred  in  laws,  kindred  in  all  the  ennobling  attributes  of  humanity. 
They  will  hear  your  taunts  of  defiance  with  the  same  contempt  and  derision 
that  Texans  regard  your  silly  gasconade.  If  they  have  heretofore  sympa- 
thized with  us  in  our  struggle  for  liberty  and  independence,  it  was  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  we  had  been  deceived  and  oppressed  by  Mexico, 
and  that  the  cause  in  which  we  were  engaged  was  that  of  humanity  strug- 
gling against  usurpation  and  despotism. 

The  people  of  Texas  were  invited  to  migrate  to  this  country  for  the  put- 
pose  of  enjoying  equal  rights  and  constitutional  liberty.  They  were  prom- 
ised the  shield  of  the  Constitution  of  1824,  adopted  by  Mexico.  Confiding 
in  this  pledge,  they  removed  to  the  country  to  encounter  all  the  privations 
of  a  wilderness,  under  the  alluring  promises  of  free  institutions.  Other 
reasons  operated  also.  Citizens  of  the  United  States  had  engaged  in  the 
revolution  of  Mexico,  in  1812.  They  fought  gallantly  in  the  achievement 
of  Mexicon  independence,  and  many  of  them  survive,  and  to  this  day  oc- 
cupy the  soil  which  their  privations  and  valor  assisted  in  achieving.  On 
their  removal  here,  they  brought  with  them  no  aspirations  or  projects  but 
such  as  were  loyal  to  the  Constitution  of  Mexico.  They  repelled  the  Indian 
savages ;  they  encountered  every  discomfort ;  they  subdued  the  wilderness, 
and  converted  into  cultivated  fields  the  idle  waste  of  this  now  prolific  ter- 
ritory. Their  courage  and  enterprise  achieved  that  which  the  imbecility  of 
your  countrymen  had  either  neglected,  or  left  for  centuries  unaccomplished. 
Their  situation,  however,  was  not  disregarded  by  Mexico,  though  she  did 
not,  as  might  have  been  expected,  extend  to  them  a  protecting  and  fostering 
care,  but  viewed  them  as  objects  of  cupidity,  rapacity,  and  at  last  jealousy. 

The  Texans,  enduring  the  annoyances  and  oppressions  inflicted  upon 
them,  remained  faithful  to  the  Constitution  of  Mexico.  In  1832,  when  an 
attempt  was  made  to  destroy  that  Constitution,  and  when  you,  sir,  threw 
yourself  forward  as  its  avowed  champion,  you  were  sustained  with  all  the 
fidelity  and  valor  that  freemen  could  contribute.  On  the  avowal  of  your 
principles,  and  in  accordance  with  them,  the  people  put  down  the  serviles  of 


Scathing  Rebuke  of  Santa  Anna.  351 

despotism  at  Anahuac,  Velasco,  and  Nacogdoches.  They  treated  the  cap- 
tives of  that  struggle  with  humanity,  and  sent  them  to  Mexico  subject  to 
your  orders.  They  regarded  you  as  the  friend  of  liberty  and  free  institu- 
tions ;  they  hailed  you  as  a  benefactor  of  mankind ;  your  name  and  your 
actions  were  lauded,  and  the  manifestations  you  had  given  in  behalf  of  the 
nation  were  themes  of  satisfaction  and  delight  to  the  Texan  patriots. 

You  can  well  imagine  the  transition  of  feeling  which  ensued  on  your  ac- 
cession to  power.  Your  subversion  of  the  Constitution  of  1824,  your  estab- 
lishment of  centralism,  your  conquest  of  Zacatecas,  characterized  by  every 
act  of  violence,  cruelty,  and  rapine,  inflicted  upon  us  the  profoundest  as- 
tonishment. We  realized  all  the  uncertainty  of  men  awakening  to  reality 
from  the  unconsciousness  of  delirium.  In  succession  came  your  orders  for 
the  Texans  to  surrender  their  private  arms.  The  mask  was  thrown  aside 
and  the  monster  of  despotism  displayed  in  all  the  habiliments  of  loathsome 
detestation.  Then  was  presented  to  Texans  the  alternative  of  tamely 
crouching  to  the  tyrant's  lash,  or  exalting  themselves  to  the  attributes  of 
freemen.  They  chose  the  latter.  To  chastise  them  for  their  presumption 
induced  your  advance  upon  Texas,  with  your  boasted  veteran  army,  muster- 
ing a  force  nearly  equal  to  the  whole  population  of  this  country  at  that  time. 
You  besieged  and  took  the  Alamo ;  but  under  what  circumstances  ?  Not 
those,  surely,  which  should  characterize  a  general  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
You  assailed  one  hundred  and  fifty  men,  destitute  of  every  supply  requisite 
for  the  defense  of  that  place.  Its  brave  defenders,  worn  by  vigilance  and 
duty  beyond  the  power  of  human  nature  to  sustain,  were  at  length  over- 
whelmed by  a  force  of  nine  thousand  men,  and  the  place  taken.  I  ask  you, 
sir,  what  scenes  followed  ?  Were  they  such  as  should  characterize  an  able 
general,  a  magnanimous  warrior,  and  the  President  of  a  great  nation  num- 
bering eight  millions  of  souls  ?  No.  Manliness  and  generosity  would  sicken 
at  the  recital  of  the  scenes  incident  to  your  success,  and  humanity  itself 
would  blush  to  class  you  among  the  chivalric  spirits  of  the  age  of  vandal- 
ism. This  you  have  been  pleased  to  class  in  the  "  succession  of  your  victo- 
ries ";  and  I  presume  you  would  next  include  the  massacre  at  Goliad. 

Your  triumph  there,  if  such  you  are  pleased  to  term  it,  was  not  the  triumph 
of  arms— it  was  the  success  of  perfidy.  Fannin  and  his  brave  companions 
had  beaten  back  and  defied  your  veteran  soldiers.  Although  outnumbered 
more  than  seven  to  one,  their  valiant,  hearty,  and  indomitable  courage,  with 
holy  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom,  foiled  every  effort  directed  by  your 
general  to  insure  his  success  by  arms.  He  had  recourse  to  a  flag  of  truce ; 
and  when  the  surrender  of  the  little  patriot  band  was  secured  by  the  most 
solemn  treaty  stipulations,  what  were  the  tragic  scenes  that  ensued  to  Mex- 
ican perfidy  ?  The  conditions  of  the  surrender  were  submitted  to  you  ;  and, 
though  you  have  denied  the  facts,  instead  of  restoring  them  to  liberty,  ac- 
cording to  the  capitulation,  you  ordered  them  to  be  executed  contrary  to 
every  pledge  given  them,  contrary  to  the  rules  of  war,  and  contrary  to  every 
principle  of  humanity.  Yet  at  this  day,  you  have  the  effrontery  to  animad- 
vert upon  the  conduct  of  Texans  relative  to  your  captivity  after  the  battle 
of  San  Jacinto. 

You  have  presumed  to  arraign  the  conduct  of  the  then  existing  Cabinet 


352  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

and  to  charge  it  with  bad  faith  ;  and  though  you  are  pleased  to  commend 
the  conduct  of  the  illustrious  Stephen  F.  Austin,  the  father  of  Texas,  and 
myself,  for  acts  of  generosity  exercised  toward  you,  you  take  much  care  to 
insinuate  that  we  only  were  capable  of  appreciating  your  proper  merits. 
That  you  may  no  longer  be  induced  to  misconstrue  acts  of  generosity  and 
appropriate  them  to  the  gratification  of  your  self-complacent  disposition,  I 
will  inform  you  that  they  were  acts  of  magnanimity  characteristic  of  the 
nation  to  which  we  belong.  They  had  nothing  to  do  with  your  merits  or 
demerits.  The  perfidy  and  cruelty  which  had  been  exercised  toward  our 
companions  in  arms  did  not  enter  into  our  calculation.  Your  sacrifice  would 
not  restore  to  our  gallant  companions  their  lives,  nor  to  our  country  their 
services.  Although  the  laws  of  war  would  have  justified  the  retaliation  of 
your  execution,  yet  it  would  have  characterized  the  acts  of  a  nation  by  pas- 
sion and  revenge ;  and  would  have  evinced  to  the  world  that  individuals 
who  had  an  influence  on  the  destinies  of  a  people  were  subject  to  the  capri- 
cious impulses  of  vengeance,  of  which  you  had  so  recently  set  an  example. 

So  far  as  I  was  concerned  in  preserving  your  life  and  subsequent  libera- 
tion, I  was  only  influenced  by  considerations  of  mercy,  humanity,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  national  character. 

Humanity  was  gratified  by  your  preservation.  The  magnanimous  of  all 
nations  would  have  justified  your  release,  had  they  known  how  little  its  in- 
fluence was  dreaded  by  the  Texans.  If,  upon  your  return  to  Mexico,  you 
should  have  power,  and  a  disposition  to  redeem  the  pledges  you  had  volun- 
tarily made  to  myself,  as  well  as  this  Government,  of  an  earnest  disposition 
to  see  the  independence  of  Texas  recognized  by  Mexico,  I  believed  it  would 
have  a  tendency  to  restore  peace  to  the  two  nations,  diminish  the  aggregate 
sufferings  of  their  citizens,  and  promote  the  prosperity  of  both  countries. 
In  the  event  that  you  were  not  disposed  to  redeem  the  pledges  thus  given, 
but  urge  a  prosecution  of  the  war  by  Mexico  against  us,  I  wished  to  evince 
to  mankind  that  Texans  had  magnanimity,  resources,  and  confidence  suffi- 
cient to  sustain  them  against  all  your  influence  in  favor  of  their  subjugation. 

Your  liberation  was  induced  by  such  principles  as  these;  and  though  you 
tendered  pledges,  doubtless  to  facilitate  and  insure  your  release,  they  were 
received,  but  not  accepted,  as  a  condition.  I  believe  that  pledges  made  in 
duress  are  not  obligatory  upon  the  individual  making  them ;  and,  if  you  in- 
tended to  exercise  the  influence  which  you  declared  you  would,  the  uncon- 
ditional liberty  extended  to  you  would  interpose  no  obstacle  to  their  fulfill- 
ment. 

Without  adverting  to  any  treaty  stipulations  which  you  had  made  with 
the  Cabinet  of  Texas,  I  gave  you  your  entire  liberty  and  safe  conduct  to 
the  city  of  Washington. 

You  have  asserted  to  the  world  that  you  have  given  no  pledge  to  the 
Texan  Government  whatever  of  your  disposition  in  favor  of  its  separation 
from  Mexico.  That  the  tribunal  to  which  you  have  appealed,  may  judge  of 
the  validity  of  your  assertion,  I  shall  submit  with  this  communication  a 
letter  of  yours  addressed  to  me  at  Columbia,  dated  the  5th  November,  1836, 
after  my  determination  to  give  you  your  liberty  had  been  communicated. 
I  shall  present  it  in  the  original,  accompanied  with  its  translation  into  En- 


The  Humanity  to  Santa  Anna  as  Prisoner.      353 

glish.  I  will  also  give  publicity  to  a  veto  which  I  communicated  to  the  Sen- 
ate, in  consequence  of  a  resolution  of  that  honorable  body  respecting  your 
detention  as  a  prisoner. 

You  have  spoken  of  events  subsequent  to  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  and 
endeavor  to  convey  the  idea  that  promises  had  been  extorted  from  you 
"  under  the  rifles  of  a  tumultuous  soldiery."  I  am  at  a  loss  to  comprehend 
your  meaning  by  this  reference.  When  you  were  brought  into  the  encamp- 
ment as  a  prisoner,  the  second  day  after  the  battle,  you  were  conducted  to 
the  presence  of  the  commander-in-chief — not  amidst  noise  and  tumult,  nor 
did  any  exist.  When  the  character  of  the  prisoner  became  known  to  the 
army,  much  curiosity  was  excited ;  but  there  was  no  menace  used  nor  vio- 
lence offered.  You  were  treated  with  calmness,  and  every  courtesy  extended 
to  you  that  our  situation  would  afford.  Had  you  been  a  private  gentleman 
and  friend,  you  could  have  received  no  greater  facilities  than  those  which 
were  extended  to  you.  As  you  desired,  you  were  placed  near  my  person, 
and  were  never  sent  with  the  rest  of  the  prisoners.  You  were  informed  that 
you  could  have  your  camp-bed  and  markee  brought  to  my  quarters,  where  I 
lay  confined  with  my  wound.  You  were  permitted  to  command  the  services 
of  your  attendants.  You  were  informed,  also,  that  your  baggage  would  be 
selected  from  the  spoils  taken  by  the  army  on  the  field ;  which  was  accord- 
ingly done,  and  never  inspected.  These  privileges  were  granted  by  my 
order.  Your  aide-de-camp,  Colonel  Almonte,  and  your  private  secretary, 
were  permitted  to  remain  with  you  in  your  markee.  A  guard  was  detailed 
for  the  purpose  of  allaying  any  apprehension  you  might  have  for  your  per- 
sonal safety,  and  every  liberty  extended  to  you  except  your  absolute  release. 

You  submitted  propositions  to  me  embracing  the  questions  of  the  recog- 
nition of  the  Texan  independence,  and  the  termination  of  our  struggle.  I 
unequivocally  refused  the  acceptance  of  any  offer  upon  the  subject  of  a 
treaty,  alleging  as  reasons  that  we  had  a  constitutional  Government,  and 
that  the  subject  would  properly  come  before  the  Cabinet  of  Texas,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  would  be  present  in  camp  within  a  few  days.  You  urged  the 
further  consideration  of  your  propositions  upon  me,  declaring  that  you 
would  rather  enter  into  stipulations  with  a  General  of  the  army  than  with 
the  civil  authorities  of  the  country.  I  positively  declined  taking  any  action 
upon  them,  and  they  were  referred  to  the  Cabinet  on  its  arrival.  Declining 
the  consideration  of  your  proposals  myself,  I  required  you  to  issue  orders 
forthwith  to  the  General  next  in  command  to  evacuate  Texas  with  the 
troops  composing  the  Mexican  army,  and  to  fall  back  with  them  to  Monte- 
rey. Orders  to  this  effect  were  issued  by  you  to  General  Filisola,  and  dis- 
patched by  an  express,  which  .could  not  overtake  "him,  however,  until  he 
had  reached  the  Colorado  on  his  retreat,  conducted  in  the  greatest  panic 
and  confusion.  Owing  to  his  precipitate  flight,  and  your  execution  of  my 
orders,  the  Mexicans  were  permitted  to  leave  Texas  without  further  moles- 
tation. 

In  the  meantime,  General  Adrian  Woll,  of  the  Mexican  army,  came  into 

the  encampment  at  San  Jacinto  without  my  knowledge,  and  not  "  upon  my 

word  or  honor  ";  nor  was  I  apprised  of  his  presence  until  I  learned  that  he, 

together  with  his  aide,  had  been  traversing  our  lines.     So  soon  as  I  was 

23 


354  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

advised  of  this  fact  I  ordered  them  to  my  presence,  and  instructed  them 
that  such  conduct  would  not  be  tolerated,  and  caused  them  to  be  placed 
under  vigilance.  This  reason  I  deemed  sufficient  to  detain  General  Woll 
as  a  prisoner  of  war.  His  subsequent  conduct  to  Captain  Dimitt  was  such 
as  to  justify  any  unfavorable  opinion  which  I  had  formed  of  his  character. 
He  had  rendered  himself  so  obnoxious  to  the  army,  that,  from  a  desire  for 
his  personal  security,  I  did  not  permit  his  release  until  he  could  go  in  per- 
fect safety.  In  no  respect  had  the  prisoners  taken  on  that  occasion  reason 
of  complaint.  Their  lives  were  all  forfeited  by  the  laws  of  war,  conform- 
ably to  the  precedent  which  you  had  exhibited. 

General  Cos,  who  had  surrendered  in  1835,  a  prisoner  of  war,  at  San  Anto- 
nio, where  one  hundred  and  ninety-five  Texans  stormed  and  took  the  Alamo, 
with  the  town,  when  it  was  defended  by  seventeen  hundred  regular  troops 
of  Mexico,  was  again  taken  prisoner  at  San  Jacinto,  after  he  had  violated 
his  parole  of  honor,  by  which  he  had  forfeited  his  life  to  the  law  of  arms. 
Yet  such  was  the  lenity  of  Texans  that  even  he  was  spared,  thereby  inter- 
posing mercy  to  prevent  reclamation  being  made  for  the  brave  Texans  per- 
fidiously massacred. 

From  the  5th  of  May  I  had  no  connection  with  the  encampment,  nor  the 
treatment  which  the  prisoners  received,  until  the  month  of  October,  when 
I  was  inducted  into  the  office  of  chief  magistrate  of  the  nation.  It  is  true 
that  you  were  chained  to  an  iron  bar,  but  not  until  an  attempt  had  been 
made  to  release  you,  with  your  knowledge  and  assent.  A  vessel  had  arrived 
at  Orizimbo,  on  the  Brazos,  where  you  were  confined.  In  possession  of  its 
captain  were  found  wines  and  other  liquors  mixed  with  poison,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  poisoning  the  officers  and  guard  in  whose  charge  you  were,  and 
thereby  insuring  your  escape.  In  consequence  of  the  sensation  produced 
by  this  circumstance*  you  were  confined  and  treated  in  the  manner  you 
have  so  pathetically  portrayed. 

Whilst  confined  by  my  wounds  in  San  Augustine,  I  learned  that  it  was 
the  intention  of  the  army  to  take  you  to  the  theater  of  Fannin's  massacre, 
and  there  to  have  had  you  executed.  Upon  the  advertisement  of  this  fact, 
I  immediately  sent  an  express  to  the  army  solemnly  protesting  against  any 
such  act,  and  interposing  every  obstacle  possible  against  your  further  mo- 
lestation, or  any  action  which  might  not  recognize  you  as  a  prisoner  of  war. 

Your  recent  communications  have  necessarily  awakened  attention  to  these 
facts,  otherwise  they  would  have  remained  unrecited  by  me.  Any  part 
which  I  bore  in  the  transaction  is  not  related  in  imitation  of  the  egotistical 
style  of  your  communication.  It  is  done  alone  for  the  purpose  of  present- 
ing the  lights  of  history.  You  have  sought  to  darken  its  shades,  and  appeal 
to  the  sympathies  and  command  the  admiration  of  mankind,  and  have  even 
invoked  "  the  prismatic  tints  of  romance." 

Now,  the  tribunal  to  which  you  have  appealed  will  have  an  opportunity 
of  contrasting  the  treatment  which  you  and  the  prisoners  taken  at  San  Ja- 
cinto received,  with  that  of  those  who  have  fallen  within  your  power,  and 
particularly  those  perfidiously  betrayed  on  a  recent  trading  excursion  to 
Santa  F6.  You  have  endeavored  to  give  that  expedition  the  complexion  of 
an  invading  movement  upon  the  rights  of  Mexico.  To  believe  you  serious 


Mexican  Perfidy  to  Texan  Traders.  355 

in  the  idle  display  of  words  made  on  this  occasion,  would  be  presenting  an 
absurdity  to  the  common-sense  of  the  age.  Your  fears  may  have  given  it  a 
character  different  from  that  to  which  it  was  entitled.  Examine  the  cir- 
cumstances accompanying  it.  It  was  not  an  act  of  Texas.  Congress  had 
refused  to  sanction  any  enterprise  of  the  kind.  A  number  of  individuals 
were  anxious  to  open  a  lucrative  trade  (as  they  believed  it  would  be)  with 
Santa  Fe.  Such  a  commerce  has  been  carried  on  for  years  by  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  from  Missouri ;  and  the  preparations,  connected  with 
the  fact  that  the  citizens  took  with  them  a  considerable  amount  of  mer- 
chandise, show  that  their  enterprise  was  not  one  of  conquest  or  invasion. 
You  may  allege  that  it  had  connection  with  the  Government,  from  the  fact 
that  the  President  identified  himself  with  it,  by  furnishing  arms  to  those 
connected  with  the  project.  This  may  have  induced  you  to  characterize 
the  expedition  as  you  have  in  your  tirade  against  Texas.  Whatever  part  the 
President  bore  in  this  transaction  was  contrary  to  law  and  in  violation  of 
his  duty.  A  large  portion  of  the  people  of  Texas  were  apprised  of  the 
existence  of  such  an  enterprise.  You  doubtless  would  insist  that  it  had 
means  of  offense  against  Mexico.  So  far  as  their  preparation  could  give 
character  to  the  undertaking,  by  carrying  with  them  artillery  and  other 
munitions  of  war,  it  can  be  accounted  for  most  readily.  They  had  to  pass 
through  a  wilderness  six  hundred  miles  from  the  frontier  of  Texas  before 
they  could  reach  Santa  F6.  It  was  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  would 
encounter  many  hostile  tribes  of  Indians,  and  it  was  proper  and  necessar, 
that  they  should  be  in  a  situation  to  repel  any  attacks  made  upon  them, 
and,  as  their  objects  were  pacific,  they  were  justified  in  resisting  aggression 
from  any  quarter.  The  instructions  given  to  them  by  the  President  did  not 
contemplate  hostilities,  but  that  the  enterprise  would  terminate  without 
bloodshed  and  violence.  Scientific  gentlemen  from  Europe  and  the  United 
States  accompanied  them,  not  for  warlike  purposes,  but  for  the  purpose  of 
adding  rich  stores  to  the  treasury  of  science.  It  had  likewise  been  com- 
municated to  the  people  of  Texas  that  all  the  inhabitants  east  of  the  Rio 
Grande  were  anxious  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  our  institutions.  You  can  not 
allege  that  you  were  not  willing  to  admit  the  justice  of  our  claims  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  or  that  you  were  not  anxious  to  facilitate  the  object.  Your 
communication  to  me  on  that  subject  is  conclusive.  Texans  were  apprised 
of  it  from  your  repeated  declarations  to  that  effect  while  in  this  country, 
and  on  your  way  to  Washington  city.  At  the  time  the  expedition  started 
no  hostilities  were  carried  on  between  this  country  and  Mexico.  Commis- 
sioners from  General  Arista  were  at  Austin  at  the  time  the  party  started  for 
Santa  F6.  They  were  kindly  received,  and  made  the  most  sincere  profes- 
sion of  amity  and  reconciliation  with  this  Government.  They  were  treated 
with  kindness,  and  corresponding  commissioners  appointed  to  General 
Arista.  To  them  every  facility  was  extended,  and  they  were  permitted  to 
return  without  molestation.  This  was  the  attitude  of  the  two  countries  at 
that  time.  Will  you  allege  that  this  was  not  sanctioned  by  your  Government, 
or  will  you  insist  that  it  was  a  trick  of  diplomacy  ?  For  myself,  I  would  not 
have  been  deluded  by  any  professions  which  might  have  been  tendered  to 
Texas  by  Mexico,  when  a  departure  from  the  most  solemn  pledges  would 
result  in  injury  to  the  former  and  benefit  to  the  latter. 


856  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

That  the  ministers  of  General  Arista  played  their  parts  with  fidelity  to 
their  instructions,  I  have  no  doubt ;  also  that  all  the  information  that  could 
be  derived  in  relation  to  the  trading  company  was  faithfully  transmitted  to 
the  Government  of  Mexico.  Nor  do  I  doubt  but  that  the  population  of  the 
northern  parts  of  your  country,  so  soon  as  the  intelligence  was  received, 
were  thrown  into  the  utmost  consternation,  and  a  nation  numbering 
eight  millions  of  people,  inhabiting  "  valleys,  mountains,  towns,  and  large 
cities,"  "  by  so  many  titles  respectable,"  was  convulsed  at  the  apprehended 
approach  of  three  hundred  Texan  traders  !  But  what  has  been  the  sequel 
of  this  expedition  ?  On  their  approach  to  the  settlements  of  the  Rio  Grande 
they  obtained  supplies  from  the  inhabitants,  not  as  a  hostile  and  marauding 
party,  but  they  paid  a  valuable  consideration  for  every  supply  they  obtained. 
They  were  met  by  the  Mexican  authorities  with  overtures  of  peace,  assur- 
ances of  friendship,  and  pledges  of  security,  provided  they  would  give  up 
their  arms  for  the  purpose  of  tranquillizing  the  Mexican  population.  De- 
tached, as  the  company  was,  into  parties  remote  from  each  other,  and  de- 
luded by  pledges,  they  acquiesced  in  the  wishes  of  the  authorities  of  the 
country,  thereby  evincing  to  them  that  they  had  no  disposition  to  disturb 
the  tranquillity  of  the  inhabitants,  and  that  their  objects  were  pacific.  But 
no  sooner  were  they  in  the  power  of  the  authorities  than  they  were  stripped 
of  their  clothing,  deprived  of  everything  valuable,  treated  in  the  most  bar- 
barous manner,  and  marched  like  convicts  to  the  capital  of  Mexico.  On 
their  route  every  act  of  inhumanity,  cruelty,  and  hatred  was  evinced.  When 
their  sick  and  helpless  condition  required  the  assistance  of  Christian  char- 
ity and  humanity,  it  was  denied  them.  They  were  barbarously  shot,  their 
bodies  mangled,  and  their  corpses  left  unburied.  The  butchery  of  McAllis- 
ter, Galphin,  Yates,  and  others,  appeal  to  Heaven  and  this  nation  for  retri- 
bution upon  the  heads  of  their  inhuman  murderers.  You  may  allege  that 
you  did  not  authorize  the  perpetration  of  these  outrages,  committed  upon 
men  who  had  violated  no  rule  of  law  known  to  this  civilized  age.  This  will 
be  no  excuse  for  you.  Your  sanction  of  these  acts  is  as  culpable  as  their 
perpetration  was  degrading  to  their  authors.  Their  detention  as  prisoners 
by  you  may  gratify  the  malignity  of  little  minds  ;  but  the  just,  the  chivalric, 
the  brave,  and  the  generous  of  all  nations  may  pity,  but  must  despise  your 
conduct.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  faithless  professions  tendered  to  them, 
and  their  too  ready  belief,  they  could  have  maintained  their  position  against 
all  the  forces  of  northern  Mexico,  and,  if  necessary,  could  have  made  good 
their  retreat  to  their  homes,  defying  the  "  generous  effort  of  the  people  of 
New  Mexico."  Your  conduct  on  this  occasion  will  present  your  humanity 
and  sense  of  propriety  in  very  awkward  contrast  with  the  treatment  ex- 
tended to  you  and  your  followers  after  the  victory  of  San  Jacinto,  being 
not,  as  you  suppose,  one  of  the  "  freaks  of  fortune,"  but  one  of  the  accom- 
paniments of  that  destiny  which  will  mark  the  course  of  Texas  until  the 
difficulties  between  the  two  countries  shall  be  satisfactorily  adjusted. 

But  you  declare  that  you  will  not  relax  your  exertions  until  you  have  subju- 
gated Texas  ;  that  you  "  have  weighed  its  possible  value,"  and  that  you  are  per- 
fectly aware  of  the  magnitude  of  the  task  which  you  have  undertaken  ;  that  you 
"  will  not  permit  a  colossus  within  the  limits  of  Mexico  ";  that  our  title  is  that 
of  "  theft  and  usurpation,"  and  that  "  the  honor  of  the  Mexican  nation  "  demands 


Mexican  Bombast  fitly  Answered.  357 

of  you  "  the  reclamation  of  Texas  ";  that  "  if  it  were  an  unproductive  desert, 
useless,  sterile,  yielding  nothing  desirable,  and  abounding  only  in  thorns  to 
wound  the  feet  of  the  traveler,  you  would  not  permit  it  to  exist  as  an  indepen- 
dent government,  in  derision  of  your  national  character,  your  hearths,  and  your 
individuality."  Allow  me  to  assure  you  that  our  title  to  Texas  has  a  high  sanc- 
tion :  that  of  purchase,  because  we  have  performed  our  conditions  ;  that  of  con- 
quest, because  we  have  been  victorious ;  it  is  ours  because  you  can  not  subdue 
us  ;  it  has  been  consecrated  ours  by  the  blood  of  martyred  patriots ;  it  is  ours 
by  the  claims  of  patriotism,  superior  intelligence,  and  unsubduable  courage.  It 
is  not  a  sterile  waste  or  a  desert ;  it  is  the  home  of  freemen — it  is  the  land  of 
promise — it  is  the  garden  of  America.  Every  citizen  of  Texas  was  born  a  free- 
man, and  he  would  die  a  recreant  to  the  principles  imbibed  from  his  ancestry, 
if  he  would  not  freely  peril  his  life  in  defense  of  his  home,  his  liberty,  and  his 
country. 

Although  you  are  pleased  to  characterize  our  occupation  of  Texas  and  defense 
of  our  imprescriptible  rights  ajs  the  "  most  scandalous  robbery  of  the  present 
age,"  it  is  not  one-fourth  of  a  century  since  Mexico  perpetrated  a  similar  rob- 
bery upon  the  rights  of  the  Crown  of  Spain.  The  magnitude  of  the  theft  may 
give  dignity  to  the  robbery.  In  that  you  have  the  advantage.  That  you  should 
thus  have  characterized  a  whole  nation  I  can  readily  account  for.  Heretofore 
you  entertained  the  opinion  that  Mexico  could  never  conquer  Texas,  and,  if  it 
were  possible  for  her  to  drive  every  Texan  from  the  soil,  that  Mexico  could  not 
maintain  her  position  on  the  Sabine,  and  the  retreat  of  her  army  would  be  the 
signal  for  the  return  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  who  would  reoccupy  their  homes 
and  pursue  the  Mexicans  as  far  as  the  Rio  Grande  ;  and  that  Mexico,  in  preser- 
vation of  the  integrity  of  the  territory  which  she  then  possessed,  would  gain  an 
advantage  by  abandoning  all  hopes  -of  conquering  Texas,  and  direct  her  atten- 
tion to  the  improvement  of  her  internal  condition.  Your  recent  opinions,  as  de- 
clared by  you,  appear  to  be  at  variance  with  these  speculations,  and  are  most 
vehemently  avowed.  It  is  an  attribute  of  wisdom  to  change  opinions  upon  con- 
viction of  error,  and  perhaps  for  it  you  are  justifiable ;  at  least,  I  discover  that 
you  have  one  attribute  of  a  new  convert :  you  are  quite  zealous  and  wordy  in  the 
promulgation  of  the  doctrine  which  you  have  espoused. 

Sir,  from  your  lenity  and  power  Texans  expect  nothing — from  your  humanity 
less  ;  and  when  you  invade  Texas  you  will  not  find  "  thorns  to  wound  the  foot 
of  the  traveler,"  but  you  will  find  opposed  to  Mexican  breasts,  arms  wielded  by 
freemen  of  unerring  certainty,  and  directed  by  a  purpose  not  to  be  eluded. 
Texans  war  not  for  gewgaws  and  titles ;  they  battle  not  to  sustain  dictators  or 
despots  ;  they  do  not  inarch  to  the  field  unwillingly,  nor  are  they  dragged  to  the 
army  in  chains,  with  the  mock-title  of  volunteers.  For  awhile  they  lay  by  the 
implements  of  husbandry,  and  seize  their  rifles  ;  they  rally  in  defense  of  their 
rights ;  and,  when  victory  has  been  achieved,  they  return  to  the  cultivation  of 
the  soil.  They  have  laws  to  protect  their  rights.  Their  property  is  their  own. 
They  do  not  bow  to  the  will  of  despots  ;  but  they  bow  to  the  majesty  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws.  They  are  freemen  indeed.  It  is  not  so  with  your  nation. 
From  the  alcalde  to  the  dictator,  all  are  tyrants  in  Mexico ;  and  the  community 
is  held  in  bondage,  subject  not  to  law,  but  to  the  will  of  a  superior,  and  confined 
in  hopeless  subjection  to  usurpation. 

In  an  individual  so  intelligent  as  yourself,  it  does  seem  to  me  that  you  have 


358  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

evinced  very  bad  taste  by  adverting  to  the  subject  of  slavery,  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  this  country.  Your  opinions,  whilst  here,  on  this  subject  weie  fully 
and  freely  avowed.  You  then  believed  that  it  would  be  of  great  advantage  to 
Mexico  to  introduce  slave  labor  into  that  country ;  that  it  would  develop  her  re- 
sources, by  enabling  her  to  produce  cotton,  sugar,  and  coffee,  for  purposes  of 
exportation  ;  and  that  without  it  she  would  be  seriously  retarded  in  her  march 
to  greatness  and  prosperity.  Your  sympathy  and  commiseration  at  present  ex- 
pressed, are  no  doubt  very  sincere,  and  I  only  regret  that  they  partake  so  little 
of  consistency.  You  boast  that  Mexico  gave  the  noble  and  illustrious  example 
of  emancipating  her  slaves.  The  fact  that  she  has  the  name  of  having  done  so, 
has  enabled  you  to  add  another  flourish  to  your  rhetoric.  But  the  examination 
of  facts  for  one  moment  will  disclose  the  truth.  The  slaves  of  Mexico,  you  say, 
were  emancipated.  Did  you  elevate  them  to  the  condition  of  freemen  ?  No, 
you  did  not ;  you  gave  them  the  name  of  freedom,  but  you  reduced  the  common 
people  to  the  condition  of  slaves.  It  is  not  uncommon  in  Mexico  for  one  digni- 
tary, upon  his  hacienda,  to  control  from  one  hundred  to  ten  thousand  human 
beings,  in  a  state  of  bondage  more  abject  and  intolerable  than  the  negroes  on  ' 
any  cotton  plantation  in  this  country.  If  an  individual  in  Mexico  owes  but 
twenty-five  cents,  by  application  to  an  alcalde  the  creditor  can  have  him,  with 
his  family,  decreed  to  his  service,  and  to  remain  in  that  state  of  slavery  until  he 
is  able  to  pay  the  debt  from  the  wages  accruing  frorn  his  labor,  after  being  com- 
pelled to  subsist  his  dependent  family.  This  you  call  freedom ;  and  graciously 
bestow  your  sympathy  upon  the  African  race.  The  Abolitionists  of  the  present 
day  will  not  feel  that  they  are  indebted  to  you  for  your  support  of  their 
cause.  Had  some  one  else  than  the  dictator  of  Mexico,  or  the  self-styled  "  Na- 
poleon of  the  West" — the  subverter  of  the  Constitution  of  1824,  the  projector 
of  centralism,  and  the  man  who  endeavors  to  reduce  a  nation  to  slavery — be- 
come their  advocate,  they  might  have  been  more  sensible  of  their  obligation. 
Slavery  is  an  evil ;  it  was  entailed  upon  us  by  Mexico.  So  far  as  its  increase  can 
be  prevented,  our  Constitution  and  laws  have  presented  every  obstacle.  They 
will  be  maintained  to  the  letter :  and  on  account  of  slavery,  Texas  will  incur  no 
reproach. 

You  tauntingly  invite  Texas  to  cover  herself  anew  with  the  Mexican  flag. 
You  certainly  intend  this  as  mockery.  You  denied  us  the  enjoyment  of  the  laws 
under  which  we  came  to  the  country.  Her  flag  was  never  raised  in  our  behalf, 
nor  has  it  been  seen, in  Texas  unless  when  displayed  in  an  attempt  at  our  sub- 
jugation. We  know  your  lenity — we  know  your  mercy — we  are  ready  again  to 
test  your  power.  You  have  threatened  to  plant  your  banner  on  the  banks  of  the 
Sabine.  Is  this  done  to  intimidate  us  ?  Is  it  done  to  alarm  us  ?  Or  do  you 
deem  it  the  most  successful  mode  of  conquest  ?  If  the  latter,  it  may  do  to 
amuse  the  people  surrounding  you.  If  to  alarm  us,  it  will  amuse  those  convers- 
ant with  the  history  of  your  last  campaign.  If  to  intimidate  us,  the  threat  is 
idle.  We  have  desired  peace.  You  have  annoyed  our  frontier — you  have  har- 
assed our  citizens — you  have  incarcerated  our  traders,  after  your  commissioners 
had  been  kindly  received,  and  your  citizens  allowed  the  privileges  of  commerce 
in  Texas  without  molestation — you  continue  aggression — you  will  not  accord  us 
peace.  Wj  will  have  it.  You  threaten  to  conquer  Texas — we  will  war  with 
Mexico.  Your  pretensions,  with  ours,  you  have  referred  to  the  social  world 
and  to  the  God  of  Battles.  We  refer  our  cause  to  the  same  tribunals.  The 


English  and  French  Opposition  to  Annexation.      359 

issue  involves  the  fate  of  nations.  Destiny  must  determine.  Its  course  is  only 
known  to  the  tribunal  of  Heaven.  If  experience  of  the  past  will  authorize  spec- 
ulations of  the  future,  the  attitude  of  Mexico  is  more  "  problematical "  than  that 
of  Texas. 

In  the  war  which  will  be  conducted  by  Texas  against  Mexico,  our  incentive 
will  not  be  a  love  of  conquest ;  it  will  be  to  disarm  tyranny  of  its  power.  We 
will  make  no  war  upon  Mexicans,  or  their  religion.  Our  efforts  shall  be  made 
in  behalf  of  the  liberties  of  the  people,  and  directed  against  the  authorities  of  the 
country,  and  against  your  principles.  We  will  exalt  the  condition  of  the  people 
to  representative  freedom  ;  they  shall  choose  their  own  rulers ;  they  shall  pos- 
sess their  property  in  peace,  and  it  shall  not  be  taken  from  them  to  support  an 
armed  soldiery,  for  the  purpose  of  oppression. 

With  these  principles,  we  will  march  across  the  Rio  Grande  ;  and  believe  me, 
sir,  ere  the  banner  of  Mexico  shall  triumphantly  float  on  the  banks  of  the  Sabine, 
the  Texan  standard  of  the  single  star,  borne  by  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  shall  dis- 
play its  bright  folds  in  liberty's  triumph  on  the  Isthmus  of  Darien. 

With  the  most  appropriate  consideration,  I  have  the  honor  to  present  you  my 
salutation. 

SAM  HOUSTON 

To  His  Excellency,  ANTONIO  LOPEZ  DE  SANTA  ANNA, 

President  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico 


We  are  now  obliged  to  cut  short  our  relation  of  events  in  detail,  to  give  a 
brief  account  of  other  more  important  movements.  Confidence  began  to  be 
restored.  One  open  rebellion  against  the  laws  of  the  country  Houston  put  down 
by  going  to  the  scene,  and  calling  out  the  militia.  When  desperadoes  found 
there  was  a  man  at  the  head  of  affairs,  who  could  not  be  trifled  with,  they  soon 
disbanded,  and  the  supremacy  of  law  was  again  restored.  A  new  set  of  men 
were  in  office — -justice  was  efficiently  administered — economy  was  observed,  and 
although  there  had  been  saddled  an  enormous  debt  upon  the  country,  which 
could  not  be  discharged  for  a  long  time  to  come,  yet  public  credit  was  being 
restored,  and  men  began  to  feel  proud  of  their  Government. 


DISPATCH   TO  TEXAN  MINISTERS   AT  WASHINGTON   CITY. 

.       OFFICIAL. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  April  16,  1844. 

GENTLEMEN  : — Your  notes  have  both  reached  me,  one  of  the  3oth  ult.,  and 
one  of  the  ist  inst.  To-day  I  forward  to  the  State  Department  all  my  dis- 
patches. 

Colonel  Ashbel  Smith,  our  Charge"  d' Affaires,  writes  from  Paris,  under  date 
29th  February,  this  important  fact :  "  The  French  and  British  Governments  have 
united  in  a  protest  to  the  United  States  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 


360  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Union."  This  is  an  important  fact.  Never  has  the  situation  of  Texas  been  so 
interesting  since  the  2ist  of  April,  1836,  as  at  this  moment.  You  may  rely  upon 
it,  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not  act  immediately,  and  con- 
summate the  work  of  annexation,  Texas  is  forever  lost  to  them. 

In  my  opinion,  England  and  France  will  say  to  Texas,  "  If  you  will  agree  to 
remain  separate  forever  from  the  United  States,  we  will  forthwith  prevent  all 
further  molestation  to  you  from  Mexico,  and  guarantee  you  independence,  agree- 
ably to  your  institutions  now  established  and  avowed."  You  can  not  fail  to  dis- 
cover what  would  be  the  proper  course  of  Texas  in  such  an  event.  Texas  has 
done  all  that  she  could  do  to  obtain  annexation  ;  and  you  may  rely  upon  this  fact, 
in  the  event  of  a  failure,  that  Texas  will  do  all  that  she  should  do. 

If  a  treaty  is  made,  it  will  of  course  have  been  done  after  the  pledges  given  by 
the  United  States  Charge  d'Affaires  have  been  recognized  by  his  Government ; 
and  then  we  are  secure.  If  a  treaty  has  been  made,  and  those  pledges  exacted 
by  you,  and  it  should  be  rejected,  it  will  be  proper  to  ascertain  if 'annexation  can 
take  place  by  Congressional  action,  and  this  done  promptly.  Should  all  fail,  you 
will  forthwith  call  upon  Mr.  Packenham,  the  French  Minister,  as  well  as  also 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  after  suitable  conversations  and  ex- 
planations, present  to  them  the  subject  of  a  triple  guarantee  for  our  indepen- 
dence, and  to  prevent  all  further  molestation,  or  at  least  an  unlimited  truce  with 
Mexico.  And  then,  if  all  prospect  of  annexation  fails  with  the  Government  of 
the  United  States,  and  it  should  refuse  to  unite  upon  the  basis  here  laid  down, 
you  will  then,  so  far  as  practicable,  arrange  the  matter  with  France  and  Eng- 
land, and  General  Henderson,  with  Mr.  Miller,  Secretary  of  the  Secret  Lega- 
tion, will  make  a  visit  of  leave  to  the  heads  of  the  proper  Departments,  and  re- 
turn to  Texas.  Texas  ought  not,  can  not,  and  will  not  remain  in  its  present 
situation. 

The  subject  of  annexation  has  already  embarrassed  our  relations  with  Mexico. 
The  truce  will  end  on  the  first  of  May,  as  I  presume,  for  I  did  not  accede  to  the 
terms  of  the  armistice,  since  Texas  was  recognized  as  a  "  Department  of  Mex- 
ico," in  the  terms  of  agreement  between  the  commissioners.  Mexico  was  well 
disposed  to  settle  matters  very  amicably,  when  our  commissioners  arrived  at 
Sabinus,  but  one  of  the  Mexican  commissioners  was  too  unwell  to  proceed  to 
business.  When  he  recovered,  the  subject  of  annexation  was  mooted  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  Texan  Congress  ;  all  of  which  had  reached  Mexico.  Of 
these  facts,  in  part,  General  Henderson  was  apprised ;  and  the  anticipated  rupt- 
ure of  our  negotiations  with  Mexico  was  one  reason  why  I  was  so  careful  to  re- 
quire of  General  Murphy  (endorsed  by  his  Government),  such  pledges  as  would 
secure  us  against  all  contingencies  that  might  arise  to  us,  in  consequence  of  our 
opening  negotiations  with  the  United  States,  on  the  subject  of  annexation. 

This  Government  has  been  called  on,  and  requested  by  her  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment, to  state  our  relation  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  It  was  due 
to  England,  and  her  Majesty's  Government  was  informed  that  an  agent,  Gen. 
Henderson,  had  been  sent  to  Washington  city  to  negotiate  upon  the  subject  of 
annexation  ;  but  the  particulars  were  not  rendered.  Since  this  occurred,  I  had 
an  interview  with  Captain  Elliot,  and  I  do  not  think  the  British  Government 
will  withdraw  its  friendly  offices  from  the  subject  of  peace  between  Texas  and 
Mexico. 


The  Attitude  of  Texas  as  to  Annexation.        361 

It  is  reported  here  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  refused  to 
sanction  the  pledges  given  by  General  Murphy.  This  surely  can  not  be  the 
case.  If  so,  you  will  have  found  yourselves  in  a  most  awkward  dilemma.  What 
— disavow  such  pledges  when  they  were  based  upon  Mr.  Upshur's  letter  ?  I 
can  not  believe  this,  unless  the  United  States  desired  Texas  to  surrender  herself 
to  the  uncertainty,  or  chances  of  annexation,  contingent  upon  the  various  politi- 
cal influences  which  might  interpose  to  the  consummation  of  the  object,  and 
subject  us  to  the  injurious  and  annoying  action  of  Mexico,  instigated  by  the  ad- 
hesion of  Texas  to  the  United  States.  A  refusal  on  the  part  of  that  Govern- 
ment to  secure  us  against  consequences,  which  it  has  produced  by  direct  solici- 
tation of  us,  would  be  selfish  in  the  extreme,  and  indeed  I  can  not  conceive  ap- 
propriate terms  in  which  to  characterize  such  conduct  and  policy,  in  an  official 
dispatch.  It  would  amount  to  this  only — that  if  anything  could  be  made  out  of 
Texas,  by  the  United  States,  they  were  prepared  and  willing  to  derive  the  ad- 
vantage, and  if  that  could  not  be  done,  they  wished  to  incur  no  responsibility 
on  the  account  of  Texas,  but  leave  her  to  all  the  consequences  which  might 
possibly  result  to  her  from  the  course  which  her  generosity  and  credulity  might 
induce  her  pursue.  Pitiable  would  our  situation  be  if  we  were  not  annexed,  and 
had  required  no  pledges ;  fortunately,  this  is  not  our  situation. 

You  have  now  all  the  grounds  before  you,  and  I  hope  you  will  ponder  wisely 
and  proceed  securely  for  our  safety. 

It  is  palpable  scandal  to  the  nineteenth  century,  that  statesmen  should  be 
prating  about  the  emancipation  of  persons  born  and  their  race  held  in  sla- 
very, by  the  custom  and  consent  of  nations  for  centuries,  while  they  permit 
Santa  Anna  to  forge  and  rivet  chains  upon  eight  millions  of  people  who  were 
born  free.  Thus  will  the  horrors  of  slavery  be  increased,  with  design  to  render 
his  success  subservient  to  the  subversion  of  the  liberties  of  Texas,  and  form  a 
new  era  in  the  history  by  degrading  to  slavery  a  portion  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race.  This  ought  not,  and  can  not  be.  It  argues  on  the  part  of  statesmen  a 
want  of  perception,  as  well  as  self-respect. 

Gentlemen,  you  will  keep  the  Government  advised  by  every  mail,  and  daily, 
of  important  events  as  they  transpire.  If  you  should  be  thrown  for  future  reliance 
upon  the  friendly  offices  of  Great  Britain  and  France,  you  will,  if  possible,  as- 
certain from  them  if  they  will  act  promptly,  and  what  conditions  they  will  ex- 
pect of  this  Government. 

Mr.  Van  Zandt  has  written  that  the  United  States  were  not  willing  to  form 
any  alliance  with  Texas,  as  it  was  contrary  to  their  policy.  Hence  the  necessity, 
upon  the  failure  of  the  immediate  annexation  of  this  country  to  the  confederacy 
of  the  North,  and  you  will,  as  I  have  indicated,  approach  the  Governments  of 
England  and  France. 

It  is  the  first  duty  of  statesmen  and  patriots  to  insure  the  liberty  and  well- 
being  of  their  country.  This  is  now  our  attitude,  and  every  honest  man  in 
Texas  will  justify  and  approve  that  policy,  which  will  place  us  in  a  situation 
where  our  liberties  are -secured,  whether  it  be  by  annexation,  or  the  establish 
ment  of  our  independence.  France  and  England  will  act  effectively,  if  we  do 
not  permit  ourselves  to  be  trifled  with  and  duped  by  the  United  States.  But  of 
this  subject,  as  your  situation  may  soon  call  your  attention  to  it,  you  will  be  the 
best  judges. 


362  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

This  letter  does  not  cancel  former  instructions  from  the  Department ;  but  it 
is  designed  to  meet  emergencies  which  may  arise,  or  remedy  those  which  have 
already  arisen..  Having  awaited  the  arrival  of  your  dispatches,  and  there  being 
no  time  to  forward  them,  and  send  a  reply  from  the  State  Department,  I  have 
deemed  it  proper  to  write  to  you  directly  by  the  return  mail ;  so  that  you  may 
be  ready,  in  the  event  of  necessity,  to  take  such  action  as '  our  situation  may  re- 
quire, and  be  prepared  for  contingencies. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  obt.  servant, 

SAM  HOUSTON. 

To  Gen.  J.  P.  HENDERSON  and  Hon.  ISAAC 
VAN  ZANDT,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


LETTER  TO  SANTA  ANNA. 


EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,        ) 
1844.) 


WASHINGTON,  July  29, 
To  His  EXCELLENCY,  GENERAL  ANTONIO  LOPEZ  DE  SANTA  ANNA,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic  of  Mexico  : 

It  appears  by  a  letter  received  from  General  Adrian  Woll,  under  date  of  the  iQth 
ultimo,  that  you  have  entertained  a  desire  to  communicate  with  this  Govern- 
ment. I  regret,  however,  extremely,  that  in  so  doing,  you  should  have  indulged 
in  a  departure  from  the  courtesy  which  ordinarily  obtains  in  the  correspondence 
between  civilized  States  of  the  present  age.  There  are  certain  designated  and 
universally  acknowledged  channels  of  intercourse  between  nations,  such  as  the 
Department  of  State,  or  Foreign  Affairs. 

Through  your  subaltern,  General  Woll,  you  have,  in  the  communication  to 
which  I  allude,  addressed  no  Government,  or  functionary  of  any  Government. 
It  is,  however,  addressed  to  Texans;  but  in  language  which  even  common 
courtesy  does  not  sanction. 

For  the  information  of  your  Excellency,  I  will  suggest,  that  the  commission 
sent  out  by  this  Government  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the  conditions  of  an 
armistice  between  the  two  countries  was  authorized  by  the  President  of  Texas, 
and  as  such  must  have  been  communicated  to  your  Excellency ;  otherwise  they 
could  not  have  been  received  in  their  official  capacity.  Their  credentials  alone 
entitled  them  to  the  recognition  of  yourself  or  officers. 

The  Texan  commissioners  had  special  and  prescribed  powers  delegated  to 
them,  and  all  their  acts  were  subject  to  the  review  and  rejection,  or  approval  of 
the  Executive.  Without  approval,  they  could  acquire  no  validity.  The  desig- 
nation of  Texas  as  a  department  of  the  Mexican  confederacy  so  called,  was 
highly  obnoxious  to  the  President,  and  consequently  the  conduct  of  the  com- 
missioners was,  at  once,  disapproved.  For  this,  you  are  now,  sir,  pleased  to 
express,  through  your  subaltern,  your  indignation  at  the  perfidious  conduct  of 
the  people  of  Texas. 

I  regret  much  that  you  have  given  this  complexion  to  the  affairs  of  the  two 
countries.  When  men,  by  chance  or  Providence,  have  been  elevated  to  the  rule 
of  nations,  and  entrusted  with  the  protection  of  the  best  interests  of  the  people, 


Santa  Anna's  Charge  of  Texan  Perfidy.        363 

it  must  be  considered  a  great  misfortune  if  they  entail  upon  them  calamities 
which  their  duties  as  philanthropists  should  teach  them  to  avert. 

When  belligerents,  even  in  the  most  angry  excitement  of  feeling,  are  arrayed 
against  each  other,  it  is  but  proper  that  their  chieftains  should  preserve  toward 
each  other  that  comity  which  might  render  them  approachable,  and  thereby 
avert  great  human  suffering  and  the  effusion  of  human  blood.  When  war  rages, 
all  ranks  and  conditions  are  subject  to  its  agitations  and  calamities.  Texas  has 
already  endured  the  extremest  agony,  and  will  endeavor  to  profit  by  her  experi- 
ence. Against  her,  you  have  again  denounced  war.  We  will  await  the  event. 
Eight  years  ago,  you  were  a  suppliant ;  obtained  your  liberation  without  ran- 
som, and  acknowledged  the  Government  of  Texas.  If  Texas  existed  then  as  a 
nation,  her  recognition  since  then  by  other  powers,  and  her  increased  commer- 
cial relations,  would  well  excuse  your  recognition  now  of  her  sovereignty.  But, 
sir,  you  speak  of  your  resources  and  power.  They  were  defied  and  triumphed 
over  in  1836  ;  and  if  you  invade  Texas  in  1844,  you  will  find  neither  her  prowess 
nor  the  success  of  her  arms  less  complete. 

I  desire  to  know  for  what  reason  you  have  charged  the  authorities  of  Texas 
with  perfidy.  Have  they  given  to  Mexico  any  pledge  they  have  not  redeemed  ? 
They  have  liberated  her  chiefs  and  soldiers  taken  on  the  field  of  battle,  without 
obligation  so  to  do.  But  they  are  of  a  race  which  permit  neither  their  word 
nor  their  honor  to  be  falsified.  How  has  it  been  with  Mexico  ?  The  capitula- 
tion of  Fannin  was  disregarded,  and  hundreds  massacred  in  cold  blood.  You 
indeed  denied  a  cognizance  of  this  fact ;  declared  that  you  were  implicated  by 
the  falsehood  of  General  Urrea,  and  that  if  you  ever  returned  to  your  country 
and  came  into  power,  you  would  execute  him  for  his  duplicity.  Have  you  done 
it  ?  You  have  power,  but  to  what  purpose  ?  Of  the  inoffensive  traders  who 
visited  Santa  Fe,  and  capitulated  to  your  officers,  what  was  the  treatment  ? 

They  were  slaughtered  by  the  way-side,  when  unable  to  march,  and  their  ears 
cut  off;  evidences,  indeed,  of  barbarity  not  heard  of  among  nations  pretending 
to  be  civilized,  since  the  ninth  century  of  the  Christian  era.  Again,  at  the  sur- 
render of  Mier,  your  officers  pledged  to  the  men  the  protection  due  to  prisoners 
of  war ;  in  fulfillment  of  which,  they  were  soon  after  barbarously  decimated, 
and  the  remainder  ever  since  held  in  chains  and  prison.  They  were  also  to  be 
returned  to  their  home  immediately  after  their  submission  ;  but  every  pledge 
given  to  them  has  been  violated.  Is  this  good  faith  ?  You  pledged  yourself 
also  solemnly,  through  H.  B.  M.  Ministers,  to  release  the  Texan  prisoners  in 
Mexico,  if  those  of  Mexico  remaining  in  Texas  should  be  set  at  liberty — which 
was  done  on  the  part  of  this  Government,  by  public  proclamation,  and  safe  con- 
duct offered  to  them  to  return  to  their  country.  Have  you  performed  your  part 
of  the  agreement  and  your  duty  ?  Are  they  free  ?  Will  all  this  justify  you  in 
'  charging,  through  General  Woll,  either  the  Government  or  citizens  of  Texas 
with  perfidy,  or  its  Executive  with  double  dealing  in  diplomacy? 

I  regret,  sir,  extremely,  that  it  has  been  my  duty  thus  to  advert  to  circum- 
stances which  must  be  as  disagreeable  to  you  as  to  myself.  But  you  have  in- 
voked it. 

You  have  denounced  war,  and  intend  to  prosecute  it ;  do  it  presently.  We 
will  abide  the  result.  Present  yourself  with  a  force  that  indicates  a  desire  of 
conquest,  and  with  all  the  appendages  of  your  power,  and  I  may  respect  your 


364  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

effort.     But  the  marauding  incursions  which  have  heretofore  characterized  your 
molestation,  will  only  deserve  the  contempt  of  honorable  minds. 
I  have  the  honor,  etc.,  etc. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


LETTER  TO  GEN.  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

WASHINGTON,  Texas,  January  31,  1843. 

VENERATED  FRIEND  : — A  multiplicity  of  concerns  has  prevented  me  from 
writing  oftentimes  to  you  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  in  Tennessee. 
It  has  not  been  for  a  want  of  inclination ;  nor  has  it  been  that  I  believed  it 
would  be  considered  irksome  by  you  to  peruse  my  letters.  The  many  and  con- 
tinued regards  which  you  have  kindly  evinced  toward  me  for  the  last  twenty- 
seven  years,  and  the  undiminished  confidence  reposed  in  me,  are  circumstances 
which  have  instructed  me  in  the  assurance  that  you  entertained  for  me  that 
solicitude  which  will  induce  sufficient  care  for  me  to  desire  a  knowledge  of  the 
success  which  may  betide  me  as  an  individual  and  a  man  engaged  in  the 
amelioration  and  improvement  of  the  condition  of  mankind. 

No  one  can  more  understandingly  appreciate  such  efforts  than  yourself,  who 
have  been  engaged  for  more  than  half  a  century  in  the  most  arduous  labors,  and 
constantly  opposed  by  obstacles  of  every  variety  of  character.  You  have  sur- 
mounted all,  and  in  retirement  enjoy  a  nation's  gratitude  for  the  matchless 
benefits  which  your  forecast  and  patriotism  have  conferred  upon  it ;  and  to  this 
is  added  the  admiration  of  mankind  !  You  are  truly  rich  in  earthly  blessings ; 
and  I  most  devoutly  hope  that  the  great  Dispenser  of  heavenly  rewards  will 
grant  you  an  everlasting  recompense. 

I  have  often  reflected  upon  the  trials  through  which 'you  have  passed,  and  ad- 
mired the  firmness  with  which  you  met  and  triumphed  over  opposition.  Re- 
cently I  have  seen  from  your  pen  a  manly  and  conclusive  vindication  of  your 
conduct  during  the  defense  of  New  Orleans  and  subsequent  events.  If  the  Ken- 
tuckian  has  any  shame,  he  has  abundant  reason  to  blush  for  his  foul  slander 
against  you.  Whilst  you  were  in  the  way  of  aspirants,  such  things  were. -to  be 
looked  for ;  but  when  retired  to  the  Hermitage,  and  in  delicate  health,  I  had 
hoped,  for  the  honor  of  my  native  land,  that  the  quiver  of  malice  and  detraction 
had  become  empty. 

Your  persecutors,  are  determined  to  pursue  you  to  the  last ;  and  if  they  could 
they  would  administer  to  you  "vinegar  mingled  with  gall."  I  commend  the 
course  pursued  by  you-  in  this  case,  as  it  has  presented  many  facts  of  history 
which  were  not  before  known  to  the  world.  I  trust,  from  the  masterly  vindica- 
tion, that  no  base  or  anonymous  slanders  will  ever  violate  the  sanctuary  of  your 
reputation  or  repose.  Whoever  undertakes  to  do  right  in  a  corrupt  or  degener- 
ate age,  or  in  the  midst  of  factions,  demagogues,  or  unprincipled  aspirants  may 
expect  to  pay  the  forfeit  of  their  repose.  No  man  deserves  the  name  nor  the 
reward  of  a  patriot  who  is  not  willing  to  hazard  everything  for  his  country,  and, 
if  necessary,  to  perish  for,  or  with  it,  rather  than  to  drag  out  a  humiliating 
existence. 


Houston  on  the  Stability  of  Constitutions.        365 

Peculiar  circumstances  influence  the  course  of  every  man  whose  duty  it  is  to 
discharge  high  and  important  delegated  trusts.  But  if  he  is  an  honest  man  he 
will  never  yield  principle  to  expediency,  in  the  hope  that  by  some  fortunate 
chance  he  may  be  enabled  to  repair  the  injury  which  he  has  inflicted  upon  his 
country  by  a  wish  to  conciliate  his  enemies  or  temporize  for  the  sake  of  har- 
mony. To  surrender  a  Constitution  to  tamperers  for  plans  by  which  they  may 
gain  power  to  subvert  principles  or  the  excitement  of  a  populace,  actuated  by 
demagogues,  I  regard  as  an  act  of  foul  treason.  And  he  whose  duty  it  is  to 
preserve  the  charter  of  his  country's  freedom,  and  yields  to  such  influences,  I 
esteem  either  a  dastard  or  a  traitor.  I  regret  to  entertain  the  impression  that 
every  day  lessens  the  veneration  which  men  and  politicians  have  heretofore  en- 
tertained, or  at  least  professed,  for  constitutions.  Once  they  were  held  in  ven- 
eration second  only  to  Holy  Writ ;  but  now  they  are  derided  by  many  openly, 
and  new  theories  set  up  in  their  place.  Statesmen  can  alone  appreciate  them, 
and  are  willing  to  rely  upon  them  as  the  only  saving  principle  of  self-govern- 
ment. The  above  doctrine  is  now  openly  advocated  by  many,  that  Legislatures 
have  the  right  not  only  to  exercise  the  powers  plainly  delegated  to  them  by 
the  Constitution,  but  that  they  have  likewise  the  right  to  exercise  all  powers  not 
expressly  prohibited  by  the  Constitution,  thus  destroying  all  the  checks  and  bal- 
ances of  free  government,  and  throwing  into  the  hands  of  the  legislative  depart- 
ment all  the  co-ordinate  powers  of  government.  This,  to  my  mind,  is  more 
dangerous  to  liberty  than  an  assumption  by  either  of  the  other  departments  of 
government.  For  if  either  of  the  others  should  attempt  to  assume,  or  actually 
assume,  a  power  or  powers  not  granted,  the  people  would  easily  become 
awakened  to  a  sense  of  the  danger  to  which  their  liberties  were  subject,  because 
they  are  not  regarded  so  immediately  connected  with  the  people  as  the  legisla- 
tive department,  and  are  in  their  character  more  responsible.  The  members  of 
Congress  being  more  numerous  than  the  other  departments,  do  not  individually 
incur  a  proportionate  degree  of  responsibility.  What  a  Legislature  does  is  done 
by  many,  or  rather  by  no  one ;  but  what  is  done  by  either  of  the  other  remaining 
departments  can  be  readily  ascertained,  promulgated,  and  the  transgressor 
identified. 

Assemblies  and  deliberative  bodies  have  often  destroyed  liberty;  but  no  indi- 
vidual, while  deliberative  bodies  have  remained  honest  and  incorruptible,  has 
ever  overthrown  the  liberties  of  any  people,  and  I  much  doubt  if  it  was  ever 
attempted.  Catiline,  though  unsuccessful,  no  doubt  had  many  friends  in  the 
Roman  Senate.  Caesar  and  Pompey  both  had  their  adherents,  and  the  corrup- 
tion and  the  factions  of  the  Senate  of  Rome  invited  Caesar  to  enslave  his 
country.  Cromwell  owed  his  elevation  to  a  corrupt  Parliament,  and  Napoleon 
was  indebted  to  the  oppression  and  misconduct  of  the  Assembly  of  France,  for 
his  power.  I  have  recently  seen  a  display  of  the  danger,  but  it  has  passed  by. 
If  ever  the  United  States  do,  and  they  must  change  their  form  of  government, 
it  will  be  owing  to  the  assumption  of  powers  by  the  Congress  and  the  frequency 
of  elections,  which  open  so  wide  a  field  to  demagogues  for  all  their  infamous 
practices. 

I  regard  all  republics  as  exposed  to  similar  catastrophes.  We  may  desire  that 
period  to  be  far  removed  from  our  day  when  such  results  must  take  place,  and  surely 
ever)'  patriot  will  cherish  a  hope  that  such  may  never  be  the  case.  But  when  we  look 


366  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

through  past  ages  and  contemplate  the  present  tendency  of  the  affairs  of  nations, 
we  can  not  but  entertain  many  painful  apprehensions  for  our  own  country's  safety. 
Demagogues  are  the  agents  of  mischief,  and  a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole 
lump.  When  the  mass  of  a  nation  becomes  either  slavish  in  spirit  or  corrupt  in 
principle,  the  friends  of  liberty  are  silenced. 

To  you,  General,  I  find  myself  vastly  indebted  for  many  principles  which  I 
have  never  abandoned  through  life.  One  is,  a  holy  love  of  country,  and  a  will- 
ingness to  make  every  sacrifice  to  its  honor  and  safety,  next  a  sacred  regard  for 
its  Constitution  and  laws,  with  an  eternal  hostility  and  opposition  to  all  banks. 

Now,  sir,  I  beseech  you  to  feel  assured  that  no  policy,  expediency,  fear,  01 
whim  shall  ever  cause  a  departure  from  these  principles,  but  that  I  will  cherish 
them  while  life  endures,  as  I  am  capable  of  feeling  one  grateful  emotion  from 
your  many  acts  of.  affectionate  kindness  to  me,  under  all  circumstances,  and  in 
every  vicissitude  of  life  in  which  you  have  known  me. 

I  will  not  close  this  long  letter  without  assuring  you  that  I  entertain  confidence 
in  the  speedy  success  of  Texas,  if  I  am  sustained  in  carrying  out  a  wise  policy, 
to  live  within  our  means,  act  defensively,  cultivate  our  rich  land,  raise  a  revenue 
from  import  duties,  make  and  keep  peace  with  the  Indians,  and,  if  possible,  get 
peace  with  Mexico,  in  the  meantime  watch  her,  be  prepared,  and  if  an  army  in- 
vades us,  never  to  let  them  return. 

Thy  devoted  friend,  SAM  HOUSTON 


LETTER  TO  GEN.  W.  S.  MURPHY. 

CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  Miiy  6,  1844. 
To  GEN.  W.  S.  MURPHY: 

My  Dear  General : — To-day,  Mrs.  Houston,  Master  Sam,  and  myself,  did  in- 
tend to  go  down  by  the  boat ;  but  as  matters  now  stand,  we  will  not  go  down 
for  some  days.  I  was  mortified  in  not  hearing  from  you,  and  particularly  so,  as 
I  learn  that  you  are  somewhat  annoyed  by  certain  influences.  These  we  must 
bear  with ;  and  can  do  so  with  a  greater  spirit  of  endurance,  for  we  know  from 
what  cause  they  arise.  It  is  true  that  some  men  are  like  the  fallen  angels,  and 
would  rather  rule  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven ;  such  men  are  bad  servants  of 
the  laws,  and  would  make  worse  rulers  than  servants.  I  trust  the  days  of 
anarchy  will  soon  be  numbered,  and  then  cease  for  a  thousand  years. 

Can't  you  come  up  by  the  next  boat  ?  If  you  can,  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  we  will  return  with  you  to  the  island,  or  pass  a  few  days  or  perchance 
weeks.  The  roads  continue  impassable  to  the  Trinity,  and  I  must  seek  to  get 
Mrs.  Houston  to  her  mother's  by  water. 

We  have  no  news  of  interest  here.  I  do  not  intend  leaving  until  something 
definite  transpires.  The  times  are  big  with  events  of  coming  circumstances  to 
Texas  and  the  world.  I  feel  that  matters  now  transacting  are,  if  carried  out,  to 
perpetuate  the  union  of  the  States,  by  the  annexation  of  Texas,  at  least  three 
centuries.  If  it  is  not  done  by  annexation,  the  Union  will  be  endangered,  their 
revenue  diminished,  and  a  European  influence  grow  up  in  Texas  from  our 
necessities  and  interest  that  will  most  effectually  pretermit  the  interest  of  the 


Texas  would  ~be  more  prosperous  if  not  Annexed.     367 

United  States,  so  far  as  they  are  to  look  for  the  sale  of  their  fabrics  in  the 
southern  section  of  this  continent,  and  a  forfeiture  of  our  sympathies.  Mexico 
in  a  short  time,  by  the  influence  which  Texas  can  command,  will  yield  every- 
thing to  the  superior  energy,  activity,  and  the  employment  of  well-directed 
capital,  which  will  flow  to  us  from  Europe,  and  render  us  the  beneficiaries  of  a 
vast,  important,  and  extensive  trade.  All  our  forts  will  soon  become  great  com- 
mercial marts ;  and  places  now  scarcely  noted  upon  our  maps,  will  be  built  up 
and  grow  into  splendid  cities.  These  are  but  few  advantages  which  are  noticed ; 
but  these,  to  the  statesmen  of  the  United  States,  ought  to  cause  ceaseless  efforts  to 
secure  so  rich  a  prize.  The  present  movement  is  the  only  one  the  United  States 
will  ever  enjoy  to  annex  Texas.  I  am  intensely  solicitous  to  see  the  matter  con- 
summated and  my  country  at  rest.  'Tis  true  that  we  are  not  to  be  great  gainers 
when  compared  to  the  United  States  in  what  they  derive.  Had  I  been  at 
Washington,  I  would  most  certainly  have  not  made  a  treaty  so  indefinite  as  to 
individual  rights  which  may  arise  and  be  involved  in  the  subject  of  annexation. 
We  surrender  everything,  and  in  reality  we  get  nothing  only  protection,  and 
that  at  the  hazard  of  being  invaded  or  annoyed  by  Mexico  before  any  aid  could 
be  rendered  by  the  United  States.  I  hope  that  the  precaution  taken  will  be 
such  as  to  deter  Mexico  from  any  attempt  upon  us.  The  fact  that  the  United 
States  is  one  of  the  rival  powers  of  the 'world,  will  render  that  nation  more 
liable  to  war  than  we  would  be  as  a  minor  power. 

There  are  a  thousand  reasons  which  I  could  urge  why  Texas  would  be  more 
secure  from  troubles  if  she  could  have  present  peace,  which  she  can  obtain 
readily  if  she  is  not  annexed.  When  we  once  become  a  part  and  parcel  of  the 
United  States  we  are  subject  to  all  their  vicissitudes.  Their  commercial  rela- 
tions are  extensive,  which  subjects  them  to  jealousy,  and  the  rivalry  of  other 
powers  who  will  seek  to  overreach  them  and  cramp  them  by  restriction  and 
annoy  them  by  interferences.  They  will  not  be  willing  to  submit  to  these 
things,  and  the  consequence  will  be  war.  Nor  will  this  danger  arise  from  any 
one  power  of  the  earth,  but  from  various  nations.  The  wealth  of  European 
nations  depends  more  upon  their  labor  than  the  people  of  this  continent.  We 
look  to  the  soil,  they  to  their  manufacturing  capacity,  for  the  means  of  life  as 
well  as  wealth.  These  facts  are  not  all,  and  indeed  but  a  very  partial  notice 
of  important  affairs.  The  political  relations  of  the  State  will  increase  and  be- 
come more  complicated  and  expensive  with  their  increase  of  power.  Not  only 
this,  but  they  too  will  grow  arrogant,  and  it  will  not  be  a  half  century,  if  the 
Union  should  last,  until  they  will  feel  a  strong  inclination  to  possess  by  force 
that  which  they  at  the  present  would  be  willing  to  make  a  subject  of  negotiation 
and  treaty.  In  all  contingencies,  if  we  are  annexed,  we  have  to  bear  a  part  of 
their  troubles,  no  matter  of  what  character.  Alone  and  independent,  Texas 
would  be  enabled  to  stand  aloof  from  all  matters  unconnected  with  her  existence 
as  a  nation ;  while  the  causes  of  war  to  the  United  States  would  be  a  source  ot 
benefit  and  prosperity  to  her.  War  could  grow  up  between  no  power  and  the 
United  States,  but  what  Texas  would  be  the  beneficiary.  The  values  of  our 
staples  would  be  enhanced,  and  that  arising  from  influences  of  war  upon  the 
United  States.  Texas,  enjoying  as  she  does  a  situation  on  the  Gulf  and  a  neu- 
tral attitude,  would  derive  the  greatest  possible  benefits.  Calamity  to  other 
nations  would  be  wealth  and  power  to  Texas.  The  encouragement  given  to  us 
by  the  demand  for  our  staples  would  increase  our  individual  as  well  as  our 


368  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

national  wealth.     The  fleets  of  belligerents  would  be  supplied  with  meats  from 
our  natural  pastures,  and  the  sale  of  our  superabundant  herds  would,  when 
added  to  the  sale  of  our  other  commodities,  give  us  more  wealth  than  any  other 
nation  in  comparison  to  our  population.     Apart  from  this,  if  we  should  not  be 
annexed,  all  the  European  nations  will  introduce  with  alacrity  vast  numbers  of 
emigrants,  because  it  will  enable  them  to  extend  their  commerce.     Those  who 
migrate  from  the  different  nations  to  Texas  will  retain  predilections  for  many 
years  in  favor  of  the  partialities  which  nativity  carries  with  it  in  after-life.     That 
France,  as  well  as  England,  will  pour  into  our  country  vast  numbers  of  indus- 
trious citizens,  there  can  be  no  doubt.     Belgium,  Holland,  other  countries  will 
not  be  remiss -in  their  duty,  despite  consequences.     All  these  countries  have  an 
excess  of  population,  and  the  common  policy  and  economy  of  nations  is  such 
that  they  will  have  a  care  to  the  location  of  those  who  leave  their  native  coun- 
tries.    Never,  to  my  apprehension,  have  all  nations  evinced  the  same  disposition 
to  commerce  as  that  which  is  now  exercised  and  entertained.     Hence  no  time 
has  ever  been  so  propitious  for  the  rebuilding  of  a  nation  possessed  of  our  ad- 
vantages as  that  which  Texas  at  this  moment  enjoys,  in  the  event  that  the 
measure  of  annexation  should  fail.     Its  failure  can  only  result  from  selfishness 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  or  Congress  of  the  United  States.     If  faction  or 
a  regard  to  present  party  advantages  should  defeat  the  measure,  you  may  de- 
pend upon  one  thing,  and  that  is,  that  the  glory  of  the  "United  States  has 
already  calamities.     A  rival  power  will  soon  be  built  up,  and  the  Pacific,  as  well 
as  the  Atlantic,  will  be  component  parts  of  Texas  in  thirty  years  from  this  date. 
The  Oregon  region,  in  geographical  affinity,  will  attach  to  Texas.     By  this  coali- 
tion or  union  the  barrier  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  will  be  dispensed  with  or  ob- 
viated.    England  and  France,  in  anticipation  of  such  an  event,  would  not  be  so 
tenacious  on  the  subject  of  Oregon  as  if  the  United  States  were  to  be  the  safe 
possessor  of  it.     When  such  an  event  would  take  place,  or  in  anticipation  of 
such  a  result,  all  the  powers  which  either  envy  or  fear  the  United  States,  would 
use  all  reasonable  exertions  to  build  us  up  as  the  only  rival  power  which  can 
ever  exist  on  this  continent  to  that  of  the  United  States.     Considering  our 
origin,  these  speculations  may  seem  chimerical,  and  that  such  things  can  not 
take  place.     A  common  origin  has  its  influence  so  long  as  a  common  interest 
exists,  and  no  longer.     Sentiment  tells  well  in  love  matters,  or  in  a  speech,  but 
in  the  affairs  and  transactions  of  nations  there  is  no  sentiment  or  feeling  but 
one,  and  that  is  essentially  selfish.     I  regard  nations  as  corporations  on  a  large 
and  sometimes  magnificent  scale,  but  no  more  than  this.     Consequently  they 
have  no  soul,  and  recognize  no  mentor  but  interest.     Texas,  once  set  apart  and 
rejected  by  the  United  States,  would  feel  that  she  was  of  humble  origin,  and  if 
a  prospect  was  once  presented  to  her  of  becoming  a  rival  to  the  United  States, 
it  would  only  stimulate  her  to  feelings  of  emulation,  and  it  would  be  her  least 
consideration  that  by  her  growth  to  power  she  would  overcome  the  humility  ot 
her  early  condition.     So  the  very  causes  which  now  operate  with  Texas  and 
incline  her  to  annexation  may  at  some  future  period  be  the  cause  of  most  active 
and  powerful  animosity  between  the  two  countries.     This,  too,  we  must  look  at, 
for  it  will  be  the  case  whenever  difficulties  arise  between  the  ynited  States  and 
Texas  ;  if  they  are  to  remain  two  distinct  nations,  the  powers  of  Europe  will  not 
look  upon  our  affairs  with  indifference,  and  no  matter  what  their  proiessions 
may  be  of  neutrality,  they  can  always  find  means  of  evasion.     The  union  of 


Various  Suggestions  as  to  Boundary  Lines.      369 

Oregon  and  Texas  will  be  much  more  natural  and  convenient  than  for  either 
separately  to  belong  to  the  United  States.  This,  too,  would  place  Mexico  at 
the  mercy  of  such  a  power  as  Oregon  and  Texas  would  form  ;  such  an  event 
may  appear  fanciful  to  many,  but  I  assure  you  there  are  no  Rocky  Mountains 
interposing  to  such  a  project.  But  one  thing  can  prevent  its  accomplishment, 
and  that  is  annexation.  If  you,  or  any  statesman,  will  only  regard  the  map  ot 
North  America,  you  will  perceive  that  from  the  forty-sixth  degree  of  latitude, 
north,  there  is  the  commencement  of  a  natural  boundary.  This  will  embrace 
the  Oregon,  and  from  thence  south  on  the  Pacific  coast  to  the  twenty-ninth  or 
thirtieth  degree  south  latitude,  will  be  a  natural  and  convenient  extent  of  sea 
land.  I  am  free  to  admit  that  most  of  the  provinces  of  Chihuahua,  Sonora,  and 
the  Upper  and  Lower  Californias,  as  well  as  Santa  Fe,  which  we  now  claim, 
will  have  to  be  brought  into  the  connection  of  Texas  and  Oregon.  This  you 
will  see,  by  reference  to  the  map,  is  no  bugbear  to  those  who  will  reflect  upon 
the  achievement  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  people.  What  have  they  ever  attempted 
and  recoiled  in  submission  to  defeat  ?  Nothing,  I  would  answer. 

Population  would  be  all  that  would  be  needful ;  for,  with  it  resources  would  be 
afforded  for  the  accomplishment  of  any  enterprise.  As  to  the  proposition  that 
the  provinces  of  Mexico  would  have  to  be  our  own,  there  is  nothing  in  this ;  for 
you  may  rely  upon  the  fact  that  the  Mexicans  only  require  kind  and  humane 
masters  to  make  them  happy  people,  and  secure  them  against  the  savage  hordes 
who  harass  them  constantly,  and  bear  their  women  and  children  into  bondage. 
Secure  them  from  these  calamities,  and  they  would  bless  any  power  that  would 
grant  them  such  a  boon. 

The  Rocky  Mountains  interposing  between  Missouri  and  Oregon  will  very 
naturally  separate  them  from  the  United  States  when  they  see  the  advantages 
arising  from  a  connection  with  another  nation  of  the  same  language  and  habits 
with  themselves.  The  line  of  Texas  running  with  the  Arkansas,  and  extending 
to  the  great  desert,  would  mark  a  natural  boundary  between  Texas  or  a  new 
and  vast  Republic  to  the  southwest.  If  this  ever  takes  place,  you  may  rely  upon 
one  thing,  which  is  this :  that  a  nation  embracing  the  advantage  of  the  extent 
of  seventeen  degrees  on  the  Pacific,  and  so  extensive  a  front  on  the  Atlantic  as 
Texas  does,  will  not  be  less  than  a  rival  power  to  any  of  the  nations  now  in  ex- 
istence. You  need  not  estimate  the  population  which  is  said  or  reputed  to 
occupy  the  vast  territory  embraced  between  the  twenty-ninth  and  forty-sixth 
degrees  of  latitude  on  the  Pacific.  They  will,  like  the  Indian  race,  yield  to  the 
advance  of  the  North  American  population.  The  amalgamation,  under  the  ad- 
visement of  statesmen,  can  not  fail  to  produce  the  result  in  producing  a  united 
government  formed  of  and  embracing  the  limits  suggested.  It  may  be  urged 
that  these  matters  are  remote.  Be  it  so.  Statesmen  are  intended  by  their  fore- 
cast to  regulate  and  arrange  matters  in  such  sort  as  will  give  direction  to  events 
by  which  the  future  is  to  be  benefited  or  prejudiced.  You  may  fully  rely,  my 
friend,  that  future  ages  will  profit  by  these  facts,  while  we  will  only  contemplate 
them  in  perspective.  They  must  come.  It  is  impossible  to  look  upon  the  map 
of  North  America  and  not  to  perceive  the  rationale  of  the  project. 

Men  may  laugh  at  these  suggestions,  but  when  we  are  withdrawn  from  all  the 
petty  influences  which  now  exist,  these  matters  will  be  those  of  the  most  grave 
and  solemn  national  import.     I  do  not  care  to  be  in  any  way  identified  with 
them.     They  are  the  results  of  destiny,  over  which  I  have  no  control. 
24 


370  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

If  the  treaty  is  not  ratified  I  will  require  all  future  negotiations  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  Texas.  I  have  written  much  more  than  what  I  expected,  and  it  seems 
to  me  that  I  have  run  into  a  prosaic  strain.  As  I  have  many  letters  to  answer, 
I  pray  you  to  think  that  I  have  not  been  grudging  with  you. 

Truly  your  friend,  SAM  HOUSTON 


LETTER  TO  GEN.  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

WASHINGTON,  Texas,  February  16,  1844. 

VENERATED  FRIEND  : — Your  several  favors  of  the  last  month  have  reached 
me  safely  and  with  expedition.  I  have  given  all  the  attention  to  their  contents 
which  your  views,  as  well  as  the  subject-matter  itself,  demanded.  You  are  fully 
aware  that  every  circumstance  in  which  you  feel  a  deep  interest,  or  what- 
ever may  concern  you  individually,  awakens  in  me  emotions  of  the  liveliest 
regard. 

It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  the  subject  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  to  the 
United  States  has  commanded  the  most  profound  deliberation  of  which  I  am 
capable.  Heretofore,  the  demeanor  of  the  United  States  toward  us  has  been 
such  as  to  discourage  any  hope  which  the  friends  of  the  measure  might  enter- 
tain. Our  situation  also  has  been  peculiar  and  difficult.  I  have  found  mysell 
surrounded  with  internal  difficulties  as  well  as  external  dangers.  It  was  my 
duty,  as  Executive,  to  have  an  eye  to  every  emergency  which  might  possibly 
arise.  My  situation  certainly  might  have  excused,  or  even  justified,  a  compro- 
mittal  on  my  part,  with  the  hope  of  securing  for  my  country  a  respite  from  ex- 
isting calamities.  I  am  happy  to  assure  you,  however,  that  I  have  incurred  no 
committal  prejudicial  to  her  interests  or  my  own  honor,  and  am  free  to  take  any 
action  which  her  future  welfare  may  require,  and  be  perfectly  vindicated  from 
any  imputation  of  bad  faith  toward  any  nation  or  individual.  This  assurance 
may  appear  strange  to  you,  for  I  assure  you  it  is  even  surprising  to  myself,  that 
the  necessities  of  our  circumstances  had  not  suggested  some  hazardous  measure 
for  their  alleviation  or  improvement.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  or  my  hearty 
co-operation  required,  I  am  determined  upon  immediate  annexation  to  the  United 
States. 

It  is  not  the  result  of  feeling,  nor  can  I  believe  that  the  measure  would  be  as 
advantageous  to  Texas  if  she  had  permanent  peace,  as  it  is  indispensably  neces- 
sary to  the  United  States.  Texas,  with  peace,  could  exist  without  the  United 
States,  but  the  United  States  can  not,  without  great  hazard  to  the  security 
of  their  institutions,  exist  without  Texas.  The  United  States  are  one  of  the 
rival  powers  of  the  earth,  and  from  their  importance,  as  well  as  the  peculiarity  of 
their  institutions  and  the  extent  of  their  commercial  relations,  they  must  expect, 
at  no  distant  day,  wars,  the  object  of  which  will  be  to  prevent  their  continu- 
ance, if  possible,  as  a  nation.  Situated  as  Texas  is,  in  point  of  locality,  with 
peace  she  would  have  nothing  to  apprehend  for  years  to  come.  Other  nations 
would  not  dread  her  rivalry,  but  rather  count  her  friendship  for  commercial 
advantage.  Her  people  would  have  nothing  to  divert  them  from  their  agricult- 
ural pursuits.  Her  advancement  in  the  arts  of  peace  and  commerce  would  be 
inevitable.  With  a  government  requiring  trifling  expenditures,  and  a  tariff  much 


To  Gen.  Jackson  on  Annexation.  371 

lower  than  that  of  the  United  States,  she  would  invite  the  commerce  of  all  na- 
tions to  her  ports,  as  is  already,  to  some  extent,  the  case ;  and  whilst  she  thus 
increased  the  demand  for  her  productions  she  would  drive  the  manufacturers  of 
the  United  States  from  her  markets,  from  the  fact  that  American  manufacturers 
could  not  so  well  compete  with  those  of  Europe.  In  this  way  the  immense 
trade  of  the  northern  Mexican  States,  as  well  as  Texas,  would  fall  into  the  hands 
of  European  merchants,  and  pass  through  our  ports  and  territory.  In  a  few  years 
the  loss  to  the  American  manufacturer  would  not  be  a  small  amount.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  by  annexation  these  advantages  would  be  secured  to  the  Amer- 
ican merchant,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  European,  for  we  should  then  be  but  one 
Government,  and,  consequently,  in  the  markets  of  Texas,  no  duties  could  be 
levied  upon  home  manufactures.  The  tariff  of  the  United  States  would  operate 
then  to  insure  to  their  own  citizens  a  valuable  market  which  must  otherwise  in- 
evitably be  lost  to  them,  not  to  say  anything  about  the  embarrassments  to  their 
revenues  by  the  smuggling  which  would  certainly  be  carried  on.  The  exchange 
of  commodities  between  Texas  and  Europe  would  give  rise  to  a  feeling  of  re- 
ciprocal benefit,  and  there  would  be  nothing  in  all  this  to  excite  national 
cupidity  or  jealousy  toward  us.  Thus  situated,  Texas  might  remain  at  peace 
for  a  half-century,  nor  is  it  probable  that  she  would  even  then  have  war,  unless 
it  was  with  Mexico.  Her  resources  having  accumulated  for  this  period,  she 
would  have  sufficient  means  and  ample  capacity  to  subjugate  Mexico  when- 
ever she  might  choose  so  to  do.  The  efficiency  and  hardy  character  of  her  popu- 
lation would  also  enable  wise  leaders  to  render  subservient  the  means  of  Mexico 
to  her  own  subjugation.  This  is  an  imperfect  glance  at  some  of  the  advantages 
which  Texas  might  hope  for  as  a  separate  power. 

By  immediate  annexation,  we  relieve  ourselves  of  the  solicitude  which  we  have 
felt  as  to  our  situation.  Yet  that  would  be  no  guarantee  for  immediate  peace. 
Mexico  might  make  annexation  a  cause  of  war,  and  inflict  annoyances  upon  us. 
It  might  be  some  time  before  the  proper  aid  from  the  United  States  would  be 
available  for  our  defense  against  incursion  ;  such  incursion  would  seriously  in- 
terrupt our  citizens  in  their  peaceful  avocations.  It  is  quite  possible,  too,  that 
England  and  France  would  be  greatly  dissatisfied  at  the  consummation  of  the 
contemplated  measure,  and  if  so,  though  no  great  injury  to  the  United  States 
might  eventually  result,  yet  it  would  at  least  give  much  complication  to  the  af- 
fairs of  the  nation. 

You  may  rely  upon  it,  General,  that  it  is  essentially  important  to  Texas  to  be 
protected  by  the  United  States  against  the  contingencies  hinted  at,  even  during 
the  progress  of  negotiations. 

This  must  be  assured  to  her,  otherwise  she  may  act  unwisely  in  entertaining 
any  proposition  on  the  subject  for  a  single  moment.  I,  however,  rely  with  con- 
fidence upon  the  magnanimity  of  that  Government  to  see  that  she  suffers  no 
detriment,  either  now  or  hereafter,  from  the  plain  manifestation  of  affection 
toward  the  mother-land. 

There  is  a  sameness  or  unity  in  our  national  interests  and  institutions  in 
Texas  which  does  not  exist  in  the  United  States.  All  our  population  is  agricult- 
ural, and  we  have  no  sectional  institutions  or  diversified  interests.  The  farm- 
ing, manufacturing,  maritime,  and  mercantile  interests  all  claim  the  peculiar  con- 
sideration of  the  national  Congress.  Texas,  independent,  would  be  free  from 
the  agitations  arising  from  this  condition  of  things.  The  interests  of  the  North 


372  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

and  the  South  render  it  almost  two  distinct  nations.  The  question  of  slavery 
can  not  arise  in  Texas.  One  portion  of  the  Republic  can  not,  on  this  subject,  be 
arrayed  against  another.  By  annexation  we  should  subject  ourselves  to  the 
hazard  of  tranquillity  and  peace  on  this  subject,  which  as  a  separate  power 
would  not  exist.  The  debt  of  Texas  is  a  mere  "  drop  in  the  bucket."  Our  pub- 
lic domain  comprises  at  least  150,000,000  of  acres  of  arable  land,  with  every 
delightful  variety  of  climate,  and  every  natural  advantage  which  a  country  of  the 
same  extent  could  possibly  enjoy. 

But  notwithstanding  I  take  this  view  of  things,  my  deliberate  judgment  has 
led  me  to  the  conclusion,  founded  upon  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  our  con- 
dition, that  the  present  policy  of  Texas  dictates  that  I  should  unreservedly  co- 
operate in  the  contemplated  measure.  I  think  it  wisdom  growing  out  of  neces- 
sity, and  not  an  abandonment  of  principle.  If  there  is  any  selfishness  in  my 
heart  I  do  not  know  it.  I  have  now  lived  for  half  a  century,  and  thirty  years  of 
that  time  I  have  been  chiefly  engaged  in  active  employment  for,  as  I  believed, 
the  advancement  of  human  happiness.  How  far  I  may  have  been  useful  is  a 
question  I  never  ask.  How  my  actions  are  to  be  appreciated,  so  they  are  right,  I 
never  care.  I  have  been  actuated  all  my  life  from  feelings  of  honorable  emula- 
tion, but  not  those  of  empty  ambition,  nor  the  idle  vanity  of  commanding  the 
plaudits  merely  of  the  world.  Circumstances  have  thrown  me  into  prominent 
and  responsible  situations,  and  like  yourself,  General,,  I  have  received  a  full 
share  of  abuse.  But  that  has  never  deterred  me  from  doing  what  I  believe  to 
be  right,  regardless  of  consequences. 

I  have  no  desire  to  see  war  renewed  again  in  Texas.  It  is  not  the  apprehen- 
sion of  personal  danger  that  would  alarm  me,  but  rather  the  deleterious  influ- 
ence which  it  has  upon  our  population.  The  revolution  has  already  introduced 
into  Texas  .more  wicked  and  ambitious  men  than  could  be  desired  in  our  present 
condition.  In  armies  and  in  camps  such  men  have  an  opportunity  of  extending 
their  acquaintance,  and  of  deriving  some  prominence  from  associations  which 
totally  disqualifies  them  from  usefulness  in  a  peaceful  community.  Unwilling  to 
embark  in  the  useful  avocations  of  life,  in  many  instances  they  become  restless 
demagogues  or  useless  loafers.  They  are  either  ready  to  consume  the  substance 
which  they  have  not  earned,  or  to  form  combinations  unfavorable  to  good  order 
and  the  administration  of  the  laws.  Peace  in  Texas  would  relieve  us  from  such 
people,  and  in  the  absence  of  their  baleful  influence  give  to  society  a  vigorous 
constitution  and  healthy  complexion.  All  the  evils  which  we  have  experienced 
have  resulted  from  such  characters,  and  unless  we  have  peace  permanently  es- 
tablished among  us  we  can  not  tell  when  a  September  election  might  not  sub- 
ject the  country  to  the  misrule  of  such  men  for  three  years. 

Furthermore,  I  wish  to  reside  in  a  land  where  all  will -be  subordinate  to  law, 
and  where  none  dare  to  defy  its  mandates.  I  have  arrived  at  that  period  of  life 
when  I  desire  retirement,  and  assurance  that  whatever  I  possess  will  be  secured 
to  me  by  just  laws  wisely  administered.  This  privilege  I  would  deem  a  rich  re- 
quital for  whatever  I  may  have  performed  useful  in  life.  With  it  I  would  be 
happy  to  retire  from  all  the  cares  of  public  station,  and  live  in  the  enjoyment  of 
the  reflection  that  if  I  had  been  serviceable  to  any  portion  of  mankind  their 
prosperity  and  happiness  were  ample  recompense.  I  would  give  no  thought  to 
what  the  world  might  say  of  me,  when  I  could  transmit  to  posterity  the  reputa- 
tion of  an  honest  man. 


Texas'  Final  Offer  of  Annexation.  373 

A  special  Minister,  together  with  our  resident  Charge,  has  been  appointed, 
with  full  powers  and  dispatches  to  consummate  the  work  of  annexation.  But 
that  you  may  be  more  perfectly  informed  of  everything  interesting  connected 
with  the  subject,  I  have  directed  my  private  secretary  and  confidential  friend, 
W.  D.  Miller,  Esq.,  to  convey  my  personal  salutation  and  embraces  to  you, 
with  authority  to  communicate  everything  and  upon  every  subject.  Mr.  Miller 
is  a  young  gentleman  who  has  been  connected  with  me  in  my  office  since  the 
commencement  of  my  present  administration.  He  knows  all  my  actions  and 
understands  all  my  motives.  I  have  concealed  nothing  from  him,  nor  will  he 
conceal  anything  from  you.  Mr.  Miller  bears  dispatches,  and  has  been  ap- 
pointed Secretary  to  the  Secret  Legation  at  Washington.  If  you  should  desire 
to  send  any  communication  to  Washington,  you  will  find  him  a  ready  writer, 
and  he  will  take  pleasure  in  serving  you  as  an  amanuensis. 

Now,  my  venerated  friend,  you  will  perceive  that  Texas  is  presented  to  the 
United  States,  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  espousal.  But  if,  now  so  confident  of 
the  union,  she  should  be  rejected,  her  mortification  would  be  indescribable*?  She 
has  been  sought  by  the  United  States,  and  this  is  the  third  time  she  has  con- 
sented. Were  she  now  to  be  spurned,  it  would  forever  terminate  expectation 
on  her  part,  and  it  would  then  not  only  be  left  for  the  United  States  to  expect 
that  she  would  seek  some  other  friend,  but  all  Christendom  would  justify  her  in 
a  course  dictated  by  necessity  and  sanctioned  by  wisdom.  However  adverse 
this  might  be  to  the  wishes  or  the  interest  of  the  United  States  in  her  present 
situation,  she  could  not  ponder  long.  The  course  adopted  by  the  United  States, 
if  it  stop  short  of  annexation,  will  displease  France,  irritate  England,  and  exas- 
perate Mexico.  An  effort  to  postpone  it  to  a  more  convenient  season  may  be 
tried  in  the  United  States  to  subserve  party  purposes  and  make  a  President. 
Let  them  beware.  I  take  it  that  it  is  of  too  great  magnitude  for  any  impedi- 
ment to  be  interposed  to  its  execution.  That  you  may  live  to  see  your  hopes  in 
relation  to  it  crowned  with  complete  success,  I  sincerely  desire.  In  the  event 
that  it  speedily  takes  place,  I  hope  it  will  afford  me  an  opportunity  of  visiting 
you  again  at  the  Hermitage  with  my  family.  It  is  our  ardent  desire  to  see  the 
day  when  you  can  lay  your  hand  on  our  little  boy's  head,  and  bestow  upon  him 
your  benediction.  Be  assured,  General,  that  I  should  rejoice  if  circumstances 
should  afford  an  opportunity  for  an  event  so  desirable  to  us. 

Be  pleased  to  make  the  united  salutations  of  Mrs.  H.  and  myself  to  your  fam- 
ily. We  unite  our  prayers  for  your  happiness,  and  join  in  the  expression  of  our 
affectionate  regard  for  you. 

Truly  your  friend,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


PART     IV. 

PUBLISHED     SPEECHES. 


SPEECH  ON  THE  MILITARY  OCCUPATION   OF  SANTA  F£,  AND 

IN  DEFENSE  OF  TEXAS  AND  THE  TEXAN  VOLUNTEERS 

IN  THE  MEXICAN  WAR. 

Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  June  29,  and  July  3,  1850. 

'T'^HE  following  resolution,  submitted  by  Mr.  Cass  on  the  27th  of  June,  being 
-^  under  consideration : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs  be  instructed  to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  of  prohibiting  by  law  any  Officer  of  the  Army  from  assum- 
ing or  exercising  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States  any  civil  power  or 
authority  not  conferred  by  an  act  of  Congress,  and  of  providing  an  adequate 
punishment  for  such  offenses. 

To  which  resolution  Mr.  Hale  offered  the  following  amendment,  viz. 

"  And  that  this  said  committee  also  inquire  whether,  at  any  time  since  the 
commencement  of  the  late  war  with  Mexico,  any  orders  have  been  issued  by 
this  Administration  conferring  civil  authority  upon  any  Officer  of  the  Army  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  exercised  without  the  limits  of  the  several  States  of  the 
Union,  and,  if  so,  by  whom,  and  to  whom,  and  by  virtue  of  what  laws  were  said 
orders  issued. " 

Mr.  HOUSTON  said :  Mr.  President,  I  will  not  vote  for  the  amendment.  I  am 
perfectly  willing  to  concede  that  orders  were  given  under  the  late  Executive 
while  we  were  in  a  state  of  war  with  Mexico,  for  the  occupation  of  the  Terri- 
tories, and,  in  some  instances,  of  States,  by  military  forces,  and  that  on  some 
occasions  their  people  were  subjected  to  martial  law ;  but  at  the  same  time  I 
shall  insist  that  the  circumstances  of  the  case  fully  authorized  the  occupa- 
tion of  this  territory  at  that  time  by  the  authorities  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  it  was  necessary  for  the  proper  conduct  of  the  war  against  the  enemy.  I 
hold  that  this  was  not  the  case  in  time  of  profound  peace. 

During  the  war,  the  State  authorities  were  not  in  a  situation  to  give  the  secu- 
rity and  protection  to  citizens  that  they  were  previously  enabled  to  do,  but 
which  the  United  States  was  bound  to  do.  Under  these  circumstances  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  State  of  Texas  was  occupied  by  the  forces  of  the 
United  States,  and  temporarily  placed  under  military  government.  California 
was  similarly  organized,  and  a  military  officer  was  appointed  its  civil  governor 
for  temporary  purposes ;  but  this  was  not  during  a  time  of  peace — it  was  during 
war.  I  presume  that  no  Senator  here  will  say  that  the  present  necessities  are 
of  such  a  character  as  to  authorize  the  exercise  of  military  authority  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  a  State.  If,  sir,  these  acts  were  thus  excusable,  or  if  I  could  en- 

(375) 


376  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

tertain  the  same  views  with  the  Senator  from  New  York  [Mr.  Seward],  then  I 
might  content  myself  with  the  expression  of  regret  that  they  had  occurred.  But 
I  do  not  do  so,  and  therefore  I  have  no  such  regret  to  express.  For  an  outrage 
so  flagrant,  committed  on  the  rights  of  a  State,  I  seek  no  apology,  and  I  will 
fancy  no  palliation  or  excuse,  because  it  might  give  encouragement  to  future  ag- 
gressions which  would  lead  to  the  destruction  of  the  rights  of  States,  and  of  the 
Confederacy  itself. 

Under  these  circumstances  I  am  bound  at  once  to  meet  the  occasion.  By 
what  authority,  I  ask,  and  under  what  sanction  of  constitutional  law,  has  the 
Executive  of  the  United  States  authorized  a  subordinate  officer,  within  the  limits 
of  a  sovereign  State,  to  convoke  the  citizens  by  military  authority  to  form  a  con- 
stitution within  the  limits  of  that  State,  and  to  present  it  to  this  body,  at  a  time 
too,  of  all  others,  when  such  a  course  was  most  calculated  to  produce  unwhole- 
some and  unpleasant  effects  upon  the  Union  ?  And  for  what  ?  To  effectuate  a 
plan  which  has  been  projected  by  the  Executive  for  the  carrying  out  of  measures 
endeared  to  him,  because  of  his  claims  to  their  paternity.  Sir,  this  is  no  apolo- 
gy to  a  sovereign  State  for  an  outrage  committed  upon  her  rights  ;  no  palliation 
for  offenses  against  the  Constitution;  nor  will.it  be  received  as  such  by  the 
American  people.  I  know  our  correctives,  and  recourse  to  impeachment  is  one 
of  them.  But  when  was  a  culprit  brought  to  condign  punishment  by  impeach- 
ment ?  It  is  but  a  solemn  farce,  and  furnishes  no  effectual  remedy.  Then,  if  A 
subaltern  officer  were  arrested,  could  he  be  punished  for  an  offense  perpetrated 
in  obedience  to  the  order  of  his  superior  officer  ?  No,  sir,  martial  law  has  wise- 
ly shielded  him,  and  though  arraigned,  he  can  not  be  punished  if  he  has  the  war- 
rant of  his  superior  for  what  he  has  done.  It  is  the  more  necessary,  then,  to 
ascertain  whether  this  officer  [Brevet  Colonel  Monroe]  acted  under  the  authority 
of  his  superior;  and,  if  he  has,  severe  reprobation  should  be  visited  upon  the 
offender,  and  not  only  upon  the  inferior  executive  officer,  who  only  executes  the 
commands  of  his  superior. 

Sir,  there  has  been  an  unfortunate  prejudice  entertained  on  the  part  of  the 
Executive,  whether  as  Commanding  General  in  the  field,  or  as  Chief  Executive 
of  the  Nation,  against  the  citizens  of  the  State  which  I  have  the  honor,  in  part, 
to  represent. 

The  people  of  that  State  have  been  unwarrantably  assailed,  traduced,  and  de- 
famed by  the  present  Executive  of  the  Nation,  when  a  General  in  the  field.  It 
I  were  not  fully  sustained  by  incontestable  authority,  I  would  scorn  to  impute  to 
any  high  functionary  of  this  Government  aught  that  was  unworthy  of  his  station, 
or  the  high  position  which  he  occupies ;  but  I  am  fully  sustained  in  every  word  I 
say,  as  I  will  show  by  reference  to  testimony  stronger  than  the  mere  assertion  of 
a  political  opponent,  that  will  carry  conviction  to  the  mind  of  every  candid  man 
who  is  disposed  to  canvass  or  discuss  truth  when  it  is  presented  to  him. 

On  the  29th  of  March,  previous  to  the  war  with  Mexico,  when  General  Taylor 
occupied  a  position  on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Grande,  as  commander  of  the  army  of 
occupation,  before  one  blow  was  struck,  what  does  the  General  say  in  reference  to 
the  Texans,  not  one  of  whom,  up  to  that  hour,  had  ever  been  placed  under  his  com- 
mand, that  I  am  aware  of,  and  not  a  solitary  corps  was  then  ranged  under  his 
banner,  and  yet  what  does  he  say  of  them  ?  In  reference  to  the  critical  position 
of  the  army,  as  then  supposed,  he  said,  "  Under  this  state  of  things  I  must  again 
urgently  call  your  attention  to  the  necessity  of  speedily  sending  recruits  to  this 


Prejudice  of  the  President  against  Texans.       377 

army — the  militia  of  Texas  are  so  remote  from  the  border  and  so  inefficient  when 
they  arrive,  that  we  can  not  depend  upon  their  aid."  Sir,  he  has  assumed  the 
responsibility  of  defaming  the  character  of  men,  who,  to  say  the  least  of  them, 
had  never  given  the  least  occasion  for  such  an  imputation  as  this — men  who 
would  have  rallied  to  his  standard  in  a  moment  if  he  had  given  the  least  intima- 
tion to  them — men  who  would  have  periled  everything  in  defense  of  their  terri- 
tory— men  who,  in  recollection  of  former  deeds,  would  have  offered  up  their 
hearts'  blood  in  vindication  of  the  honor  of  the  flag  of  that  Union  with  which 
they  had  become  incorporated,  and  to  which  the  bright  lustre  of  their  own  lone 
star  had  been  added.  Yet  he  says  the  army  was  in  a  position  of  peril,  and  he  could 
not  depend  upon  them.  When,  I  ask,  had  they  ever  been  inefficient  or  delinquent 
in  time  of  peril,  or  recreant  in  the  hour  of  danger  ?  Yet  here  a  high  functionary 
of  the  Government,  the  head  of  a  gallant  army,  whose  heart  ought  to  have  been 
filled  with  admiration  of  valorous  deeds,  and  ready  to  award  the  tribute  that  is 
due  to  unconquerable  courage,  stigmatizes  the  men  of  Texas  as  inefficient  and 
unreliable  in  time  of  peril.  Experience  had  never  enabled  him  to  judge  of  them, 
and  was  this,  then,  no  manifestation  of  prejudice?  Why,  sir,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  rangers,  if  he  had  called  them  into  service,  would  have  repulsed  any  attempt 
that  might  have  been  made  to  cross  the  Rio  Grande.  And  the  songs  of  peace 
would  have  been  heard  uninterruptedly  until  this  day  upon  the  banks  of  that 
i  iver.  Five  hundred  Texan  rangers  would  have  been  more  than  enough  to  ac- 
complish the  object.  Yet,  instead  of  calling  them  to  his  aid  according  to  his 
authority  under  the  Government,  he  denounces  them  as  unreliable ;  and  when 
at  last  they  were  called  upon,  what  did  he  do  ?  Did  he  permit  them  to  advance, 
or  to  pursue  the  enemy,  for  it  was  the  first  opportunity  they  had  of  encounter- 
ing them  upon  equal  terms  ?  No.  They  were  restrained,  fretting  like  chafed 
lions,  anxious  for  the  pursuit,  while  he  permitted  commands  to  be  led  in  advance 
by  men  unacquainted  with  Mexican  warfare,  colonels  from  the  interior  were 
permitted  to  lead  the  advance  through  the  dense  chaparrals  and  jungles  oi 
Mexico,  and  the  brave  Texans  were  confined  to  southern  plains,  exposed,  un- 
tented,  beneath  southern  suns,  to  endure  disease  and  death ;  but,  fortunately  for 
the  survivors,  the  day  was  not  distant  when  they  could  give  new  manifestations 
of  irresistible  valor,  worthy  of  the  cause  in  which  they  were  engaged.  At 
Monterey  it  was  Texans  who  first  took  the  Bishop's  Palace,  a  key  to  victory. 
Gillespie's  monument  stands  upon  the  heights,  a  record  of  unshrinking  gallantry. 
The  Plaza,  too,  was  virtually  in  possession  of  the  Texans,  when  the  flag  for  the 
armistice  was  received,  and  orders  were  sent  into  the  city  to  stay  the  daring  en- 
terprise of  those  who  were  on  the  eve  of  possessing  the  Plaza,  and  who  hesitated 
in  rendering  obedience  to  the  order,  as  they  deemed  victory  within  their  grasp. 
Their  gallantry  on  this  occasion  was  no  security  against  obloquy  and  defama- 
tion ;  even  after  the  peerless  bravery  displayed  on  this  occasion,  they  were  de- 
nounced and  stigmatized  as  the  veriest  refuse  of  men,  and  as  a  dishonor  to  the 
army.  Is  it  strange  then,  sir,  that  a  prejudice,  so  easily  conceived  and  strongly 
entertained,  should  now  extend  to  the  invasion  of  our  constitutional  rights  as  a 
State  ?  Is  it  strange  that  our  civil  rights  should  be  no  more  respected  now, 
than  was  our  military  character  then  ?  No,  sir,  it  is  not  strange. 

But  I  wiU  read  for  the  information  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  world,  if  it  chooses 
to  be  concerned  with  matters  of  such  minor  importance,  further  evidence  of  en- 
croachments upon  the  rights  of  Texas  as  a  sovereign  State.  Let  me  ask,  was  it 


378  Houston' }s  Liter  (try  Remains. 

from  a  dependent  condition,  or  after  passing  through  a  system  of  territorial  pu- 
pilage that  Texas  became  a  sovereign  State  of  this  Union  ?  No,  sir ;  when 
Texas  became  a  member  of  this  Union,  she  stood  upon  the  earth  as  one  of  the 
great  community  of  nations  ;  she  was  herself  a  nation  ;  and  that  sovereignty  as 
a  nation  she  has  merged  in  this  Union,  and  proudly  claims  equality  with  its  other 
members.  I  will  now  read  an  extract  from  a  letter  of  General  Taylor's,  dated 
near  Camp  Monterey,  October  6,  1846: 

"  Sir,  I  have  respectfully  to  report  that  the  entire  force  of  Texas  mounted  vol- 
unteers has  been  mustered  out  of  service,  and  is  now  returning  home  by  com- 
panies. With  their  departure  we  may  look  for  a  restoration  of  quiet  and  order 
in  Monterey,  for  I  regret  to  report  that  some  shameful  atrocities  have  been  per- 
petrated BY  THEM  since  the  capitulation  of  the  town" 

What  high  encomiums  are  these  in  acknowledgment  of  chivalric  and  valorous 
deeds;  what  encouragement  to  cheer  the  veteran's  heart;  what  encouragement 
to  offer  to  the  young  and  ardent  patriot !  In  another  extract  I  find  where  he 
says  :  "  One  company  of  foot  volunteers  which  rendered  excellent  service  in  the 
campaign,  is  now  on  their  march  to  Carmargo,  there  to  be  mustered  out  of 
service."  From  this  you  would  suppose  that  one  company  had  done  all  that  was 
commendable  on  the  part  of  the  troops  of  Texas.  Indeed  !  one  solitary  com- 
pany had  "  rendered  excellent  service  !  "  The  success  of  their  arms,  the  exer- 
tions, the  vindication  of  American  honor,  at  Monterey,  I  suppose,  were  all  con- 
fined to  one  company  of  infantry.  One  company  "  rendered  excellent  service  ! " 
In  another  extract  which  is  under  my  eye,  I  discover  an  admission  in  favor  of 
the  title  of  Texas  by  the  Commanding  General,  which  does  not  harmonize  well 
with  his  recent  assumptions,  that  the  territory  of  Texas  does  not  extend  to  the 
Rio  Grande.  The  extract  says : 

"  It  is  deemed  necessary  to  station  a  small  force  at  Laredo,  on  the  east  bank 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  that  frontier  from  Indian  dep- 
redations, and  enabling  the  Government  of  Texas  to  extend  its  jurisdiction  with 
more  facility  to  that  river." 

The  jurisdiction  of  Texas,  under  the  eye  of  the  General,  extended  to  the  Rio 
Grande ;  but  under  the  eye  of  the  Executive,  Texas  has  no  right  on  that  river. 
How  can  this  contrariety  of  opinion  be  reconciled  upon  any  other  ground  than 
that  of  prejudice  and  a  spirit  of  persecution.  The  Executive  is  seeking  to  inflict 
further  humiliation  upon  Texas,  by  aiming  a  blow  at  her  State  sovereignty  ;  but, 
sir,  this  is  not  all.  I  will  recur  again  to  the  slander  of  her  troops,  by  reading  an 
extract  from  a  letter  written  at  Monterey  on  the  loth  of  June,  1847,  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  in  which  he  says  : 

"  I  have  ordered  the  muster  of  the  company  of  mounted  Texas  volunteers  al- 
luded to  in  my  letter  of  June  8th.  It  is  enrolled  for  the  war,  and  commanded 
by  H.  W.  Baylor.  Major  McCullough's  company  has  been  discharged,  and  we 
have  now  five  companies  of  Texas  horse,  the  exact  number  laid  down  in  your 
memorandum  of  April  26th. 

"  I  regret  to  report  that  many  of  the  twelve  months'  volunteers,  on  their  route 
hence,  on  the  lower  Rio  Grande,  have  committed  extensive  depredations  and 
outrages  upon  the  peaceful  inhabitants.  There  is  scarcely  a  form  of  crime  that 
has  not  been  reported  to  me  as  committed  by  them  ;  but  they  have  passed  be- 
yond my  reach  and  even  if  they  were  here  it  would  be  found  next  to  impossible 


Unjust  Aspersions  of  Texan  Troops.  379 

to  detect  the  individuals  who  thus  disgrace  their  colors  and  their  country.  Were 
it  possible  to  rouse  the  Mexican  people  to  resistance,  no  more  effectual  plan 
could  be  devised  than  the  very  one  pursued  by  some  of  our  volunteer  regiments 
now  about  to  be  discharged. 

"  The  volunteers  for  the  war,  so  far,  give  an  earnest  of  better  conduct,  with 
the  exception  of  the  companies  of  Texas  horse.  Of  the  infantry,  I  have  little  or 
no  complaint ;  but  the  mounted  men  from  Texas  have  scarcely  made  an  expedi- 
tion without  unwarrantably  killing  a  Mexican" 

Sir,  what  an  atrocity  ! — killing  a  Mexican  upon  an  expedition  !  Kill  a  Mex- 
ican— monstrous! — this  done  in  the  face  of  day.  Kill  a  Mexican!  Why,  sir, 
we  hear  of  no  such  complaints  when  battalions  fell  at  Monterey — I  will  not  say 
how  disposed  of.  We  hear  no  such  sympathetic  complaints  then.  But  killing 
one  Mexican  ! — what  a  deed  ! !  I  grant  you,  that  wherever  there  are  instances 
of  criminal  injustice  and  outrage  inflicted  by  the  military,  the  authors  of  them 
deserve  severe  punishment ;  but  a  spirit  of  justice  would  suggest  a  course  of 
propriety  in  this  respect,  which  would  punish  the  real  offender  and  have  a  moral 
influence  on  all  around.  This  has  not  been  done,  but  whole  corps  have  been 
stigmatized  and  denounced,  and  the  most  extraordinary  reasons  given  for  this 
most  extraordinary  conduct  in  a  Commanding  General.  In  lavishing  further 
encomiums  on  the  Texan  troops,  he  says : 

"  I  have,  in  consequence,  ordered  Major  Chevallier's  command  to  Saltillo, 
where  it  can  do  less  mischief  than  here,  and  where  its  services,  moreover,  are 
wanted." 

"  Where  their  services  are  wanted  " — for  what  ?  To  "  do  mischief" — that  is, 
to  kill  more  than  "  one  Mexican,"  I  suppose.  Is  it  not  strange  that  he  should 
send  these  men,  whom  he  is  unable  to  restrain  and  control  in  the  face  of  a  large 
army,  to  a  place  where  there  was  none  to  control  them  and  restrain  them  from 
outrage  on  the  Mexicans  ?  Were  "  their  services  "  wanted  there  for  outrage  and 
depredation  ?  or  were  they  sent  there  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  whether  new 
temptations  would  inspire  with  a  stronger  sense  of  duty  ? 

"  The  constant  recurrence  of  such  atrocities,  which  I  have  been  reluctant  to 
report  to  the  Department,  is  my  motive  for  requesting  that  no  more  troops  may 
be  sent  to  this  column  from  the  State  of  Texas." 

"  No  more  troops  from  Texas."  They  had  been  an  incumbrance  to  him,  one 
would  suppose ;  yet  one  of  them,  the  gallant  and  lamented  Walker,  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  saving  the  army  from  disaster  at  Palo  Alto,  and  McCullough, 
who,  in  the  General's  report  of  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  was  only  mentioned 
as  having  done  very  well,  was  designated  as  one  of  the  spies  sent  on  to  Encar- 
nacion,  and  was  also  a  Texan.  Instead  of  saying  in  that  report  that  McCul- 
lough gave  him  information  which  saved  the  army,  he  spoke  of  him  as  one  of  the 
spies  dispatched  for  information,  but  did  not  state  that  it  was  through  him  that 
he  had  derived  it.  Yes,  sir,  it  was  McCullough  who  reconnoitered  the  enemy's 
camp,  and  possessed  himself  of  the  first  information  of  the  advance  of  Santa 
Anna,  and  by  communicating  it  to  the  General,  enabled  him  to  fall  back  from 
Agua  Nueva  to  Buena  Vista,  where  the  gallant  defense  was  made.  Well,  sir, 
does  not  all  this  look  like  strong  prejudice  against  the  Texans  ?  Would  it  not 
from  this  evidence,  seem  most  conclusively  that  this  prejudice  which  existed  ir 
the  breast  of  tbe  General,  and  was  formed  before  he  had  any  knowledge  of  the 


380  Houston Js  Literary  Remains. 

character  of  the  soldiers  of  Texas,  increased  with  the  services  rendered  by  them 
to  the  Government  and  to  the  army  ?  And  are  we  now  to  have  visited  upon  us 
further  consequences  resulting  from  this  prejudice  ?  Is  the  State  of  Texas,  as 
a  soverignty,  to  succumb  to  the  degradation  of  an  infringement  upon  her  rights, 
the  subversisn  of  her  authority,  and  the  infraction  of  her  territorial  limits ;  and 
is  it  expected  that  we  are  to  submit  calmly  to  the  infliction  of  such  gross  and 
unjustifiable  wrongs  ? 

Mr.  President,  there  is  a  principle  involved  in  this  matter  which  extends  lar 
beyond  the  temporary  inconvenience  imposed  upon  Texas,  or  the  actual  injustice 
which  may  be  inflicted  on  her.  It  is  a  principle  which  lies  at  the  very  founda- 
tion of  our  Government,  the  subordination  of  the  military  to  the  civil  power, 
the  subversion  of  which  would  be  the  destruction  of  our  liberties.  Is  a  mere 
military  power  allowed  to  interfere  and  prescribe  to  a  sovereign  State  what  shall 
constitute  her  territorial  limits  and  boundary  ? 

In  this  case,  the  former  President  of  the  United  States,  who  established  in 
time  ol  war  temporary  military  governments,  ordered  the  government  of  the 
Territory  to  be  surrendered  to  Texas  as  soon  as  peace  terminated  the  war,  or  I 
have  been  misinformed ;  yet  the  present  Executive  has  continued  the  military 
government,  and  has  not  surrendered  the  territory  to  Texas.  Less  than  two 
years  ago,  the  military  authority,  Colonel  Washington,  expelled,  or  rather  caused 
the  ejection  of  the  judicial  officers  of  Texas  from  the  territory ;  and  now,  when 
Major  Neighbors  had  succeeded  in  reorganizing  the  counties  where  no*  military 
authorities  were  stationed,  and  went  to  Santa  Fe",  what  was  the  consequence  ? 
There  the  military  Governor  avowed  his  resistance  to  the  authority  of  Texas,  and 
caused  that  hasty  and  inconsiderate  action  of  the  population  which  has  resulted 
in  the  handing  over  of  the  territory  to  a  mere  judge  of  the  Kearny  code.  And 
he,  forsooth,  has  taken  all  under  his  control,  and  now  assumes  to  be  the  sover- 
eign over  this  wide  domain  of  Texas  !  Sir,  if  the  military  authorities  of  the 
United  States  have  a  right  thus  to  conduct  themselves  in  such  a  manner  in  that 
territory — a  territory  within  the  limits  of  what  we  have  ever  claimed,  and  which 
were  recognized  by  all  nations  previous  to  annexation — then  they  have  a  right 
to  occupy  our  Capital,  or  to  wrest  Galveston  from  our  possession.  That  terri- 
tory no  more  appertains  to  New  Mexico  than  does  any  other  spot  within  the 
limits  of  Texas.  Yet  Texas  has  not  been  complaining,  nor  has  she  manifested 
undue  anxiety  in  demanding  her  rights  from  time  to  time.  Years  have  passed 
by  since  she  had  a  right  to  expect  the  settlement  of  her  boundary.  The  territory 
to  which  it  extended  has  been  acquired  by  the  United  States  Government,  and 
in  good  faith,  if  they  had  discharged  their  duties,  they  ought  to  have  settled  the 
boundary  with  the  termination  of  the  war,  and  said  to  Texas  what  and  where  it 
was. 

Does  any  one  for  a  moment  believe  that  if  Texas  had  been  aware  of  this  at- 
tempted curtailment  of  her  limits,  she  would  ever  have  become  annexed  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ?  No,  sir,  no  one  can  believe  it  even  for  a 
moment.  Mexico  would  willingly  have  consented  to  recognize  Texas  as  a  sepa- 
rate power,  without  the  slightest  hesitancy,  if  the  latter  had  proposed  to  submit 
to  a  curtailment  of  her  territory.  And  is  it  to  be  expected  that  Texas  will  sub- 
mit now  to  such  a  violation  of  her  rights  as  is  here  indicated  ?  I  ask  the  Sen- 
ate, as  Americans  and  honorable  men,  whether  if  this  were  a  question  between 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  as  to  boundary,  it  is  believed 


The  Aim  of  Party  Interference  in  Texas.        381 

that  the  United  States  would  surrender  one  foot  of  the  territory  which  Texas 
has  always  claimed  as  her  right  ? 

Mr.  CLAY.  Will  my  friend  pardon  me,  as  the  hour  for  the  special  order  has 
arrived,  to  do  us  the  favor  to  continue  his  eloquent  speech  on  Monday,  if  it  would 
be  agreeable  to  him  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Anything  that  will  advance  the  public  business  I  will  yield 
to  with  pleasure — it  will  be  no  privation  to  me. 

The  resolution  was  accordingly  laid  on  the  table. 

WEDNESDAY,  July  3,  1850. 

In  resuming  the  discussion,  Mr.  HOUSTON  said :  Mr.  President,  I  regret  to 
trespass  on  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to-day,  and  I  likewise  regret  that  for 
several  days  I  have  been  prevented  by  the  business  of  the  body  from  concluding 
*he  expression  of  my  views  on  this  subject,  as  it  would  have  been  much  more 
agreeable  to  me  to  have  done  so  the  day  ensuing  the  one  on  which  I  last  occu- 
pied the  floor ;  but  to  come  at  once  to  the  subject,  I  will  remark  that  develop- 
ments very  recently  have  been  made  which  seem  to  give  additional  importance 
to  the  events  now  transpiring  in  the  section  of  the  country  to  which  these  resolu- 
tions refer.  Before  I  yielded  the  floor,  I  had  submitted  the  proposition  to  the 
Senate,  not  only  as  a  body,  but  as  gentlemen  individually,  whether,  if  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  Texas  boundary  was  now  to  be  settled  with  a  foreign  Power,  a 
doubt  could  be  entertained  for  a  moment  that  the  United  States  would  insist 
upon  the  boundary  as  now  asserted  by  Texas  ?  The  memorial  presented  this 
morning  by  the  honorable  gentleman  from  Delaware,  it  would  seem,  has  settled 
the  claim  of  the  Texas  boundary,  and  decided  in  favor  of  the  recent  proceedings 
relative  to  the  state  of  government  in  New  Mexico. 

These  memorialists  are  doubtless  about  as  competent  to  decide  upon  the  rights 
of  Texas,  as  many  others  who  have  adventured  opinions  upon  a  subject  of  which 
they  can  know  nothing.  They  are,  certainly,  not  responsible  for  their  opinions ; 
and  I  am  unwilling  that  any  irresponsible  persons,  however  high  and  imposing 
their  standing  may  be,  should  decide  upon  rights  appertaining  to  a  State.  I  ob- 
ject to  any  decision  which  may  be  attempted  by  any  powers  less  than  the  con 
stitutional  powers  of  this  Government.  It  is  a  matter  of  regret  to  believe,  for 
one  moment,  that  an  attempt  has  been  made,  and  is  now  directed  by  the  head 
of  this  nation,  in  opposition  to  the  rights  of  Texas,  and  for  the  purpose  of  im- 
peding her  claims  to  justice.  Can  it  indeed  be  true  that  the  recent  occurrences 
in  Santa  Fe  have  been  instigated  by  the  authorities  at  Washington,  and  that 
the  officers  of  this  Government,  there  in  command,  are  but  carrying  out  the  pur- 
poses and  designs  of  the  Administration  ?  Everything  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  there  is,  at  least,  no  disapprobation  of  the  course  which  has  been  pursued 
by  the  officer  in  command  at  that  point ;  consequently,  the  inference  is,  that  if 
it  has  not  been  directed  by  the  Executive,  it  is  at  least  sanctioned  by  his  acqui- 
escence. It  seems  to  be  in  furtherance  of  the  plan  suggested  by  the  President, 
which  must  be  carried  out  at  all  hazards,  and,  if  necessary,  at  the  sacrifice  of  the 
rights  of  a  State.  It  must  be  consummated  ;  and  at  what  moment  is  this  plan 
urged  upon  the  American  Congress  ?  Is  it  at  a  time  when  there  is  any  proba- 
bility of  its  producing  peace  and  harmony,  or  has  it  a  tendency  to  allay  the  ex- 
citement which  exists  in  the  country — is  it  calculated  to  produce  any  beneficial 
results  to  any  one  section  of  this  vast  community ;  or  is  it  not  rather  calculated 


382  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

to  suspend  all  action,  and  leave  the  agitation  unquieted  without  a  remedy  ?  If 
the  commotion  now  existing  in  the  land  is  not  checked,  it  will  go  on,  accumulat- 
ing strength  and  force  with  every  hour's  delay,  and  give  potency  only  to  those 
who  seek  prosperity  in  their  country's  misfortune.  Sir,  the  high-handed  meas- 
ures which  have  been  carried  on  under  the  orders  of  the  Administration,  in  the 
expectation  that  Texas,  a  younger  sister,  feeble,  rising  but  recently  from  all  the 
toils  and  trials  of  revolution,  exhausted,  emaciated,  and  surrounded  with  the 
difficulties  that  press  upon  her,  is  unable  to  resist  the  mighty  arm  of  the  Govern- 
ment, or  that  she  will  succumb  to  wrong  and  oppression,  or  that,  if  her  voice  of 
remonstrance  should  be  heard  at  all,  it  would  be  heard  with  apathy  and  indif- 
ference by  her  sister  States  of  the  Union.  If  this  has  been  the  expectation,  it  is 
a  vain  illusion.  Texas  can  not  submit  to  wrong.  If  this  nation  has  heretofore 
withheld  her  rights  ;  if  her  claims  have  been  deTerred  for  years  and  she  does  not 
at  this  time  command  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress,  it  is  not  her 
fault.  She  received  the  solemn  pledge  of  this  Government  to  fix  her  boundaries 
long  before  the  acquisition  of  California ;  that  acquisition  has  been  consequent 
upon  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  has  grown  out  of  it ;  and  yet  California  comes 
forward,  and  now  claims  admission  as  a  State. 

I  shall  not  now  express  my  views  in  relation  to  the  course  which  I  think  ought 
to  be  pursued ;  I  am  here  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  Texas,  and  to  urge  them 
upon  the  attention  of  the  American  Senate.  Feeble  as  my  advocacy  of  them 
may  be,  her  rights  are  most  eloquent,  and  her  claims  are  prior  to  those  of  Cali- 
fornia, and  are  not  to  be  postponed.  No,  sir,  there  is  an  urgent  reason  why  her 
rights  should  be  at  once  considered,  and  why  her  boundary  should  be  at  once 
settled.  Is  it  not  all-important  that  a  sovereign  State,  claiming  rights  from  this 
Government,  under  its  solemn  pledges,  should  have  justice  meted  out  to  her  at 
the  earliest  moment  ?  Is  it  unreasonable  that  she  urges  her  demand  ?  Not  at 
all.  Years  have  rolled  away  since  she  received  the  pledge  of  this  Government 
to  determine  her  rights,  and  yet  gentlemen  say  that  the  war  with  Mexico  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Texas  boundary.  I  take  the  liberty  of  assuring  the  gentle- 
man from  New  York  [Mr.  Seward]  that  it  had  much  to  do  with  that  question. 
Mexico  declared  that  if  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States  it  would  be 
cause  of  war.  The  work  was  consummated,  and  war  ensued.  I  ask,  then,  if 
war  had  nothing  to  do  with  our  boundary  ?  Has  it  not  brought  vast  acquisitions 
to  our  territory,  embracing  our  boundary,  and  deciding  it  according  to  our 
stipulated  limits  ?  You  have  made  Texas  a  bridge  to  march  over  to  foreign  con- 
quests, and  are  you  now  longer  to  postpone  the  adjustment  of  her  rights  ?  But 
how  are  these  rights  considered  by  the  Executive  of  this  nation  ?  Is  it  thought 
fit  to  trample  on  Texas  because  she  is  young,  or  because  she  has  not  the  thews 
and  muscles  and  the  sinews  of  older  States  to  uphold  her  rights  ?  Are  her  rights 
to  be  postponed  or  cloven  down  because,  perchance,  she  might  not  agree  with 
the  Administration,  and  might  not  give  to  it  the  numerical  support  necessary  to 
carry  measures  obnoxious  to  the  nation  ? 

Sir,  the  prejudices  of  the  Executive  against  Texas,  to  which  I  referred  the 
other  day,  are  most  strikingly  made  manifest  in  his  message  to  the  Senate  rela- 
tive to  the  recent  proceedings  at  Santa  Fe  ;  yes,  sir,  and  even  in  her  misfortunes, 
and  humiliation  as  supposed  by  some,  she  is  taunted  by  the  Executive,  and  we 
are  told  that  she  will  submit  to  all  this.  I  will  say,  without  vaunting,  that  Texas 
has  yet  to  learn  submission  to  any  oppression,  come  from  whatever  source  it 


Historic  Right  of  Texas  to  Santa  Fe,  383 

may.  In  the  recent  message  of  the  Executive,  after  saying  that  a  self-styled 
agent  of  Texas,  'a  Mr.  Neighbors,  had  come  to  Santa  F6  for  the  purpose  of  ar- 
ranging  matters  for  Texas,  he  adds,  what  I  can  construe  as  nothing  but  a  taunt, 
"Meanwhile,  I  think  that  there  is  no  reason  for  seriously  apprehending  that 
Texas  will  practically  interfere  with  the  possession  of  the  United  States."  How 
did  that  possession  come  ?  Is  it,  as  gentlemen  have  argued,  a  conquered  terri- 
tory ?  Was  it  acquired  by  conquest  and  by  blood  ?  Sir,  if  blood  was  shed 
to  vindicate  the  boundary,  it  was  shed  in  Texas,  after  the  United  States  had  as- 
sumed to  vindicate  her  boundary,  but  it  was  not  shed  in  taking  possession 
of  Santa  Fe  by  the  American  troops.  The  blood  that  flowed  was  at  Palo  Alto 
and  Resaca  de  la  Palma  in  defense  of  Texan  soil,  which  the  United  States  oc- 
cupied as  a  portion  of  the  American  Union  by  virtue  of  the  annexation  of  Texas  ; 
the  occupation  of  Santa  F£  was  upon  the  same  principle,  but  it  was  bloodless, 
and  the  recent  Executive  declared  that  it  was  the  property  of  Texas,  and  subse- 
quently he  repeatedly  recognized  the  right  of  Texas  to  the  country  lying  east  of 
the  Rio  Grande.  President  Polk  directed  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Marcy,  to 
order  the  military  authorities  to  surrender  to  the  authorities  of  Texas  the  civil 
government  which  had  been  held  temporarily  by  the  military  authorities  at 
Santa  F6.  Yet  it  is  now  insisted  that  Texas  has  no  rights  there,  and  she 
is  driven  to  vindication  on  the  floor  of  this  Chamber. 

Mr.  PEARCE.  Will  the  Senator  permit  me  to  ask  him  a  question  in  explana- 
tion of  a  remark  which  he  has  just  made  ?  I  understood  him  to  say  that  the  re- 
cent Executive  had  authorized  the  delivery  of  the  government  of  this  country 
into  the  hands  of  Texas. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Yes,  sir.  I  have  information  to  that  effect — the  military 
and  civil  authority. 

Mr.  PEARCE.    I  should  be  glad  to  be  informed  by  what  act  he  did  so  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  It  was  by  an  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  I  can  not  lay 
my  hand  on  it  at  this  moment,  but  I  have  no  doubt  of  its  existence  ;  for  I  believe 
I  have  it  from  such  authority  as  can  not  be  doubted. 

Mr.  PEARCE.     I  hope  the  Senator  will  be  able  to  produce  it. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  shall  be  happy  to  do  so,  sir ;  but,  to  let  that  point  rest  at 
this  time  I  will  bring  more  recent  evidence  to  satisfy  the  gentleman.  In  a  letter 
addressed  by  the  Adjutant-General,  on  the  2oth  March,  1850,  to  Brevet-Col. 
Monroe,  the  officer  commanding  at  Santa  F£,  of  course  under  the  direction  of 
the  Secretary  of  War,  I  find  the  following  language  : 

"  I  am  directed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  to  state,  in  reply,  that,  regarding  as 
he  does  your  orders  to  Major  Van  Home,  of  December  28,  1849,  as  manifestly 
assuming  to  decide  the  question  of  territorial  jurisdiction  of  Texas  over  the  places 
enumerated  therein,  and  professing  to  extend  a  *  code '  of  laws  which  had  not 
been  accepted  by  the  people  even  whilst  under  military  authority,  it  is  deemed 
necessary  distinctly  to  repeat,  for  your  guidance  on  this  occasion,  what  the  de- 
partment has  often  stated,  that  the  Executive  has  no  power  to  adjust  and  settle 
the  question  of  territorial  limits  involved  in  this  case.  Other  co-ordinate  depart- 
ments are  alone  competent  to  make  the  decision.  The  main  duties  of  the  army 
are :  to  give  protection  and  security  on  the  soil  of  the  United  States,  and  preserve 
internal  peace.  Whatever  else  is  done  must  arise  from  the  urgent  pressure  of  a 
necessity  which  can  not  be  postponed,  and  to  avoid  the  exercise  of  any  civil  au- 
thority which  is  not  justified  by  that  necessity.  In  sending  to  these  people  the 


384  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

'  Kearny  code,'  or  other  codes,  it  is  proper  to  remark,  that  the  only  regulations 
which  are  applicable  to  their  condition  are  those  laws  which  were  in  force  at  the 
period  of  the  conquest  of  New  Mexico,  or  Texas  may  establish.  The  only  ex- 
ception is,  that  they  be  not  in  opposition  to  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the 
United  States." 

Thus,  on  the  2oth  of  March  was  clearly  acknowledged  the  right  of  Texas  to 
establish  her  laws  and  jurisdiction  over  that  part  of  the  country  which  is  now 
claimed  as  New  Mexico.  Sir,  this  is  authority  which  I  hope  will  be  conclusive, 
yet  I  shall  endeavor  to  satisfy  the  gentleman's  inquiries,  and  convince  him  that 
not  only  the  present,  but  the  former  Administration,  without  qualification,  re- 
garded Texas  as  having  the  undoubted  ownership  of  all  the  territory  which  she 
had  claimed  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  by  her  ordinance  of  1836.  Sir,  she  never 
claimed  less  ;  she  never  asked  more — she  will  be  satisfied  With  that,  and  she  will 
be  satisfied  with  nothing  else.  And  how  will  Senators  for  one  moment  vindicate 
the  honor  of  the  United  States,  and  attempt  to  curtail  Texas  of  one  foot  of  her  ter- 
ritory on  the  east  of  the  Rio  Grande  ?  No  gentleman  who  has  a  due  regard  for 
the  national  character  of  this  country  can,  upon  retrospection  of  its  history,  hesi- 
tate to  admit  the  justice  of  our  claim.  The  Government  of  the  United  States, 
as  far  back  as  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  whilst  Messrs.  Monroe  and 
Pinckney  were  Ministers  abroad,  in  correspondence  with  the  Spanish  Minister, 
insisted  that  the  United  States  had,  by  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  from  France, 
acquired  all  the  country  east  of  the  Rio  Grande,  and  declared  that  river  the 
western  boundary  of  the  territory  purchased,  upon  the  principle  of  new  discov- 
ery. It  is  laid  down  that  all  the  seaboard  taken  and  occupied  by  right  of  dis- 
covery, with  all  the  lands  lying  on  the  tributary  waters  emptying  into  the  sea, 
and  the  lands  lying  upon  those  tributaries,  belong  to  the  nation  by  right  of  prior 
discovery,  as  high  up  as  their  sources.  This  principle  embraced  all  that  has 
bf.en  and  is  now  claimed  as  the  right  of  Texas.  This  principle  was  either  cor- 
rect, or  it  was  incorrect.  If  it  was  a  just  claim  on  the  part  of  the  United  States, 
the  same  principle  will  bear  out  Texas  in  her  claim.  She  occupies  the  same 
country  on  the  seaboard  that  was  (as  insisted)  embraced  in  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  from  France.  The  United  States  acquired  it,  as  it  was  insisted  upon, 
by  the  right  of  purchase.  Texas  has  acquired  it  by  the  right  of  revolution,  and 
resistance  to  oppression.  She  asserted  this  claim. at  the  outset  of  her  war  of 
independence ;  during  ten  years  of  war  she  maintained  her  boundary,  without 
having  for  one  moment  faltered  in  the  assertion  of  her  rights.  But  what  did  the 
United  States  do  ?  That  they  always  act  honestly  and  honorably  can  not  be 
doubted  ;  theirs  was  either  a  just  or  unjust  claim  ;  if  it  was  an  unjust  claim  they 
were  dishonored  by  making  it — if  it  was  a  just  claim  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  against  Spain  at  that  time,  it  is  equally  just  now  when  made  by  Texas. 
But  what  did  the  United  States  do  ?  They  insisted  upon  the  Rio  Grande  as  the 
western  boundary  of  Louisiana.  Spain  was  not  in  a  situation  to  go  to  war  to 
vindicate  her  claim,  and  it  was  virtually  surrendered.  By  the  treaty  of  1819,  at 
the  time  Florida  was  acquired,  the  country  embraced  within  the  identical  limits 
which  Texas  now  asserts  was  disposed  of  to  Spain.  If  the  United  States  had  a 
valid  right  to  it,  it  was  an  honest  transaction  to  sell  it  to  Spain  ;  if  she  had  no 
right  to  it,  then  the  recollection  of  such  a  transaction  ought  to  suffuse  the  cheek 
of  every  Senator  in  this  chamber  with  the  blush  of  shame.  Texas  now  only 
claims  the  same  boundary  in  virtue  of  the  right  of  revolution  and  the  compact 
of  annexation.  If  the  claim  of  the  United  States  was  honest  at  the  commence- 


Political  Intrigue  from,  Washington.  385 

ment  of  the  present  century,  I  am  not  acquainted  with  any  code  of  morals  that 
would  render  it  dishonest  in  the  middle  of  that  century,  when  we  regard  the 
blood  and  treasure  which  Texas  has  expended  in  her  acquisition.  Sir,  the 
President  must  presume  upon  the  potency  of  his  authority  when  he  says  Texas 
will  not  practically  interfere  with  the  possession  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
arrogance  to  suppose  that  she  will  submit  to  the  usurpations  of  the  military  au- 
thorities in  Santa  Fe.  He  may  imagine  that  these  men  whom  he  regarded  as 
inefficient,  and  whose  aid  he  could  not  rely  on  previous  to  the  battle  of  Palo 
Alto,  will  permit  unbridled  assumption  to  trample  upon  their  rights  ;  this,  sir,  is 
a  melancholy  subject,  one  which  I  deplore,  and  ray  heart  is  not  easy  under  its 
influence.  Regard  it  as  we  may,  it  is  an  unhappy  and  unfortunate  transaction. 
It  was  remarked  a  few  days  since  by  an  honorable  Senator  that  if  Texas  should 
attempt  the  resumption  of  her  rights  in  Santa  F£  she  would  find  a  "  lion  in  the 
path."  We  have  noticed  now  that  he  is  upon  his  walk,  he  has  quitted  his  lair, 
and  presents  himself  in  the  person  of  Brevet  Col.  Monroe,  with  his  epaulette,  his 
sword,  and  all  the  majesty  of  military  authority.  And  does  Texas  cower  ?  Sir, 
she  is  erect ;  she  knows  her  rights,  and  I  hope  she  will  act  with  caution,  and 
not  inconsiderately.  No  word  that  I  may  utter  here  can  stimulate  or  regulate 
her  action.  The  mandate  has  already  gone  forth,  or  I  misapprehend  her  course. 
It  is  reported  here  that  three  thousand  troops  have  been  ordered  to  the  field ; 
they  will  not  quit  the  soil ;  they  will  not  invade  the  territories  of  the  Union ; 
they  will  defend  their  own  ;  they  will  regard  the  transactions  at  Santa  Fe  as  an 
act  of  rebellion,  or  of  resistance  within  the  limits  of  a  sovereign  State,  and  claim 
the  right  of  its  suppression.  The  power  vested  in  the  Executive  of  Texas  gives 
him  the  right  to  call  out  the  militia  in  case  of  insurrection  or  invasion — if  he  has 
made  the  call,  let  the  consequences  be  what  they  may,  I  fasten  them  upon  the 
inhabitant  of  the  White  House.  No,  not  upon  the  individual,  but  upon  the  ad- 
visers who  surround  him ;  who  can  make  him  an  instrument  of  malleable 
metal  in  their  hands,  and,  after  he  has  answered  their  purposes,  cast  him  from 
them.  But,  sir,  I  hope  that  Texas,  in  her  liberality,  and  in  that  magnanimity 
which  she  has  heretofore  sustained  and  maintained,  will  not  be  cruel.  I  trust 
her  vengeance  will  slumber ;  that  cool  reason  and  devoted  patriotism  will  tri- 
umph over  all  the  petty  passions  of  humanity,  and  that  she  will  be  governed  by 
influences  which  elevate  man  above  all  that  is  sordid  and  hateful.  They  have 
no  perverted  ambition  to  gratify,  but  they  have  a  sense  of  what  is  right,  and  I 
hope,  in  the  adjudication  of  this  grave  offense,  when  they  make  the  actors 
amenable  to  the  violated  honor  and  dignity  of  the  State,  they  will  not  make  ex- 
amples of  more  of  them  than  is  needful,  but  I  am  fearful  that,  in  view  of  the 
great  offense,  examples  may  be  multiplied.  I  trust  they  will  be  confined  only  to 
flagrant  offenders. 

I  have  information  in  relation  to  proceedings  that  have  taken  place  at  Santa 
Fe,  and  it  is  certainly  of  the  most  remarkable  character.  It  comes  indorsed  by 
the  Executive,  for  it  is  embodied  in  the  information  given  in  his  message  upon  a 
call  of  this  body  for  information.  It  consists  of  extracts  from  a  publication 
made  in  a  newspaper  at  Santa  Fe,  urging  the  adoption  of  a  State  Government, 
and  assigning  as  a  reason  therefor  the  wishes  of  the  Administration.  The  tenor 
of  it  fixes  upon  the  Administration  the  criminality  of  having  instigated  the  late 
extraordinary  movements  at  Santa  Fe.  The  writer  of  the  publication  signs 
self  "  One  of  your  Party,"  and  says  : 
25 


386  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

"  In  this  position  of  affairs  the  Administration,  through  a  conservative  princi- 
ple, and  with  a  hope  of  shielding  our  country  from  the  calamity  by  which  she  is 
so  menacingly  assailed,  calls  upon  us  to  take  such  decisive  measures  as  will  tend, 
so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  to  achieve  that  object,  and  propose,  as  the  only  effect- 
ual means  in  our  power,  the  immediate  adoption  of  a  State  Constitution  and 
form  of  government,  with  the  explicit  declaration  that  we  are  for  or  against 
slavery,  and  present  them  for  the  action  of  Congress  this  session.  Hence  it  is 
we  find  ourselves  placed  in  a  very  peculiar  and  delicate  position.  On  the  one 
hand  we  may  hope,  within  the  next  three  years,  to  get  a  territorial  government, 
should  the  Union  be  undissolved  ;  and  on  the  other,  it  appears  to  be  our  impera- 
tive duty  to  abandon  those  hopes,  and,  for  the  preservation  of  our  nationality,  to 
assume  a  form  of  government  we  have  always,  and  conscientiously,  opposed  as 
disadvantageous  for  us." 

This  shows  most  conclusively  that  an  influence  of  a  controlling  character  was 
operating  upon  the  mind  of  the  writer.  That  influence  could  have  been  none 
other  than  that  of  the  Executive  of  the  nation,  operating  through  the  officers  of 
the  army  and  their  employes  in  the  country.  I  have  been  informed  that  more 
than  half  a  million  of  dollars  are  annually  expended  in  that  vicinity,  and  this, 
with  the  authority  of  the  military,  among  such  a  population  as  inhabits.  Santa 
Fe,  is  sufficient  to  coerce  the  action  most  desirable  to  the  Administration.  The 
writer  of  the  article  is  deeply  impressed  with  the  necessity  of  action  on  the  part 
of  New  Mexico  ;  he  was  well  informed,  too,  in  relation  to  the  bearing  which  its 
action  would  have  on  the  well-being  of  the  Union  ;  the  evidences  were  before 
him,  and  he  was  "  conscientiously  forced  "  to  abandon  his  former  policy. 

Where  did  he  get  the  "  evidences  "  ?  What  "  forced  "  him  to  action  ?  Was  it 
directions  from  Washington,  which  embodied  the  "  evidences  "  that  "  forced  " 
upon  him  a  change  of  policy  ?  Yes  ;  and  with  all,  he  owed  a  "  sacred  duty  to 
the  Union."  I  will  read  the  extract: 

"  Believing,  as  I  am  most  conscientiously  forced  to  do  by  the  evidences  now 
before  me,  that  the  peril  to  the  Union  is  certain,  imminent,  and  immediate,  and 
that  it  is  in  our  power  materially  to  aid  in  diverting  it,  I  hold  it  a  sacred  duty  I 
owe  to  the  Union,  my  adopted  country,  and  to  myself,  to  advise  the  native  people 
of  New  Mexico  that  I  conceive  it  to  be  their  duty,  as  well  as  my  own,  and  that 
of  every  other  American  citizen  in  the  territory,  to  come  forward  boldly,  and  at 
once,  and  endeavor  to  sustain  the  integrity  of  our  Union  by  the  formation  of  a 
State  Constitution  and  government,  with  an  explicit  declaration  on  the  subject  of 
slavery." 

Previous  to  writing  this  article,  it  appears  that  the  people  had  been  "  al- 
ways," and  conscientiously,  opposed  to  the  State  government,  as  disadvantageous 
to  them  ;  but  now  the  conservative  principle  of  the  Administration  calls  upon 
them  to  take  decisive  measures,  which  they  certainly  have  done,  as  far  as  they 
were  able. 

The  Executive  is  not  here  directly  charged,  but  the  Administration  is,  and 
whatever  has  been  done  amiss  the  President  is  responsible  for.  He  has  at- 
tempted to  trample  down  the  rights  of  a  sovereign  State,  and  thus  by  military 
power  to  vindicate  the  wrongs  inflicted.  The  outrage  upon  Texas  has  been  en- 
forced by  military  POWER,  contrary  to  the  authority  of  the  Constitution.  Is  this 
military  power  a  portion  of  the  "  sovereign  power  "  which  we  hear  spoken  of  ? 


The  Right  of  the  State  Invaded.  387 

I  hope,  sir,  that  it  is  not  becoming  a  favored  principle  at  the  White  House.  If 
it  is,  not  only  Texas,  but  every  State  in  the  Union,  may  tremble  for  her  rights 
and  her  institutions. 

In  March  last,  by  order  of  the  President,  the  Adjutant-General  referred  him 
to  the  instructions  given  to  General  Riley,  under  date  26th  June,  1849,  in  which 
this  remarkable  expression  appears  :  "  Such  regulations  must  necessarily  be 
temporary,  as  they  are  presumed  to  be  voluntary,  and  designed  to  meet  emer- 
gencies and  difficulties  which  the  sovereign  power  will  take  the  earliest  occasion 
to  remove."  This  was  in  reference  to  the  rules  and  mode  of  governing  the 
people  in  California,  and  is  here  adopted  as  applicable  to  New  Mexico.  What 
is  the  sovereign  power  here  referred  to  ?  Is  it  the  action  of  co-ordinate  depart- 
ments of  Government?  That  can  not  be,  for  the  sole  remedy  which  has  been 
here  applied  .has  been  the  authority  of  the  Executive  to  his  subalterns  ;  Congress 
has  taken  no  action  upon  it  ;  the  Supreme  Court  has  made  no  decision,  but  the 
President  of  the  United  States  has  exercised  the  sovereign  right  of  deciding  that 
Texas  has  no  just  claim  to  Santa  F6,  and  the  country  east  of  the  Rio  Grande. 
If  we  will  recur  to  a  communication  made  by  Brevet-Colonel  Monroe,  addressed 
to  Brevet-Major  Jeff.  Vanhorn,  on  the  28th  of  December,  1849,  we  will  find 
opinions  entertained  by  him  then  which  differed  somewhat  as  to  the  right  of 
Texas,  and  evinced  a  disposition  to  concede  to  her  the  right  of  civil  jurisdiction, 
until  the  boundary  should  be  settled  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  or  until 
instructions  to  the  contrary  might  be  received  from  superior  authority.  I  wrill 
submit  the  extract : 

"  As  no  civil  jurisdiction  has  been  assumed  over  this  district  by  the  State  of 
Texas,  therefore,  in  order  that  its  inhabitants  may  have  the  protection  of  civil 
laws  and  magistrates,  it  is  hereby  directed  that  you  sustain  the  civil  jurisdiction 
of  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico,  her  civil  officers  and  magistrates,  in  the  execu- 
tion of  their  duties  for  the  protection  of  persons  and  property  only,  under  what 
is  called  the  '  Kearny  code,'  until  such  time  as  Texas  shall  officially  assume  civil 
jurisdiction,  or  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  finally  settle  the  boundary  be- 
tween Texas  and  New  Mexico,  or  instructions  to  the  contrary  may  be  received 
from  superior  authority." 

From  this  extract  it  must  be  manifest  that  the  orders  then  given  arose  from  a 
full  conviction  that  Texas  had  rights,  and  that  she  had  the  right  to  exercise  them 
within  that  Territory.  I  will  not  pretend  to  account  for  the  change  of  opinion 
that  came  over  Col.  Monroe,  nor  will  I  assert  that  it  was  induced  by  secret  or 
verbal  orders.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  show  that,  at  one  time,  not  only  the 
Administration,  but  its  subalterns  and  agents,  acknowledged  the  rights  of 
Texas. 

It  would  appear,  though,  that  this  was  anterior  to  the  exercise  of  sovereign 
power — a  power  of  which  Texas  has  but  too  much  cause  to  complain.  Sovereign 
power  does  not  reside  in  the  White  House  at  the  other  end  of  the  avenue,  nor  in 
the  adjacent  Department  buildings.  No,  sir  ;  the  sovereign  power  of  this  Union 
is  shared  by  every  freeman,  its  embodiment  passing  through  the  States  from  the 
people;  a  portion  of  it  is  centered  in  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  thereby  that 
becomes  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  is  the  only  embodiment  of  sovereignty. 
The  President  is  but  the  agent  of  the  Constitution,  and  I  protest  against  its  vio- 
lation by  his  subalterns  at  Santa  Fe.  It  was  an  unseemly  exercise  of  sovereign 


388  Houston's  Literary   'Remains. 

power  to  attempt  to  remove  the  difficulties  before  referred  to,  inciting  a  portion 
of  the  people  within  the  limits  of  a  State,  and  without  its  consent,  to  erect  them- 
selves into  a  State  Government ;  this  is  a  palpable  violation  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution ;  and,  sir,  such  usurpation  can  not  long  remain  sovereign  in  Texas.  I 
trust  her  rights  will  soon  be  restored,  and  exist  for  ages  inviolate,  contributing  a 
full  share  to  the  perpetuity  of  this  Union.  But  the  consummation  of  this  great 
object  can  only  be  achieved  by  proper  respect  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment for  the  rights  of  States  by  which  it  is  constituted,  and  not  by  permitting  the 
Federal  authorities  to  trespass  upon  the  members  of  the  Union,  because  they 
may  suppose  that  the  States  are  unable  to  resist  military  oppression.  For  aught 
I  know,  Texas  may  be  regarded  by  the  Executive  or  his  Cabinet  as  a  mere 
picket,  or  a  corporal's  guard,  and  may  be  treated  accordingly.  Accustomed  to 
the  camp  and  field,  he  may  imagine  that  he  has  only  to  issue  his  order  to 
be  obeyed,  and  that  the  soldiers  and  the  bayonets  which  have  upheld  his 
power  for  forty  years  are  to  be  instrumental  in  carrying  out  his  present  pur- 
poses. If  this  be  his  idea  of  sovereign  power  it  is  fallacious.  And,  sir,  when 
the  Executive  taunts  Texas,  and  says  that  there  is  no  danger  of  any  practical 
interference  on  her  part,  he  is  wrong  ;  Texas  is  loyal  and  devoted,  but  she 
is  sensitive  too.  She  always  appreciates  her  adversaries,  she  loves  her  friends* 
and  when  duty  bids  her  take  her  stand  she  never  counts  her  enemies.  The 
army  of  the  United  States,  marched  there  to  enforce  a  wrong  upon  her,  would 
be  weak  and  powerless.  She  will  not  submit  to  wrong ;  she  asks  for  nothing 
but  what  is  right.  Every  military  act  which  has  taken  place  at  Santa  Fe,  cal- 
culated to  embarrass  the  exercise  of  her  authority  there,  has  been  an  encroach- 
ment upon  her  rights,  and  every  attempt  now  made  to  countenance  or  sustain 
the  action  which  has  been  taken  already,  will  be  but  the  continuance  of  aggres- 
sion, and  an  effort  to  destroy  her  authority  as  a  State.  Fad  Texas,  on  her  part, 
at  any  time,  pursued  a  course  of  conduct  not  calculated  to  promote  the  best  feel- 
ing with  the  military  authorities  at  Santa  Fe,  there  might  be  some  extenuation 
found  for  their  conduct ;  now  it  is  left  without  palliation  or  apology.  The  com- 
missioner sent  by  Texas  to  Santa  Fe"  was  a  gentleman  of  manly  and  sterling 
qualities.  How  did  he  demean  himself?  In  a  manner  becoming  the  character 
which  he  bore,  and  the  interesting  mission  which  he  had  to  execute.  He  was 
respected  by  all,  and  his  mission  promised  to  be  successful ;  and  no  doubt 
it  would  have  been  so,  had  not  the  military  power  been  employed  to  resist  him. 
That  power,  united  with  a  clique  (to  whose  character  I  shall  directly  advert,  in 
order  to  show  who  they  are,  and  what  they  are  ;  how  they  got  there,  and  what 
they  are  doing  there,  and  what  they  intend  to  do,  and  their  object  in  the  forma- 
tion of  a  State  Government),  to  defeat  the  object  of  the  commissioner.  Yes,  sir; 
this  commissioner  deported  himself  as  an  officer  of  his  Government,  as  a  soldier, 
who  had  passed  through  Indian  trails,  endured  hardships,  borne  fatigues,  and 
undergone  privations  within  the  territory  to  which  he  was  then  commissioned. 
He  was  only  zealous  to  maintain  the  honor,  and  uphold  the  rights  of  his  own 
State  ;  he  was  worthy  of  his  position,  and  most  worthily  did  he  conduct  himself. 
I  will  now  give  a  little  insight  into  the  character  of  those  gentlemen  who  are  so 
busily  engaged  in  carving  a  new  State  within  the  limits  of  Texas.  It  is  derived 
from  a  communication  addressed  to  the  editor  of  the  Pennsylvanzan,  a  highly 
respectable  gentleman,  and  the  editor  of  a  highly  respectable  journal.  The 
writer  is  from  New  Mexico,  whose  name  is  subject  to  the  call  of  any  gentleman. 


Army  Adventurers  the  Agents  in  Intrigue.       389 

From  the  style  of  his  communication,  I  freely  infer  that  he  is  a  gentleman  of 
some  mark  and  character  for  intelligence  ;  and  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
many  important  facts,  I  will  read  the  communication  : 

"  MESSRS.  EDITORS  : — As  yours  is  the  only  sheet  which,  in  its  views,  approxi- 
mates near  the  truth,  in  relation  to  a  portion  of  New  Mexico  claimed  by  Texas, 
I  take  the  liberty,  with  your  permission,  of  making  some  statements,  which  hun- 
dreds of  American  citizens  in  Santa  Fe  will  at  any  time  verify,  and  which  the 
future  will  prove  the  truth  of. 

"  The  attempt  to  form  a  State  Government  there  had  its  origin  in  the  ingenuity 
and  self-interest  of  not  over  twenty  men,  all  told,  each  of  whom,  until  the  early 
part  of  April,  had  opposed  with  all  his  energies  the  organization  of  a  State  Gov- 
ernment, and  had  clamored  loudly  in  public,  and  in  a  newspaper  which  Govern- 
ment officers,  in  Santa  Fe,  had  appeared  to  have  sold,  for  the  continuance  of  a 
territorial  government.  This  latter  kind  of  government,  it  was  said,  was  much 
the  cheapest ;  and  besides,  the  New  Mexicans  would  never  consent  to  direct,  or 
even  to  indirect,  taxation. 

"  Some  of  these  gentlemen  were  favorite  contractors  at  the  Commissary  and 
Quartermaster's  Departments  of  Santa  Fe  and  the  territory,  having  numbers  of 
dependent  employes  ;  some  were  the  settlers  of  Santa  Fe  and  the  towns  along 
the  Rio  Grande,  men  appointed  by  the  military  Governor,  with  certain  privileges 
and  immunities,  which  have  made  them  rich  at  the  cost  of  the  poor  teamsters 
and  soldiers  ;  then  there  were  the  clerks  of  the  Quartermaster,  and  the  clerks  of 
the  army  stores.  This  clique  of  men,  all  of  whom  are  recipients  of  pay  from 
Washington,  and  some  of  whom  are  said  to  have  accumulated  a  quarter  of  a 
million  of  dollars  since  they  have  been  in  Santa  Fe,  are  the  only  political  agita- 
tors of  New  Mexico.  It  is  they  who  have  been  endeavoring,  by  the  loan  of 
paper,  press,  and  types  to  Judge  Ortera,  a  Mexican  aspirant  to  the  Guberna- 
torial chair,  to  excite  the  prejudices  of  the  New  Mexicans  against  all  who  are  in, 
or  whoever  may  come  into  the  country,  who  will  not  think  as  they  think  ;  and 
it  was  they  who  contrived  to  have  Mr.  Hugh  N.  Smith  sent  to  Washington  as 
a  territorial  delegate.  These  men  are  now  for  a  State  Government.  Why  ? 

"  Will  it  be  presumed  for  a  moment  that  they  became  tired  of  drawing  their 
salaries,  and  of  exercising  the  privileges  of  power  and  place  which  were  theirs  ? 
— theirs  far  removed  from  the  supervision  of  the  people,  or  of  the  authorities  of 
the  United  States?  Their  power  they  used  with  an  iron  hand;  their  favors 
were  dispensed  to  those  who  well  understood  what  was  required  of  them  in  re- 
turn. Why  are  these  men  now  for  a  State  Government  ?  The  answer  is, 
because  they  are  forced  by  the  public  opinion  against  them  of  all  the  merchants 
and  citizens  of  New  Mexico,  who  have  witnessed  their  conduct,  political  and 
personal,  to  vacate  the  places  which  they  have  abused  ;  and  because  the  claims 
of  Texas  were  admitted  to  be  just  by  the  almost  entire  American  population  of 
the  territory,  at  numerous  meetings  held  previous  to  the  i6th  of  April,  at  every 
one  of  which  meetings  the  Government  clique,  and  their  resolutions  denouncing 
Texas  claims  were  voted  down,  ten  to  one.  In  desperation,  then  it  was  resolved 
in  caucus,  before  I  left  Santa  Fe,  to  make  a  new  move  on  the  political  chess- 
board, and  one  morning  the  citizens  were  nearly  unable  to  believe  that  the  men 
and  the  newspaper,  which  had  always  supported  a  continuance  of  territorial 
government,  and  ridiculed  the  idea  of  a  State  one,  were  the  clamorous  advocates 
of  the  latter,  and  had  already  put  the  necessary  machinery  at  work,  which  has 


390  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

since  induced  Col.  Monroe  to  act  as  he  has  acted  in  regard  to  Texas  and  her 
Commissioner,  and  has  created  the  convention  of  twenty-three  persons,  who 
have  lately  proclaimed  New  Mexico  a  State. 

"  In  all  these  movements  tending  to  the  existence  of  New  Mexico  as  a  State, 
the  peopie  had  taken  no  part  up  to  the  i6th  of  April  last ;  on  which  day  I  left 
Santa  F6  for  Philadelphia.  The  speculators  had.  Every  one  of  the  persons 
who  aided  to  produce  the  events  which  have  since  occurred  there  I  know  per- 
sonally ;  and  every  one  is  a  Government  employe,  as  well  as  a  speculator — and 
in  one  case,  peculator.  What  I  say,  Mr.  Editor,  I  can  prove  at  any  time  and 
place,  by  witnesses  ;  and  hold  myself  ready  so  to  do.  Nor  have  I  told  you 
scarcely  anything  yet,  compared  with  what  I  will  endeavor  to  state,  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  robbed,  in  New  Mexico,  by 
men  who  have  held  sway  there,  and  who  are  trying  still  to  hold  it  under  the 
new  aspect  of  things.  Should  you  deem  any  information,  which  I  may  be  able 
to  give  you,  worthy  of  publication,  it  is  at  your  service. 

"  Yours  respectfully,  J.  M.  D," 

Now,  sir,  can  any  one  suppose  that  this  is  the  whole  history  of  the  cause 
which  led  to  the  maltreatment  of  the  Texan  Commissioner,  or  the  consequences 
which  are  to  flow  from  it  ?  No.  A  Constitution  is  to  be  sent  here  by  New 
Mexico,  under  the  supervision  and  direction  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  his  Cabinet,  and  presented  as  a  firebrand  to  produce  additional  dis- 
traction in  the  councils  of  this  nation,  and,  if  possible,  to  defeat  every  salutary 
measure  intended  for  the  reconcilement  of  the  difficulties  which  now  exist.  The 
non-action  policy  of  the  Executive  and  his  Cabinet  is  fraught  with  every  mis- 
chief; it  brings  with  it  no  soothing  influence  for  the  restoration  of  peace  and 
harmony;  it  is  only  calculated  to  continue  excitement,  and  increase  existing 
evils.  If  New  Mexico  presents  a  Constitution,  all  the  advocates  of  the  adminis- 
tration will  rally  to  the  support  of  the  measure ;  which  will  be  urged  by  all  the 
influence  of  position,  and  advanced  by  all  the  power  of  patronage.  In  what 
situation  then  will  Texas  be  placed  ?  Will  not  all  those  who  sympathize  with 
her  situation  and  respect  her  rights,  rally  to  her  rescue,  determined  to  vindicate 
her  honor  ?  It  will  be  a  conflict  then  of  a  sovereign  State  contending  for  her 
rights  and  privileges  on  the  one  hand,  whilst  military  usurpation  and  sovereign 
power  will  be  struggling  to  defeat  her  rights,  and  crush  her  spirit,  on  the  other. 
This  can  not  be  done  ;  but  the  very  apprehension  of  such  a  course  as  the  one 
contemplated  by  the  Executive,  is  fraught  with  calamity  and  distress  to  the 
country.  No  one  acts  without  a  motive  ;  and  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  the  ob- 
ject which  is  aimed  at  is  a  continuance  of  the  present  men  in  power  by  a  re- 
election of  the  present  Executive.  As  one  of  the  signs  manifest,  I  discover  in 
the  letter  of  Hugh  N.  Smith,  when  urging  New  Mexico  to  adopt  a  State  Con- 
stitution, that  votes,  votes  are  wanted  here  to  secure  influence,  and  consequently, 
if  New  Mexico  is  admitted,  it  will  increase  the  States  in  the  Presidential  election. 
Sir,  the  horse  is  already  upon  the  track ;  already  has  the  administration  organ 
announced  General  Taylor  as  a  candidate  for  re-election.  Why,  sir,  what  sort 
of  conduct  is  this  on  the  part  of  the  Administration  ;  which  should  be  alive  to 
everything  calculated  to  harmonize  the  country.  Even  the  high  object  of  the 
Presidential  office,  when  brought  into  the  scale  against  the  union,  peace,  and 
prosperity  of  more  than  twenty  millions  of  freemen,  should  be  placed  beneath 
the  heel  of  all  honorable  patriots ;  yet  this  additional  cause  of  excitement  is  at 


Houston's  View  of  the  "Compromise"  391 

this  moment  brought  forward  to  increase  the  confusion  now  prevailing.  But  1 
have  hope  that  Senators  will  come  up  to  the  present  crisis  and  look  it  in  the 
face,  regarding  its  proper  settlement  as  the  means  of  restoring  harmony  and  ad- 
vancing the  prosperity  of  the  country.  I  ask  you,  sir,  where  is  there  a  portion 
of  the  earth  so  prosperous  and  so  happy  as  the  country  which  we  represent  ? 
All  the  elements  of  human  felicity  and  glory  are  in  possession  of  the  American 
people.  It  is  true,  a  portion  of  the  State  from  which  I  come  is  unfortunately 
subject  to  incursions  from  marauding  Indian  tribes,  and  I  am  fearful  that  the 
proceedings  at  Santa  Fe  will  be  calculated  to  increase  the  hostility  of  the  Indi- 
ans, and  add  to  the  calamities  of  our  frontier ;  'tis  true  that  more  than  seven 
hundred  infantry  have  been  ordered  into  Texas  ;  such  troops  may  perform  gar- 
rison duty,  but  against  the  Indians  they  must  be  inefficient.  Cavalry,  or  well- 
mounted  rangers,  are  the  only  description  of  troops  that  can  be  useful  against 
Indians.  I  hope  the  design,  in  ordering  these  troops  to  Texas,  is  not  to  prevent 
her  from  any  practical  interference  with  the  possession  of  the  United  States. 
If  it  is  really  intended  for  the  protection  of  the  frontier,  and  not  as  a  menace  to 
Texas,  I  sincerely  hope  that  by  her  it  will  be  rightly  construed.  Nevertheless, 
I  have  confidence  that  Texas  will  exercise  patience,  the  most  elevated  patriot- 
ism, and  a  reasonable  zeal,  while  remembering  that  her  rights  have  been -disre- 
garded by  the  contrivance  of  the  Administration. 

I  will  now  say  a  word  in  relation  to  a  subject,  upon  which  I  have  not  spoken 
in  this  body,  and  which  I  deem  paramount  to  all  others :  I  allude  to  the  Com- 
promise. If  I  had  been  opposed  to  that  measure,  it  seems  to  me,  from  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  been  brought  forward,  and  the  consideration  which  has  been 
devoted  to  it,  the  amount  of  character  embodied  in  its  production,  the  intelli- 
gence ,of  the  individuals  who  have  combined  in  support  of  it,  their  connection 
with  the  fame  and  history  of  the  present  age,  their  former  honorable  achieve- 
ments, and  its  presentation  in  this  body  by  a  chairman  whose  experience  and 
high  standing  elevate  him  to  an  unrivaled  position — when,  under  these  impos- 
ing circumstances,  it  comes  before  this  body,  I  am  bound  to  accord  to  it,  as  well 
as  its  authors,  my  profound  respect  and  consideration.  Defective  though  it  may 
be  in  some  particulars,  I  should  be  tempted  to  distrust  my  own  judgment  if  I 
were  to  condemn  the  general  plan  of  the  compromise.  It  may  be  improved  by 
amendments,  and,  I  doubt  not,  they  may  be  of  advantage  to  its  perfection  ;  but 
the  great  object  to  which  it  looks  is  of  paramount  importance,  not  only  to  us 
here,  but  to  all  throughout  America,  and  to  the  civilized  world  ;  for  should  no 
compromise  be  effected,  and  distraction  and  anarchy  stalk  abroad,  what  happi- 
ness can  we  look  for,  or  what  perpetuity  of  freedom  can  we  anticipate  ?  Under 
these  circumstances,  I  am  disposed  to  give  every  possible  aid  to  the  measure  in 
the  hope  that  it  will  be  made  acceptable,  that  it  may  soothe  or  quiet  the  present 
distraction,  until  more  fortunate  circumstances  shall  dispel  all  clouds,  and  hush 
the  jarring  elements  to  peace. 

I  alluded  the  other  day  but  cursorily — though  not  cursorily  either — to  the  feel- 
ings which  have  always  been  evinced  by  the  Executive,  and  now  transferred  to 
the  Administration,  against  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  I  must  say  with  the  inten- 
tion of  doing  the  President  great  justice,  as  I  am  always  ready  to  do.  Though 
I  do  not  like  the  way  he  has  treated  Texas,  still  I  desire  to  make  the  proper  dis- 
tinction between  a  thing  well  done  and  one  which  is  not  well  done.  The  Pres- 
ident did  say,  in  relation  to  the  abuse  lavished  upon  Texan  troops  during  the 


392  Houston? 8  Literary  Remains. 

war  with  Mexico,  on  one  occasion — for  I  remember  the  publication  that  was 
made  on  the  subject — that  the  information  which  was  embodied  in  the  dispatches 
read  by  me,  was  derived  from  an  ex-Governor  of  Texas,  then  in  command  of 
those  troops ;  and  that  if  they  were  misrepresentations  the  Governor  was  the 
author  of  them.  That  Governor,  I  believe,  denied  that  this  was  true.  Who- 
ever was  the  author  of  the  calumny,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say ;  for  as  the  Gen- 
erals are  both  in  high  positions,  it  would  be  a  piece  of  arrogance  for  one  so 
humble  as  I  am  to  decide  a  question  of  such  delicate  import.  It  is  a  question 
of  veracity  between  one  who  occupies  the  mansion  at  the  other  end  of  the  Cap- 
itol, and  another  who  is  the  ex-Governor  of  a  State,  and  the  sole  representative 
of  the  sole  lone  star  of  Texas  in  the  late  Nashville  Convention — and  self-con- 
stituted at  that.  Yet,  however  the  matter  may  stand  between  those  Generals, 
Texas  shall  not  be  undeservedly  slandered  without  an  effort  on  my  part  to  vin- 
dicate her  reputation. 

Well,  sir,  the  Nashville  Convention — I  have  no  right  to  speak  harshly  of  the 
meritorious  gentlemen  composing  that  Convention — never  has  been  a  pet  of 
mine.  I  thought  I  discovered  an  inkling  of  such  manoeuvres  some  two  or  more 
years  ago,  but  I  .do  not  desire  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  telling  what  I 
then  thought,  and  I  will  content  myself  with  saying,  that  it  never  has  been  a 
pet  of  mine.  If  there  ever  was  a  time  for  such  a  thing,  I  have  never  seen  it.  If 
it  was  called  in  contravention  of  the  Constitution,  and  in  violation  of  its  pro- 
ceedings, I  do  not  think  well  of  it.  The  Constitution  declares,  that  no  one  or 
more  States  shall  enter  into  any  compact  or  agreement  without  the  consent  of 
Congress  ;  and  I  do  not  believe  Congress  was  ever  consulted  on  the  subject.  If 
it  meant  anything,  it  was  contrary  to  the  Constitution,  because  it  must  be  a  com- 
pact or  agreement ;  if  it  was  not  intended  to  make  a  compact  or  agreement,  then 
I  must  think  it  was  a  piece  of  ridiculous  flummery,  and  not  particularly  entitled 
to  my  respect,  though  the  individuals  who  composed  it  may  be.  Now,  that  is 
my  opinion  in  regard  to  the  Nashville  Convention.  In  view  of  the  fact,  that  not 
more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  votes  out  of  thirty  thousand  were  given  in 
Texas  for  a  representative  to  this  Convention ;  and  as  it  is  the  fact,  since  I  have 
occupied  the  floor  since  this  subject  has  been  agitated,  I  avail  myself  of  this  op- 
portunity— in  the  face  of  this  assembly  of  the  conscript  fathers  of  America — in 
the  face  of  the  American  people  and  the  civilized  world — in  the  face  of  all  order 
• — for  order  is  the  first  law  of  Heaven — and  in  the  face  of  my  Creator — as  I  be- 
lieve it  to.  be  inimical  to  the  institutions  of  my  country — to  disdain  and  protest 
against  that  Convention  and  its  action,  so  far  as  Texas  is  concerned.  Yes,  sir, 
I  do  it  from  my  heart,  and  I  know  the  declarations  will  meet  a  response  in  the 
hearts  of  thousands  who  are  imbued  with  a  pure  love  of  the  Union,  and  who 
have  rushed  to  it  as  an  asylum  from  all  surrounding  difficulties.  Think  you, 
sir,  that  after  the  difficulties  they  have  encountered  to  get  into  the  Union,  that 
you  can  whip  them  out  of  it  ?  No,  sir.  New  Mexico  can  not  whip  them  out  of 
it,  even  with  the  aid  of  United  States  troops.  No,  sir  ! — no,  sir !  We  shed  our 
blood  to  get/into  it,  and  we  have  now  no  arms  to  turn  against  it.  But  we  have 
not  looked  for  aggression  upon  us  from  the  Union.  We  have  looked  to  the 
Union  of  these  States  and  its  noble  course  to  vindicate  our  rights,  and  to  accord 
to  us  what  in  justice  we  claim — what  we  have  ever  claimed — and  less  than 
which  we  can  never  claim. 

The  honorable  Senator  from  New  York  [Mr.  Seward],  yesterday  when  speak- 


Texan  Bonds  and  Speculators.  393 

ing  of  a  measure  that  is  not  remarkably  popular  in  Texas,  I  think — the  Wilmot 
Proviso — said  that  you  might  slay  it  here,  and  it  had  been  said  that  it  was  killed, 
but  that  the  ghost — the  dead  corpse — had  returned,  clad  with  steel,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  stalk  through  these  halls  again.  I  really  thought  he  said  a  dead 
horse,  instead  of  a  dead  corpse,  at  the  time ;  and  it  occurred  to  me  at  the  mo- 
ment, that  if  I  saw  any  such  spectre  walking  through  the  Hall,  or  on  any  portion 
of  terra  firma  to  which  I  could  lay  claim,  either  in  or  out  of  the  State  of  Texas, 
and  I  had  anything  to  do  with  the  grooming  of  that  horse,  I  need  not  borrovv 
old  Whitey's  silver  currycomb  to  do  it,  but  would  take  an  iron  one  [laughter], 
and  I  would  rub  him  down  with  that. 

I  shall  not  occupy  further  the  time  of  the  Senate,  and  shall  content  myself  with 
submitting  to  their  consideration  the  views  I  have  presented. 

Mr.  CLAY.  As  these  resolutions  are  likely  to  be  the  subject  of  further  discus- 
sion, I  move  to  lay  them  on  the  table  for  the  present. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 

[NOTE. — General  Taylor's  decease,  shortly  after  the  delivery  of  this  speech, 
induced  the  author  to  suppress  it,  with  the  design  never  to  publish  it,  had  it  not 
been  that  the  Hon.  Mr.  Pierce,  of  Maryland,  and  the  Hon.  Jefferson  Davis,  of 
Mississippi,  made  replies  which  were  published.  As  those  gentlemen  animad- 
verted, with  some  degree  of  severity,  upon  Mr.  Houston's  remarks,  he  felt  it  a 
duty  to  submit  them,  with  the  reasons  for  them,  to  the  community.] 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  IN  THE  SENATE,  FEBRUARY  H,   1853,  ON 
THE  BILL  PROVIDING  FOR  THE  TEXAS  DEBT. 

On  the  bill  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  such  creditors  of  the  late  Republic 
of  Texas  as  are  comprehended  in  the  act  of  Congress  of  September  9,  1850, 
Mr.  Houston  said : 

Mr.  President :  I  am  very  reluctant  to  occupy  a  moment  of  the  precious  time 
of  the  Senate,  and  particularly  when  other  matters  which  are,  in  the  estimation 
of  honorable  gentlemen,  of  so  much  urgency  are  pressed  upon  the  attention  of 
the  body.  But  the  bill  before  the  Senate  seems  to  implicate  the  character  of  the 
State  of  which  I  am  in  part  the  representative  on  this  floor,  and  demands  of  her 
Senators  at  least  an  explanation.  If  they  are  incapable  of  vindicating  her  repu- 
tation, if  she  can  not  be  justified  in  the  course  which  she  has  adopted,  no  excuse 
will  be  rendered  for  it ;  and,  to  determine  upon  the  merits  of  her  claims  to  con- 
sideration and  to  the  due  regard  of  her  sister  States,  if  is  proper  that  we  should 
advert  to  the  circumstances  under  which  those  debts  originated,  and  under 
which  they  are  held  by  the  present  claimants. 

Texas,  when  she  rose  from  her  revolutionary  struggle,  did  not  owe  much 
more  than  $2,000,000 ;  and  more  concurred  in  the  opinion  that  she  owed  but  a 
million  and  a  half  than  that  her  debt  exceeded  two  millions.  This  constituted 
the  amount  of  her  entire  liabilities  at  that  time,  and  up  to  the  year  1838.  From 
the  period  of  the  commencement  of  her  separate  Government,  in  the  fall  of  1836, 
down  to  the  winter  of  1838,  her  entire  debt  did  not  exceed  $2,500,000,  embrac- 
ing all  her  liabilities ;  and  her  entire  currency  in  circulation  was  less  than  half  a 


394  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

million.  It  was  from  1838  up  to  the  end  of  1841,  that  the  debt  accumulated 
from  two  and  a  half  millions  to  the  enormous  sum  of  twelve  millions  of  dollars. 
This  was  not,  as  gentlemen  seem  to  understand  it  in  most  instances,  a  debt  cre- 
ated by  the  sale  of  bonds,  pledging1  the  faith  of  Texas  for  their  redemption ;  for 
a  little  more  than  one  million  of  bonds  are  all  that  are  outstanding  against 
Texas.  The  other  debts  have  resulted  from  her  currency.  The  impression  has 
gone  abroad  that  Texas  was  placed  on  a  footing  with  other  States,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Pennsylvania,  Mississippi,  and  others,  who  sold  their  bonds  at  a  deprecia- 
tion, and  that,  therefore,  the  question  would  not  arise  whether  she  received  the 
full  value  of  those  bonds  or  not ;  but  that  she  was  bound  to  pay  them  at  their 
face ;  that  she  had  received  the  most  that  could  be  obtained  for  them,  and  that 
the  risk  justified  the  depreciation  of  price  at  which  they  were  purchased. 

I  know  that  these  are  the  impressions  which  have  gone  abroad  throughout 
the  community;  and  if  Texas,  when  her  credit  was  low  and  depressed,  had 
been  compelled  to  raise  means  for  the  support  of  her  armies  and  for  the  expenses 
of  her  civil  list,  and  had  for  that  purpose  sold  bonds  calling  on  their  face  for  a 
hundred  cents  to  the  dollar,  and  had  only  received  fifty  cents,  she  would  yet  have 
been  bound  in  good  faith  to  redeem  them  according  to  the  letter  of  the  liability, 
and  would  have  had  no  excuse  for  shrinking  from  punctually  meeting  her  obli- 
gations but  inability  to  pay  her  debts.  But  when  we  look  into  the  nature  of  the 
liabilities  of  Texas,  we  find  that,  with  the  exception  of  about  one  million  of 
dollars,  they  are  of  a  very  different  character  from  what  has  been  generally  sup- 
posed. Texas  issued  promissory  notes.  Up  to  1838,  these  passed  currently  at 
par.  A  change  in  the  administration  of  the  Government  then  took  place,  and 
the  first  act  of  the  new  Administration  was  to  raise  new  regiments  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defending  the  frontiers,  as  it  was  said,  and  then,  although  the  previous 
amount  allowed  to  the  Executive  for  frontier  defense  had  been  inconsiderable,  it 
was  swelled  up  by  appropriations  to  the  amount  of  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars, 
and  the  civil  list  had  no  less  than  half  a  million  appropriated  to  support  it. 

The  throwing  of  these  two  millions  of  dollars  of  promissory  notes  into  circu- 
lation, had  the  effect  of  lowering  the  value  of  the  former  currency,  and  the 
whole  depreciated  at  least  fifty  per  cent.,  and  gradually  declined  from  that  to 
the  lowest  point  of  depression.  Successive  issues  were  made,  and  the  depre- 
ciation continued  during  the  years  1839,  1840,  and  1841 ;  and  in  proportion  as 
the  issues  were  increased  the  depreciation  went  on.  During  that  period  im- 
mense expenditures  were  incurred  and  liabilities  issued,  for  which  there  was  not 
the  semblance  of  authority.  The  Santa  F£  expedition  was  fitted  out,  and  must 
have  cost  more  than  one  million  of  dollars ;  and  that  expenditure  was  incurred, 
not  only  without  authority,  but  in  positive  violation  of  the  expressed  will  of  the 
two  Houses  of  the  Texan  Congress,  by  a  mere  dictum  of  the  Executive.  The 
arms  and  munitions  of  war  of  the  country  were  entirely  expended  in  that 
expedition ;  and  accumulated  expenditures  were  bequeathed  to  the  succeeding 
Administration.  Thus  issues  to  the  amount  of  millions  were  made  without 
authority,  and  they  became  valueless.  In  December,  1841,  Texas  suspended 
payment  because  she  was  then  unable  to  pay  her  debts. 

But  here  let  me  ask,  Who  are  these  creditors  who  now  come  forward  with 
such  plaintive  appeals  to  this  body  ?  Who  are  they  who  are  imploring  the  com- 
miseration of  Senators  :  "  Help  us  or  we  sink  "  ?  Are  they  men  who  were  suf- 
ferers by  the  Texan  revolutionary  struggle  ?  or  are  they  men  who  speculated 


Speculators,  not  Texan  Soldier  s.  Holders  of  Bonds.  395 

upon  the  individuals  who  went  through  the  toils  and  dangers  of  thai  revolution  ? 
These  promissory  notes  depreciated  in  the  hands  of  men  who  had  toiled  and 
fought  in  the  revolution,  men  who  had  there  given  their  services  and  their  ener- 
gies to  the  cause  of  independence.  In  their  hands  the  notes  depreciated  until 
they  became  valueless.  They  were  then  thrown  upon  the  market,  they  were 
seized  upon  by  speculators.  At  auctions,  in  the  streets  of  our  cities  and  villages, 
they  were  submitted  to  public  sale  and  cried  off  at  from  three  cents  to  five  cents, 
"  Going,  going,  gone."  Then  it  was  that  these  speculators  came  in  and  secured 
their  claims  to  the  generosity  and  clemency  of  Texas,  and  the  feeling  and  com- 
miseration of  this  body !  There  were  no  bonds  sold  in  market  for  what  they 
would  bring ;  but  these  were  promissory  notes  sold  for  a  mere  song  under  the 
auctioneer's  hammer,  and  "  in  quantities  to  suit  purchasers,"  for  they  were  piled 
up  as  large  as  cotton  bales.  When  they  were  cried  up  till  they  reached  about 
three  cents  on  the  dollar,  they  would  be  knocked  down  to  the  bidder,  and  he 
would  be  told  to  go  and  select  from  the  pile  as  many  as  he  wanted ;  he  might 
take  a  bundle  as  large  as  a  cotton  bale.  [Laughter.] 

That  is  the  way  in  which  these  evidences  of  debt  were  obtained.  These  are 
the  liabilities  for  which  gentlemen  claim  a  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar,  and 
which  were  acquired  at  the  rate  of  from  one  to  three  or  five  cents  on  the  dollar. 
No  doubt  gentlemen  in  the  United  States  thought  the  prospect  was  very  fine ; 
they  knew  that  the  Texans  were  descended  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  and 
that  they  would  maintain  their  liberty  in  defiance  of  every  difficulty  ;  for  the 
American  race  never  retreated,  never  took  one  step  backwards ;  and  that  from 
the  day  they  had  impressed  their  footsteps  upon  a  perilous  soil,  they  would  go  on. 
Such  gentlemen,  perhaps,  thought  that  if  the  Texans  were  involved  in  difficulties, 
they  might  venture  to  sell  real  estate  and  get  money  when  there  was  a  prospect 
of  investing  it  in  Texas  depreciated  paper  to  much  advantage.  No  doubt  under 
these  circumstances  gentlemen  in  the  United  States  purchased  large  amounts 
of  the  promissory  notes  of  Texas  at  ten  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  now  come  for- 
ward and  claim  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar !  To  exemplify  it  more  par- 
ticularly, I  will  state,  that  such  was  the  depreciation  of  Texas  currency,  that, 
for  instance,  if  a  judge,  getting  a  salary,  of  $3,000,  came  forward  to  receive  it, 
and  his  demand  was  exhibited,  he  would  receive  in  Treasury  notes  $30,000, 
based  upon  no  issue  of  bonds,  but  upon  credit.  In  his  hands,  the  money  depre- 
ciated, until,  perhaps,  it  became  worthless,  and  then  it  was  thrown  into  the 
market  in  some  village,  and  purchased  up  by  speculators  at  from  one  to  three  or 
five  cents. 

This  is  the  character  of  the  Texas  liabilities.  This  is  the  manner  in  which 
they  have  been  bought.  What  justice,  therefore,  would  there  be  in  giving  a 
hundred  cents  upon  the  dollar  for  their  redemption,  when  they  were  acquired  at 
rates  varying  from  one  cent  to  five  cents  ?  Is  Texas  bound  in  good  faith  to  do 
it  ?  Was  the  risk  to  these  gentlemen  worth  the  difference  between  three  cents 
and  a  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar?  I  think  not.  Then,  let  me  ask,  has  Texas 
evinced  a  disposition  to  pay  her  debts  in  good  faith,  and  according  to  the  rules 
of  equity  ? 

Upon  these  funds  thus  passed  away  at  the  most  depreciated  rates,  and  that 
were  purchased  up  at  a  mere  nominal  rate,  Texas  has  determined  to  pay  upon 
none,  no  matter  for  what  they  were  bought,  less  than  twenty  cents  on  the  dollar, 
and  from  that  rate  up  to  twenty-five,  fifty,  seventy,  and  seventy-five  cents,  accord- 


396  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

ing  to  the  dates  of  the  issues  of  the  notes,  and  the  value  at  which  they  were 
issued,  and  also  including,  in  most  cases,  the  interest.  This  is  the  equitable 
principle  upon  which  Texas  determined  to  pay  her  debts.  Does  this  evince  a 
disposition  to  defraud  her  creditors,  to  involve  her  reputation,  to  repudiate  ?  In 
these  honest  times,  if  a  man  gets  his  due,  he  is  doing  very  well.  Has  not  Texas 
done  this  toward  her  creditors  ?  Texas,  sir,  has  evinced  no  disposition  to  evade 
the  payment  of  all  equitable  and  just  debts  and  liabilities. 

I  have-  every  disposition  to  be  very  candid  on  this  occasion,  and  therefore  I 
think  it  due  to  the  creditors,  I  think  it  due  to  individuals,  and  I  think  it  due  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  to  state  plainly  that  I  would  not  eschew 
one  liability  on  the  part  of  Texas,  and  transfer  it  to  the  shoulders  of  the  United 
States.  I  would  say  to  Texas,  "  Pay  away  the  last  cent  in  your  coffers,  bank- 
rupt yourself,  give  away  your  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  land,  rather  than 
throw  the  responsibility  on  the  United  States."  If  we  were  to  be  left  destitute 
of  a  dollar,  and  without  an  acre  of  land  available,  the  times  then  would  not  be 
as  gloomy  as  those  through  which  Texas  has  already  passed.  I  would  be  sorry 
to  see  Texas  not  meet  her  just  liabilities,  and  throw  the  responsibility  of  them 
upon  the  United  States,  and  that  then,  through  grace  and  tender  mercy  to  the 
reputation  of  Texas,  the  United  States  should  liquidate  our  debts. 

I  am  for  doing  justice,  and  nothing  but  justice ;  but  I  am  determined  that 
something  shall  be  understood  in  relation  to  this  matter,  more  than  the  partial 
representation  of  the  claimants  was  disposed  to  exhibit  to  the  world.  Who  are 
those  that  are  most  clamorous  against  the  injustice  of  Texas,  and  the  wrongs 
which  they  have  sustained  from  her  ?  Are  they  men  who  have  peculiar  claims 
upon  the  sympathy  of  this  body  ?  Are  they  men  who  have  peculiar  claims  upon 
the  confidence  of  Texas  ?  Are  they  men  who  blended  their  destiny  with  hers 
in  her  hours  of  trial  ?  Are  they  men  who  marched  with  her  armies  upon  their 
marches  ?  Are  they  men  who  upon  her  vigils  of  peril  watched  with  her?  Are 
they  men  who  toiled  or  starved  for  her?  No,  sir.  They  have  sprung  up,  like 
dragon's  teeth,  around  this  Capitol  within  a  few  years  ;  and  we  find  the  diffusive 
influence  of  this  speculation  upon  multitudes  that  surround  the  Capitol.  Mem- 
bers are  besieged  at  every  step  with  appeals,  "  Do  this  for  us ;  do  justice  for  us ; 
save  the  reputation  of  Texas;  be  honorable,  and  it  will  do  her  some  good." 
They  do  not  say,  in  significant  strains,  "  Fill  our  pockets,  fill  our  pockets,  will 
you  ?  "  though  this  is  what  they  mean.  They  mean  nothing  else  than  to  acquire, 
and  to  take  away  from  either  Government — I  will  not  say  ill-gotten  gains — but 
what  would  be  clear  gains,  if  they  got  them. 

The  largest  amount  of  the  outstanding  issues  against  Texas  at  this  time  arises 
from  obligations  that  were  issued  from  her  treasury,  for  which  she  received  but 
from  sixteen  to  ten  cents  on  the  dollar  ;  and  now  a  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar 
is  claimed  for  them,  swelling  the  amount  of  her  debts  to  millions.  No  matter 
how  irregularly  the  debt  was  contracted  by  Texas,  whether  there  was  authority  for 
the  obligations  issued  or  those  brought  in  and  funded ;  whether  they  were  made 
without  appropriations  or  not,  Texas  has  estimated  them,  and  placed  them  on 
a  footing'  with  the  other  equitable  demands  against  her.  She  has  extended 
equity  when  she  might  have  caviled,  and  contended  that,  according  to  strict  law, 
or  common  usage,  she  was  not  bound.  Yet  we  are  told  that  if  Texas  would 
only  come  forward  and  redeem  her  outstanding  obligations  at  par,  or  pay  all  the 
money  she  has  in  her  coffers,  and  the  $5,000,000  reserved  by  the  United  States, 


The  V.  /SI  Repudiators  of  Revolution  Debts.      397 

she  would  establish  a  reputation  above  all  suspicion ;  that  she  would  then  sus- 
tain herself  with  credit ;  that  it  would  do  her  more  honor,  and  make  her  a  more 
glorious  nation  than  ever  existed.  Sir,  Texas  as  a  State  is  only  a  part  of  this 
Confederacy  ;  one  of  thirty-one ;  and  she  does  not  aspire  to  be  more  glorious 
than  the  United  States,  or  the  mighty  nations  of  the  earth.  We  find  that  they 
have  perpetrated  offenses  against  good  morality  and  national  honor,  which  Texas 
scorns  to  do.  They  have  repudiated  debts,  not  only  revolutionary  debts,  but 
others  contracted  in  good  faith.  This  Texas  has  not  done,  and  will  not  do. 
She  has  not  repudiated  one  dollar  of  her  revolutionary  debt,  and  she  will  not  do 
it.  She  will  pay  a  hundred  cents  upon  every  dollar  she  has  realized.  Is  not 
that  worthy  of  admiration  ?  Yet  gentlemen  say  she  would  be  glorious  if  she 
would  pay  the  nominal  amount  of  her  liabilities. 

When  the  United  States  repudiated — I  do  not  claim  that  as  authority,  but  I 
wish  to  bring  it  in  array  before  the  public  mind — it  was  for  an  amount  upwards 
of  $240,000,000  of  revolutionary  debt.  Has  Texas  done  anything  of  that  sort  ? 
Has  she  repudiated  one  just  demand,  amounting  to  a  single  dollar,  of  citizens  of 
Texas  who  assisted  her  in  her  hours  of  difficulty  ?  Not  one.  The  United 
States  repudiated  millions,  and  hundreds  of  millions,  held  in  the  hands  of  war- 
worn veterans,  who  had  toiled  through  a  revolutionary  struggle  of  seven  years. 
The  United  States  repudiated  the  revolutionary  debt  of  the  war  of  Independence, 
which  commenced  in  1776.  Texas,  during  her  revolution  of  nine  years,  did  not 
repudiate  one  dollar  that  was  held  by  her  revolutionary  soldiers.  The  United 
States,  when  they  assumed  the  debts  of  the  several  States — the  old  thirteen — 
after  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  required  the  States  to  scale  those  debts,  and 
paid  them  at  the  scaled  rates.  If  we  were  disposed  to  be  a  little  tricky,  might 
we  not  follow  these  examples  ?  But  if  we  have  been  tricky  I  do  not  know  what 
fair  dealing  means. 

We  do  not,  however,  claim  the  benefit  of  the  high  examples  to  which  I  have 
referred ;  but  I  think  that  in  view  of  them  it  comes  with  a  very  bad  grace  from 
the  United  States  to  become  administrator  on  the  affairs  of  Texas,  and  to  de- 
termine what  are  her  liabilities. 

The  amount  of  $5,000,000  that  was  reserved  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  was  reserved  at  the  instance  of  creditors,  who  were  importuning  and  sur- 
rounding Senators  here  when  legislating  on  this  subject.  Some  sagacious  law- 
yer had  discovered  that  the  United  States  were  liable  when  they  acquired  Texas, 
and  received  from  her  means  which  were  intended  for  the  liquidation  of  her 
debts.  It  was  not  intended  by  that  reservation  to  determine  what  the  debts  of 
Texas  were,  but  only  the  debts  of  a  certain  character  for  which  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  might  possibly  be  held  liable.  When  were  they  to 
pay  these  debts  ?  When  ascertained  by  Texas,  and  certified  to  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States.  That  was  the  object  of  retaining  the  $5,000,000,  as  I  under- 
stood it  at  the  time,  and  I  voted  upon  the  subject  in  all  good  faith  and  confi- 
dence, satisfied,  as  I  was,  that  the  amount  upon  which  the  impost  duties  of 
Texas  were  pledged  did  not  amount  to  $5,000,000,  and  that  there  would  be  a 
large  residuum  to  Texas  of  that  amount. 

The  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  after  the 
passage  of  that  bill,  determined,  in  effect,  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  were  liable  for  all  the  debts  of  Texas.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the 
administration  of  the  Government  of  Texas  from  1841  down  to  the  time  of  the 


398  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

annexation  in  1845,  there  was  not  one  dollar  of  debt  incurred,  nor  one  liability 
created.  From  December,  1841,  when  the  exchequer  system  was  established, 
and  the  immense  issues  of  $12,000,000  were  suspended,  $200,000  was  the 
amount  of  the  currency  established  by  law,  and  that  commenced  to  issue  at  the 
rate  of  a  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar.  A  combination  was  directly  formed  of 
brokers  and  speculators,  gentlemen  alien  to  Texas,  who  wanted  to  filibuster,  and 
subvert  the  Government,  right  or  wrong,  who  said  that  if  they  were  not  admit- 
ted into  its  control  or  made  participants  of  it,  they  would  subvert  it,  if  by  no 
other  way,  by  revolution.  They  combined,  and  by  their  combination  immedi- 
ately reduced  the  value  of  that  currency  from  a  hundred  cents  to  seventy-five, 
and  at  one  time  it  went  down  as  low  as  twenty-five  cents  on  the  dollar.  By 
economical  issues,  by  extreme  economy  in  the  Government,  the  value  rose 
again.  But  the  Legislature,  which  met  annually,  consumed  a  large  amount, 
and  being  opposed  to  the  Executive,  Bought  every  possible  means  to  embarrass 
him  ;  and  instead  of  requiring  the  taxes  to  be  paid  as  under  the  previous  existing 
laws,  they  repealed  those  laws  for  the  collection  of  taxes,  or  postponed  their 
operation  for  six  months,  so  as  to  depreciate  the  value  of,  by  lessening  the  de- 
mand for,  this  currency,  and  thereby  to  embarrass  the  Government  in  such  a 
way  that  it  could  no  longer  exist.  However,  the  good  fortune  that  presided  over 
Texas,  and  directed  her  path,  did  not  desert  her.  The  currency  came  up  again, 
and  was  at  par ;  but  after  a  long  session  of  the  Texas  Congress  it  fell  to  fifty 
cents,  and  even  as  low  as  thirty-seven  and  a  half  cents  ;  but  it  rose  again,  and 
continued  at  par,  in  spite  of  all  the  combinations  and  machinations  of  faction, 
corruption,  and  treason.  When  that  administration  ended,  in  1844,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Texas  had  not  only  accumulated  in  the  treasury  $25,000  of  par  funds 
in  gold  and  silver,  but  it  had  paid  all  just  and  unavoidable  demands  to  foreign 
nations,  and  to  support  the  Santa  Fe  and  Mier  prisoners  in  Mexico,  and  to  pro- 
cure their  release,  not  less  than  $70,000.  So  that  the  Texas  debt,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  $2,500,000  accrued  between  the  years  1838  and  1841,  not  a  solitary 
cent  accrued  in  the  administration  which  lasted  from  the  end  of  1841  to  1844. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  the  debt  of  Texas  did  not  grow  out'  of  her  necessities,  and 
that  the  present  creditors  who  come  forward  herewith  their  demands,  and  who, 
according  to  their  saying,  helped  Texas  in  her  hours  of  trial  and  threw  their 
money  into  her  lap,  instead  of  doing  that,  threw  it  into  the  lap  of  speculators. 
Not  a  dollar  of  it  went  to  Texas  which  will  not  only  be  paid  in  par  funds,  but 
which  will  also,  I  trust,  be  paid  with  interest,  and  at  a  premium.  There  were 
bonds  issued, — let  them  be  paid  to  the  letter  and  to  the  last  farthing ;  but  let 
those  who  have  accumulated  these  obligations  by  speculation,  and  that,  too,  of 
a  most  enormous  character,  receive,  like  Shylock,  their  "  pound  of  flesh,"  or  two 
pounds  if  you  please,  but  "  not  one  drop  of  Christian  blood."  Sir,  if  these  men 
were  the  assignees,  or  the  descendants  of  Shylock,  they  would  reflect  just  credit 
upon  his  reputation.  '[Laughter.] 

But,  Mr.  President,  it  is  thought  that  it  is  immoral  in  Texas — that  it  is  not  a. 
clever  thing  in  her  not  to  pay  her  debts.  Now,  I  should  like  to  ascertain  by 
what  standard  of  morality  we  are  to  arrive  at  the  adjustment  of  her  debts  ?  Is 
it  that  standard  of  morality  that  pays  a  man  not  only  what  he  has  given,  but  a 
hundred  per  cent,  in  addition  to  that  ?  Or  is  it  the  standard  it  is  proposed  to 
establish  here,  that  when  a  man  has  given  three  cents  for  a  dollar,  he  is  to  get 
a  hundred  cents?  Is  it  that  rule  by  which  we  are  to  judge  of  the  morality  of 


The  U.  S.  bound  for  Mexican-Texan  Debt.        399 

Texas,  and  the  advantage  of  her  creditors  ?  That  would  be  a  very  agreeable 
one  to  the  creditors,  but  I  can  not  see  that  it  would  be  complimentary  either  to 
the  heart  or  the  head  of  Texas.  I  do  not  think  there  is  anything  smart  in  it. 
It  may  be  smart  for  the  creditors,  but  certainly  most  stupid  for  Texas.  They 
are  for  fixing  their  standard  of  morality  for  Texas,  and  she  is  for  fixing  her 
standard  of  equity  and  justice  for  them  ;  and  the  United  States  have  no  business 
at  all  with  it  one  way  or  the  other. 

If,  however,  the  United  States  are  bound  for  the  debts  of  Texas,  they  are 
bound  for  much  more  than  this  bill  proposes  to  pay.  The  independence  of 
Texas  was  not  recognized  by  Mexico  when  it  was  annexed  to  the  United  States, 
The  domestic  debt  of  Mexico  was  then  about  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
They  claimed  that  Texas  should  pay  a  part  of  it.  Propositions  were  even  sug- 
gested before  annexation,  that  if  Texas  would  assume  her  proportion  of  the  na- 
tional debt  of  Mexico,  the  independence  of  Texas  might  be  acknowledged.  I 
the  United  States  are  now  bound  by  the  act  of  annexation  for  the  debts  o: 
Texas  to  the  extent  that  the  means  taken  by  the  United  States  would  have  gone, 
the  debt  to  the  Government  of  Mexico  is  a  prior  one,  and  the  United  States  are 
bound  to  Mexico  for  a  much  larger  sum  than  they  are  bound  to  these  creditors 
Would  you  be  willing  to  go  back  and  settle  that  amount  ?  Yet  it  has  a  priorit} 
over  the  present  demand.  Mexico  never  recognized  the  debts  that  Texas  in- 
curred by  her  revolution,  and  if  you  recognize  that  you  are  bound  to  pay  them 
you  should  also  pay  to  Mexico  the  proper  proportion  of  Texas  to  the  one  hun- 
dred millions  of  the  domestic  debt  of  Mexico. 

It  is  true,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  might  justly  bear  a  part  oi 
the  liabilities  incurred  on  the  part  of  Texas,  because  a  portion  of  the  debt  oi 
Texas  was  entered  into  for  the  purpose  of  defending  her  frontiers  against  the 
Indians.  What  Indians  were  these  ?  Were  they  indigenous  to  Texas  ?  No, 
sir.  Who  were  they?  The  Shawnees,  the  Kickapoos,  the  Choctaws,  the 
Anadacoes,  the  Kechies,  Wacoes,  Caddoes,  and  other  Indian  tribes  from  the 
limits  of  the  United  States,  who  settled  in  Mexico,  and  made  war  upon  Texas. 
It  was  therefore  necessary  for  Texas  to  defend  a  frontier  of  six  hundred  or  eight 
hundred  miles  against  the  inroads  of  these  Indians.  The  Government  of  the 
United  States  was  solemnly  bound  by  treaty  with  Mexico  to  defend  Texas 
against  the  Indians,  to  reclaim  them  to  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and 
to  inhibit  their  crossing  the  frontier.  Instead  of  that,  what  did  the  United 
States  do  ?  I  intend  no  reflection  upon  them,  but  I  intend  to  vindicate  Texas, 
now  a  part  of  the  United  States,  but  then  a  part  of  Mexico.  The  United  States 
had  solemnly  pledged  their  faith,  by  treaty,  to  give  protection  to  the  boundary 
of  Mexico  ;  but  instead  of  that,  they  treated  with  the  Caddoes  and  acquired  their 
territory,  forced  them  into  the  boundary  of  Texas,  and  paid  them  in  arms,  in 
munitions  of  war,  in  powder,  in  implements  of  slaughter  and  massacre,  and 
those  Indians  drenched  our  frontier  in  blood.  Weak  as  we  were — pressed  upon 
by  Mexico  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  wily  and  sagacious  Indian  on  the  other 
hand,  watching  his  opportunity  to  maraud  upon  our  frontiers  and  slaughter  our 
men,  butcher  our  women,  massacre  our  children,  and  conflagrate  the  humble 
hamlets  in  which  they  had  dwelt  in  peace,  we  incurred  expenses  to  keep  them 
off,  and  for  this  the  United  States  are  responsible,  as  they^are  for  a  hundred 
other  violated  pledges  in  relation  to  Indians. 

But  what  is  the  real  history  of  this  matter  ?    When  the  scaling  of  the  debt  ol 


400  Houston? s  Literary  Remains. 

Texas  took  place,  in  1848,  there  was  an  almost  entire  acquiescence  on  the  part 
of  her  creditors.  Some  three  or  four,  or  perhaps  five,  were  somewhat  refrac- 
tory, and  having  more  sagacity  than  the  others,  they  concluded  that  there  was 
some  important  advantage  which  they  would  gain  by  coming  here,  and  there- 
fore they  had  recourse  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  They  might 
then  have  had  in  view  the  idea  of  a  reserved  $5,000,000  fund  out  of  which  they 
would  be  enabled  to  get  their  demands  by  appealing  to  the  sympathy  of  mem- 
bers ;  by  trying  to  show  that  they  were  bankrupted  by  their  liberality  in  their 
anxiety  to  help  Texas  in  the  time  of  her  direst  need.  They  thought  that  if  they 
could  represent  successfully  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  that  they  had 
been  munificent  and  liberal  toward  Texas,  it  would  entitle  them  to  some  extra- 
ordinary interposition  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  They  came  for- 
ward after  the  compromise  was  proposed,  but  not  until  that  time.  They  re- 
ceived a  new  impulse  by  the  proposal  of  the  compromise.  Most  of  them  had 
acquiesced  prior  to  that  time,  and  we  now  find  that  hundreds  came  in  who  were 
not  then  interested  in  the  debts  of  Texas.  Strangers  have  come  in  as  partici- 
pants in  the  interest  and  are  to  be  the  recipients  of  its  benefits.  This  is  the 
case,  and  none  will  deny  that  there  has  been  a  most  extraordinary  change.  If 
it  had  not  been  that  the  compromise  of  1850  passed,  the  Texas  creditors  would 
nearly  all  have  received  their  money,  or  their  proportion  of  it,  by  this  time,  and 
would  have  been  at  rest  and  quiet,  each  man  consoling  himself  in  the  advantage 
of  having  made  a  handsome  speculation  upon  his  adventure.  But  it  was  thought 
proper  that  there  should  be  an  appeal  to  the  generosity  and  magnanimity  of 
Texas,  and  after  her  to  the  United  States,  and  that  they  might  make  something, 
and  could  lose  nothing  by  that  course.  In  that  way  it  is  that  these  claimants 
have  not  only  multiplied,  but  they  have  become  more  urgent  in  their  pursuit  for 
gain,  and  are  now  resolved  that  nothing  will  satisfy  them  but  the  hundred  cents 
on  the  dollar,  according  to  the  face  of  the  paper. 

Well,  sir,  Texas  has  incurred  liability.  She  issued  bonds  to  a  certain  amount. 
Let  her  pay  those  bonds  with  interest,  since  she  made  a  tender  of  them  in  the 
market.  Let  her  pay  for  her  vessels-of-war  or  navy ;  let  her  pay  all  the  just 
contracts  she  has  made ;  all  the  equitable  liabilities  arising  from  the  currency 
which  she  threw  into  circulation.  That  currency  became  valueless  in  the  hands 
of  her  own  citizens,  and  was  then  grasped  at  by  greedy  speculators.  Let  her 
treat  them,  as  she  has  done,  with  justice  and  fairness.  It  was  twice  in  prospect 
to  repudiate  the  debt  of  Texas.  But  did  she  do  it  ?  It  was  talked  of,  and  a 
little  encouragement  might  have  produced  the  result.  The  conduct  of  the  re- 
fractory creditors  had  no  doubt  stimulated  it.  But  Texas  did  not  repudiate  a 
cent.  Her  Executive  discountenanced  it.  It  may  be  that  an  extract  will  be 
read  here  from  the  message  of  her  Executive,  in  1843,  showing  that  she  would 
pay  the  last  cent  which  she  justly  owed.  So  she  will.  But  if  that  message  is 
read,  let  it  be  remembered  that  not  a  word  of  the  extract  is  recognized  until  the 
whole  message  is  produced  here  upon  the  floor,  and  the  whole  instrument  con- 
strued together.  It  was  then  laid  down  as  a  principle  that  the  Government  of 
Texas  would  equitably  redeem  every  dollar  that  she  owed. 

She  had  evinced  a  disposition  to  do  it  by  submitting  her  public  lands  to  entry 
at  two  dollars  per  acre  when  her  notes  were  selling  at  three  cents  on  the  dollar; 
and  she  had  kept  them  open  for  years  subject  to  entry  at  that  rate.  She  has 
gone  further,  and  says  it  will  be  just  to  redeem  money  issued  at  a  depreciation 


The  ~O.  £  bound  as  to  Texan  Land  Claims.      401 

at  the  full  value  at  which  it  issued  from  the  treasury,  with  interest  thereon.  That 
is  the  act  of  Texas.  What  the  refractory  conduct  of  her  creditors  may  do  with 
the  feelings  of  Texas  I  can  not  say.  Within  a  few  vears  a  total  revolution  has 
taken  place  in  her  population.  The  number  of  emigrants  since  annexation,  I 
suppose  has  more  than  doubled  or  quadrupled  the  previous  number  of  inhab- 
itants. The  interest  on  the  money  retained  in  the  Treasury  here  will  diminish 
the  necessity  of  taxation  by  her.  What  her  people  may  deem  to  be  politic  and 
expedient  hereafter  in  relation  to  their  debts  I  know  not.  I  do  not  encourage 
repudiation.  I  hope  it  never  will  take  place ;  but  if  it  should,  let  those  be  ac- 
countable for  the  result  who  invoke  and  provoke  their  destiny.  Let  the  sin  lie 
at  their  doors.  I  hope  it  will  never  lie  at  the  door  of  Texas ;  but  those  who 
have  advanced,  or  who  have  contracts  with  her,  shall  be  paid  to  the  last  farthing 
of  what  they  have  advanced. 

A  law  was  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  Texas,  after  annexation  to  the  United 
States,  in  1848,  by  which  it  was  provided,  that  any  person  coming  forward  and 
depositing  fifty  cents  at  the  treasury  of  Texas,  should  take  a  receipt  from  the 
treasurer,  and  for  every  fifty  cents  received  at  the  treasury  he  should  be  entitled 
to  one  acre  of  land.  Certificates  to  the  amount  of  more  than  half  a  million  of 
dollars  were  deposited  under  this  law,  as  I  was  informed,  and  land  drawn,  or 
land  warrants  issued,  to  that  amount.  These  gentlemen  have  gone  quietly  and 
located  their  lands,  and  now  realize  several  hundred  per  cent.  How  are  the 
benefits  of  this  bill  to  be  extended  to  them  ?  How  are  they  to  be  recompensed 
for  the  losses  which  they  have  sustained,  according  to  the  plan  of  this  bill  ?  Are 
they  to  fall  back  upon  the  United  States  ?  Are  they  to  become  recipients  of  the 
benefits  proposed  in  this  bill,  or  are  they  to  be  excluded  ? 

But  I  am  sure  that  the  honorable  gentleman  who  introduced  this  bill  can  not 
object  to  the  principle  of  Texas  scaling.  She  is  to  be  the  judge  of  her  own  mat- 
ters. She  knows  very  well  under  what  circumstances  the  debts  or  liabilities 
were  contracted.  She  knows  their  character  perfectly ;  and  we  find  that  the 
honorable  gentleman  who  introduced  the  bill  has  not  determined  to  pay  accord- 
ing to  the  face  of  the  paper,  or  of  the  demands  of  the  creditors ;  but  he,  too,  is 
for  scaling  the  liabilities.  He  proposes  that  a  certain  amount  shall  be  paid,  and 
that,  if  that  does  not  cover  all  the  liabilities,  the  creditors  shall  receive  it  accord- 
ing to  the  proportion  of  their  demands,  and  shall  give  a  receipt  in  full.  Now, 
Mr.  President,  as  for  the  morality  of  the  thing,  whether  one  cent  or  one  dollar, 
one  degree  or  ten  degrees  of  discretion  at  all  changes  the  standard  of  morality, 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  I  think  Texas  is  the  best  judge  of  this  matter;  so 
that  the  United  States  would  incur  an  additional  reproach  upon  herself,  if  she 
were,  by  this  law,  to  take  it  out  of  the  hands  of  Texas  to  adjust  her  own  affairs. 
Texas  knows  what  her  liabilities  are ;  she  knows  all  the  circumstances  sur- 
rounding them,  under  which  they  grew  up,  under  which  they  dragged  along, 
and  by  which  they  were  managed.  She  knows,  too,  the  influences  and  the  means 
of  their  acquisition.  But  she  is  not  acquainted  with  the  means  and  influences 
that  surround  this  Capitol,  and  which  grow  every  day.  I  know  it  is  perilous, 
eminently  perilous,  to  oppose  an  influence  so  overwhelming  as  that  of  the  claim- 
ants here.  I  have  stood  in  perilous  positions  before,  but  when  I  felt  badly  no- 
body knew  it.  I  feel  well  on  this  occasion,  and  proud  that  I  have  a  colleague 
who  has  realized  all  that  experience  could  teach  or  suffering  inflict. 

Personally,  to  those  who  are  the  Texas  creditors,  I  have  no  objection.  I  look 
26 


402  Houston^s  Literary  Remains. 

upon  them  as  I  look  upon  other  speculators.  I  look  upon  them  as  I  do  on  men 
who  go  into  the  market  every  day — men  who  wish  to  make,  in  their  estimation, 
honest  gains,  and  who  would  not  have  their  consciences  smitten  if  they  made 
one  hundred  per  cent,  every  day.  That  would  not  involve  their  honor,  but  it 
would,  in  their  estimation,  sustain  the  honor  of  those  on  whom  they  make  the 
one  hundred  per  cent.  I  want  no  more  sympathizers  with  Texas.  I  do  not 
want  them  to  appeal  in  behalf  of  Texas,  to  rescue  her  honor.  Her  honor,  her 
safety,  her  existence,  her  liberty,  her  independence,  were  once  involved,  and  I 
did  not  see,  in  her  direst  need,  and  when  clouds  enveloped  her  in  darkness,  the 
face  of  one  of  those  men  who  now  claim  to  be  her  benefactors  or  her  sympa- 
thizers. It  was  not  until  the  last  enemy  had  marked  her  soil — it  was  not  until 
our  star  had  risen  in  the  east,  and  until  it  was  attaining  something  like  its  me- 
ridian splendor,  that  the  speculators  were  attracted  by  the  hopes  of  gain.  Then, 
in  that  proud  day,  they  were  willing  to  unite  their  destiny  with  her ;  but  to  grope 
their  way  in  darkness,  to  peril  their  lives  in  conflict,  to  confront  and  grapple 
with  the  enemy,  not  one  was  there.  Let  them  not  talk  of  Texas'  honor,  Texas' 
renown,  and  Texas'  escutcheon  cleared.  She  cleared  them  herself,  sir.  It  was 
not  a  speculation ;  it  was  a  real  transaction  ;  and  she  will  keep  it  clear.  It  is 
her  best  guardian  under  the  aegis  of  the  Constitution.  I  desire  justice  and  lib- 
erality to  all  who  aided  Texas ;  and  no  matter  how  they  have  acquired  their  de- 
mands, give  them  an  earnest  for  everything  they  have,  and  upon  that  earnest 
give  them  interest,  and,  if  you  please,  be  liberal,  but  let  Texas  have  the  credit  of 
doing  justice  to  her  creditors,  and  let  not  the  United  States  intervene  to  save  her 
soiled  honor,  as  it  is  called.  She  will  take  care  of  that  article  herself,  and  she 
will  take  care  of  her  money,  too,  I  trust,  and  make  a  useful  application  of  it  in 
paying  all  just  demands,  but  not  the  demands  of  Shylocks.  Sir,  I  have  done. 


SPEECH  ON  THE  NEBRASKA  AND  KANSAS  BILL,  U.  S.  SENATE, 

MARCH  3,  1854. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT  : — This  unusual  night  sitting  is  without  precedent  in  the  his- 
tory of  any  previous  Congress  at  this  stage  of  the  session.  The  extraordinary 
circumstances  in  which  we  find  ourselves  placed,  would  seem  to  indicate  a  crisis 
in  the  affairs  of  the  country  of  no  ordinary  importance ;  a  crisis  that  portends 
either  good  or  evil  to  our  institutions. 

The  extraordinary  character  of  the  bill  before  the  Senate,  as  well  as  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  presented  to  the  body,  demands  the  gravest  deliberation. 
This,  sir,  is  the  anniversary  of  a  protracted  session,  in  which  the  organization  of 
the  Territory  of  Nebraska  was  elaborately  discussed,  on  the  last  day  of  the  last 
session.  In  that  discussion,  which,  like  this,  had  kept  us  in  our  seats  to  the 
morning  dawn,  the  prominent  points  of  opposition  were  such  as  related  to  the 
Indian  tribes.  Such  a  bill  at  the  present  session  would  have  met  with  no  insu- 
perable objections  ;  but  what  do  we  now  find  ?  A  bill  entirely  variant,  and  a  bill 
which  involves  new  and  important  principles.  It  has  come  an  unexpected  meas- 
ure without  a  harbinger,  for  no  agitation  was  heard  of,  and  the  breeze  bore  no 
whisper  to  our  ears  that  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  to  be  repealed. 

Its  presentation  has  been  as  sudden  as  the  measure  itself  is  bold,  and  the  ex- 


Agitation  to  result  from  Repeal  of  Mo.  Compromise.   403 

citement  of  the  public  mind  is  of  corresponding-  intensity.  We  are  told,  to  be 
sure,  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  agitation,  and  that  soon  the  public  mind  will 
be  tranquil,  and  the  country  will  be  in  a  state  of  repose  and  quiet — as  it  was  at 
the  introduction  of  this  measure.  The  honorable  Senator  who  has  just  taken 
his  seat  [Mr.  Douglas],  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  in  his  lect- 
ure to  the  South,  exhorted  them  to  stand  by  the  principle  of  this  bill,  with  the 
assurance  that  it  will  be  good  for  them,  and  that  the  country  will  maintain  it 
Sir,  under  proper  circumstances  I  should  recognize  the  exhortation  ;  but  is  the 
principle  such  a  one  as  should  be  adopted  by  this  body,  or  can  it  be  sanctioned 
by  the  nation  ?  Whether  it  is  expedient  and  useful  at  this  time  I  shall  take  the 
liberty  to  examine. 

Mr.  President,  I  can  not  believe  that  the  agitation  created  by  this  measure 
will  be  confined  to  the  Senate  Chamber.  I  can  hot  believe,  from  what  we  have 
witnessed  here  to-night,  that  this  will  be  the  exclusive  arena  for  the  exercise  of 
human  passions  and  the  expression  of  public  opinions.  If  the  Republic  be  not 
shaken,  I  will  thank  Heaven  for  its  kindness  in  maintaining  its  stability. 
To  what  extent  is  it  proposed  to  establish  the  principle  of  non-intervention  ? 
Are  you  extending  it  to  a  domain  inhabited  by  citizens,  or  to  a  barren  prairie, 
a  wilderness,  or  even  to  forty  thousand  wild  Indians  ?  Is  this  the  diffusive  ex- 
cellence of  non-intervention  ?  I,  sir,  am  for  non-intervention  upon  the  principles 
which  have  heretofore  been  recognized  by  this  Government.  Hitherto,  Terri- 
tories have  been  organized — within  my  recollection  Alabama,  Missouri,  Florida, 
Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa,  have  been  organized — and  the 
principle  now  proposed  was  not  deemed  essential  to  their  well-being  ;  and  is 
there  any  infirmity  in  their  constitutions  or  their  growth?  Sir,  has  any  malign 
influence  attached  to  them  from  their  simple,  economical  organization  ?  It  may 
be  that  the  word  "  economy  "  is  deemed  obsolete  in  the  present  condition  of  our 
Treasury.  Were  it  otherwise,  I  am  simple  enough  to  confess  that  the  organi- 
zation of  two  Territories — when  there  are  not  people  to  constitute  an  ordinary 
county  in  one  of  the  populous  States  of  this  Union,  and  when  those  who  do  in- 
habit the  Territories  are  United  States  soldiers,  who  are  not  entitled  to  vote  at 
elections  in  the  States  or  Territories — is  not  a  procedure  that  can  be  character- 
ized as  economical.  If  the  principle  of  non-intervention  be  correct,  it  is  correct 
where  the  Territories  have  been  governed  by  laws  of  Congress  until  they  are  pre- 
pared to  make  application  for  admission  as  States.  Then  they  have  a  right  to 
elect  their  delegates  to  convention,  for  the  purpose  of  framing  State  constitu- 
tions, which,  if  accepted  by  Congress,  invest  them  with  all  the  sovereign  rights 
of  States  ;  and  then,  for'  the  first  time,  they  have  the  complete  power  of  self- 
government.  A  Territory  under  the  tutelage  of  Congress  can  form  no  organic 
laws,  either  admitting  or  excluding  slavery.  A  people  without  organic  laws 
might  alternately  enact  and  repeal  all  laws,  and  re-enact  them  without  limita- 
tion, as  they  would  have  no  local  constitution.  Congress  has  a  supervision  over 
the  action  of  all  Territories  until  they  become  sovereign  States.  In  the  forma- 
tion of  State  governments,  I  can  say  that  they  have  the  exclusive  right  to  deter- 
mine whether  they  will  come  into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery.  There, 
sir,  is  the  application  of  the  principle  of  non-intervention,  and  one  that  I  have 
always  maintained. 

But  gentlemen  speak  of  sovereignty — they  say  that  the  people  are  sovereign, 
id  supreme.     Sir,  I  bow  with  all  deference  to  that  sovereignty ;  but  I  do  not 


104  Houston's  literary  Remains. 

apply  the  principle  to  the  Territories  in  their  unorganized  and  chrysalis  condi- 
tion. Sovereignty  implies  the  power  of  organization,  and  a  self-acting,  self- 
moving,  and  self-sustaining  principle ;  but  the  Territories  have  it  not.  They 
only  acquire  it  when  they  become  constituent  parts  of  this  Confederacy. 

But  we  are  told  that  the  South  has  stood  by  the  Compromise.  I  am  glad  of 
it.  Yet  gentlemen  have  protested  against  the  recognition  of  North  and  South. 
Why,  sir,  they  are  recognized  every  day.  The  distinction  has  been  recognized 
by  the  statesmen  of  every  day,  and  every  section  of  the  country.  Am  I  to  be 
told  that  the  question  has  not  assumed  that  character,  and  that  it  will  not  operate 
to  carry  sectional  influence  with  it  to  a  certain  extent  ?  It  is  impossible  that  you 
can  divest  it  of  a  sectional  character  to  some  extent.  Why,  we  are  told  in  the 
very  breath  that  declares  there  is  no  such  principle  recognized,  that  the  North 
has  violated  the  Missouri  Compromise  and  the  South  has  maintained  it ;  and  yet 
do  you  tell  me  that  there  is  no  North  and  no  South  ?  Let  us  look  at  the  action 
of  the  North  and  South.  I  am  not  going  back  to  make  a  technical,  or  legal,  01 
constitutional  argument  upon  the  facts  and  circumstances  of  the  Missouri  Com' 
promise — its  creation,  its  progress,  its  recognition,  and  final  decision.  I  am  not 
going  to  characterize  it  as  a  compact,  distinguished  from  a  compromise,  because 
I  can  see  no  reasonable  application  of  the  one  that  does  not  belong  to  the 
other. 

The  word  "  compromise  "  is  a  more  comprehensive  and  rational  term  when 
applied  to  an  amicable  adjustment  of  differences  existing  between  two  parties 
who  are  reconciled.  I  well  remember  that  on  the  organization  of  Oregon  Ter- 
ritory the  South  denounced  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  did  not  recognize  it. 
Was  not  that  denunciation  subsequent  to  a  joint  recognition  by  both  sections  o' 
the  Union,  the  North  and  the  South  ?  Had  they  not  united,  the  South,  per- 
haps, with  more  unanimity  than  the  North,  upon  its  application  to  Texas  in  her 
annexation  ?  Yes,  sir,  they  had.  That  was  in  1845  ;  and  in  1848,  three  years 
after,  without  any  intervening  act  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  the  North,  the  South 
repudiated  it  on  the  organization  of  Oregon  Territory. 

Mr.  ATCHISON  (Mr.  Dodge,  of  Iowa,  in  the  chair).  The  Senator  says  that  the 
Southern  members  of  the  Senate  repudiated  the  Missouri  Compromise  on  the 
Oregon  bill.  Now  that,  I  think,  with  all  due  deference  to  the  Senator,  is  not 
so.  The  Senator  from  Illinois  proposed  to  the  Oregon  bill  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise, and  every  Southern  gentleman,  according  to  my  recollection,  voted  for 
it — every,  one  in  the  Senate.  The  bill  went  to  the  House,  and  the  House  re- 
fused to  accede  to  it. 

Mr.  DOUGLAS.    Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  ATCHISON.  The  Senator  from  Texas,  and  my  then  colleague,  the  senior 
Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Benton],  alone  of  all  the  Southern  members  voted 
to  recede  from  it. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  thank  the  gentleman  for  giving  me  a  very  pleasing  intima- 
tion. It  reminds  me,  Mr.  President,  of  what  did  occur.  We  voted  to  recede 
from  it.  The  other  gentlemen  did  not  vote  to  recede.  They  had  voted  in  op- 
position to  its  organization  and  admission,  or  what  was  tantamount  to  it.  And 
what  was  the  reason  ?  It  was  because  there  was  a  proposition,  and  I  had  in- 
troduced resolutions  myself,  to  extend  the  compromise  line  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  The  North  did  not  accept  it.  I  did  not  believe  it  would  be  more  than 
an  abstraction.  Why  did  I  do  it  then  ?  I  will  tell  you.  But  previous  to  this. 


The  Repeal  a  Danger  to  Slave  Interests.        405 

and  at  the  time  Oregon  was  organized  by  the  Government,  the  South  went 
against  it,  I  may  say,  in  a  body.  The  Southwestern  Senators  and  myself  went 
for  it,  under  the  heaviest  denunciations  and  anathemas  that  could  be  applied  to 
any  individuals.  Was  this  an  abandonment  of  it  by  the  North  ?  Had  it  been 
an  abandonment  of  the  application  of  it  by  the  North,  or  its  non-application  by 
the  South,  to  Texas  ?  Did  not  the  North  receive  five  and  a  half  degrees  of 
slave  territory  from  Texas,  and  in  consideration  of  that  cede  to  Texas  the  right 
of  forming  four  States  in  addition  to  the  one  then  formed  ?  Call  it  a  compact  or 
compromise,  as  you  please ;  but  then  it  assumed  the  character  of  a  compact 
when  applied  to  Texas,  because  Texas  came  in  recognizing  that  as  a  principle 
concurred  in  by  the  North  and  the  South.  They  both  applied  it  to  Texas,  and  it 
was  upon  it  that  she  came  in.  And  so  far,  certainly,  it  was  a  compact  with  her. 
Is  not  Texas  interested  in  that  ?  Did  she  not  consider  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise practically  a  compact,  so  far  as  she  is  concerned  ?  Because  she  predicated 
her  own  upon  it.  And  if  you  deprive  her  of  the  benefits  resulting  from  and  de- 
clared by  that  compact,  when  are  her  four  States  to  come  in,  if  the  North  has 
the  ascendency  ?  Can  not  they  exclude  them  when  they  please  if  the  Missouri 
Compromise  be  repealed  ?  We  hold  them  by  an  obligation  which  it  would  be 
dishonorable  and  infamous  to  abandon.  You  can  not  repeal  that  compromise 
without  the  consent  of  Texas.  Remember,  Texas  was  an  independent  nation, 
a  sovereignty,  when  she  came  into  this  Union.  She  had  rights  equal  to  those 
possessed  by  this  country ;  institutions  quite  as  good,  and  a  more  harmonious 
structure  of  her  community.  Now,  will  there  not  be  a  liability  that  these  four 
additional  States  may  be  denied  to  Texas  ?  Texas  insists  upon  this  right  in  my 
person,  as  one  of  her  representatives.  I  claim  it  as  no  boon  bestowed.  I  ask 
it  as  no  gift.  The  State  demands  it  as  a  right,  to  form  four  additional  States, 
if  she  should  elect  to  do  so. 

But  what  would  the  repeal  of  this  Compromise  amount  to  ?  An  abstraction  ? 
What  would  the  South  be  benefited  by  it  ?  By  the  amendment  of  the  Senator 
from  North  Carolina,  the  bill  is  perfectly  eviscerated,  or,  to  use  a  senatorial 
term,  because  I  think  it  may  be  applied  with  more  propriety,  elegantly  emas- 
culated. Yes,  sir,  it  amounts  to  nothing.  It  holds  a  promise  to  the  ear,  but 
breaks  it  to  the  hope.  If  it  is  ever  to  be  repealed,  I  want  no  empty  promises. 
They  have  not  been  asked  for  by  the  South.  They  are  not  desired  ;  and,  so  far 
as  I  am  concerned,  they  will  never  be  accepted.  Neither  my  colleague  nor  my- 
self have  ever  been  consulted  in  relation  to  this  subject.  On  the  contrary,  we 
have  been  sedulously  excluded  from  all  consultation.  I  have  never  had  an  inti- 
mation that  a  conference  was  to  take  place,  a  caucus  to  be  held,  or  stringent 
measures  applied  in  the  passage  of  this  bill.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  I  have  been 
in  the  dark  in  relation  to  it.  I  feel  that  Texas  has  as  important  an  interest  as 
any  other  section  of  this  Union  in  the  repeal  of  the  Compromise,  and  would  be 
as  vitally  affected  by  it.  She  must  be  eventually,  if  calamities  are  to  fall  upon 
the  South,  the  most  unfortunate  of  all  that  portion  of  the  Union. 

I  will  give  you  my  reasons  why  I  think  Texas  would  be  in  the  most  deplorable 
condition  of  all  the  Southern  States.  It  is  now  the  terminus  of  the  slave  popu- 
lation. It  is  a  country  of  vast  extent  and  fertile  soil,  favorable  to  the  culture 
and  growth  of  those  productions  which  are  most  important  to  the  necessities  of 
the  world — cotton,  sugar,  and  tobacco.  An  immense  slave  population  must 
eventually  go  there.  The  demand  for  labor  is  so  great,  everything  is  so  inviting 


406  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

to  the  enterprising  and  industrious,  that  labor  will  be  transferred  there,  because 
it  will  be  of  a  most  profitable  character,  and  the  disproportion  of  slaves  to  the 
white  population  must  be  immense.  Then,  sir,  it  becomes  the  gulf  of  slavery, 
and  there  its  terrible  eddies  will  whirl,  if  convulsions  take  place.  I  have  a  right, 
therefore,  to  claim  some  consideration  in  the  Senate  for  the  effect  which  the  re- 
peal of  this  Compromise  will  have  upon  our  State.  I  have  a  right  to  demand  it, 
and  demand  it  for  other  reasons  than  those  which  I  formerly  gave  here,  that 
were  personal  to  myself. 

It  is  alleged  that  the  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  North  to  continue  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise  line  over  the  acquisitions  of  1847  and  1848  was  a  repudiation 
of  the  Compromise.  That  may  be  thought  technically  true.  I  grant  that  a 
proposition  was  made,  or  a  compromise  entered  into  by  the  North  and  South, 
to  extend  the  Missouri  Compromise  as  far  as  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  extended.  That  was  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  When  it  was,  by  contract, 
carried  on  through  Texas  on  its  annexation,  then,  if  I  understand  it,  it  was  a 
new  line — a  continuation  of  the  old  line  by  consent.  It  was  established  there 
by  a  compact  with  Texas ;  for  by  the  original  Missouri  Compromise  it  could 
only  extend  as  far  as  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  went.  Then  the 
proposition  to  continue  it  to  the  Pacific  was  a  new  and  substantive  proposition. 
Though  it  might  refer  to  the  original  principle  of  the  old,  it  had  no  more  con- 
nection with  it  than  the  Atlantic  has  with  the  Pacific. 

I  understand,  if  individuals  make  a  contract,  whether  they  enter  into  it  in 
writing  or  not,  if  it  is  to  be  executed  by  any  given  time,  and  subsequently  it  is 
proposed  by  one  of  the  parties  to  make  another  contract,  which  involves  not  the 
first,  but  is  made  because  it  is  convenient  to  extend  the  first  further,  the  refusal 
of  one  of  the  parties  to  agree  to  the  second  does  not  invalidate  the  former  con- 
tract. This  is  a  kind  of  argument  I  have  never  heard  resorted  to,  except  in 
favor  of  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  I  have  a  great  deal  of  venera- 
tion for  that  Compromise.  I  recollect  the  time  when  I  was  tried  in  the  Senate 
Chamber  upon  its  principles.  There  are  Senators  here  who  well  remember  that 
I  was  denounced,  more  in  manner  than  in  words,  when  I  said  I  planted  myself 
upon  the  Missouri  Compromise  line,  and  that  astride  of  it  I  would  stand,  it 
needs  be,  and  that  there  I  would  do  battle,  and  there  would  I  perish  in  the  de- 
fense of  the  rights  of  the  South.  That  was  emphatic  language,  and  I  felt  all 
that  I  uttered.  Sir,  I  have  some  reverence  for  it ;  and  if  I  should  feel  such  rev- 
erence, it  is  not  unreasonable  that  I  should  have  determinations,  too,  which  will 
not  be  changed  by  all  the  technical  and  abstract  notions  which  have  been  ad- 
duced and  relied  upon  to  enlighten  the  public  mind,  to  manufacture  public  sen- 
timent here,  and  to  give  direction  to  it  abroad.  Sir,  I  have  no  idea  that  the 
public  sentiment  is  to  be  subverted,  and  I  assure  you  that  the  North,  or  West, 
or  South,  can  not  be  willing  that  this  should  be  done.  No  one  can  deprecate 
more  than  I  do  the  fearful  agitations  which,  I  apprehend,  will  follow  this ;  but 
after  the  manifestations  which  we  have  had  here,  nothing  that  I  can  utter  will 
affect  those  who  are  present,  or  certify  to  them  what  must  be  the  inevitable 
consequence,  out  of  this  Hall,  when  agitation  is  rife  abroad.  Do  these  gentle- 
men say  that  I  have  not  made  any  argument  on  this  point  ?  It  is,  sir,  because 
I  was  not  sufficiently  skilled  to  meet  the  refined  arguments  that  were  adduced 
in  favor  of  the  repeal.  What  necessity  has  grown  up  for  the  adoption  of  this 


President  Polk  bound  by  it  as  a  "Compact?       407 

measure  since  1850  ?  None  had  resulted  at  this  time  last  year.  None  has  been 
heard  of. 

Three  years  have  passed  in  tranquillity  and  peace.  Yet  the  gentleman  who 
urges  the  measure  thinks  that  he  would  have  been  derelict  to  his  duty  had  he 
not  brought  things  to  their  present  condition,  and  presented  the  matter  in  the 
shape  in  which  it  now  stands.  If  it  was  necessary  at  all,  it  was  necessary  last 
year.  No  new  developments  have  been  made.  The  great  principle  of  non- 
intervention existed  then.  There  is  no  new  demand  for  it  now.  Is  not  that  a 
reason  why  this  bill  ought  not  to  pass  ?  Was  there  any  new  indication  given  ot 
its  necessity  up  to  the  time  that  the  bill  was  introduced  here  ?  None  through- 
out the  whole  land.  How,  and  where,  and  why,  and  when,  and  with  whom  this 
measure  originated,  Heaven  only  knows,  for  I  have  no  cognizance  of  the  facts  ; 
but  I  well  know  that  persons  deeply  involved  in  it,  and  exercising  senatorial 
privileges  here,  never  received  information  that  such  a  measure  would  be  brought 
forward,  or  would  be  urged  with  that  pertinacity  with  which  it  is  now  done. 
Little  did  we  think  that  it  was  to  be  urged  upon  us  as  a  great  healing  measure. 
The  honorable  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Mason]  said  last  night  that  this  is  to 
be  regarded  as  a  great  healing  measure  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  agitation. 
Sir,  I  heard  of  no  agitation  until  it  arose  here,  nor  would  there  have  been  any 
this  day  in  the  United  States,  if  the  bill  in  the  form  in  which  it  was  presented 
last  year,  had  been  brought  forward  and  adopted  without  any  provision  either 
for  non-intervention  or  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 

So  far  back  as  1848,  I  find  that  President  Polk  recognized  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise as  of  binding  force  upon  this  country.  He  considered  it  not  only  bind- 
ing upon  the  North  in  relation  to  the  South,  but,  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this 
Union,  he  regarded  it  as  binding  upon  the  South,  because  it  accorded  certain 
privileges  to  the  South  ;  for  he  says,  when  speaking  in  relation  to  his  approval 
of  the  Oregon  bill,  that  he  approved  it  because  it  lay  north  of  36°  30' ;  but  had 
it  lain  south  of  36°  30',  he  would  not  say  what  action  he  would  have  taken  upon 
it ;  clearly  intimating  that  he  would  have  vetoed  the  bill,  regarding  as  he  did  the 
Missouri  Compromise  as  obligatory  on  the  two  sections  of  the  Union.  How  has 
it  been  repudiated  since  that  time  ?  Was  it  repudiated  and  superseded,  or  ren- 
dered null  and  void,  by  the  Compromise  of  1850?  No  such  thing.  Do  you 
think  that  the  astute  statesmen,  the  men  who  managed  and  controlled  the  busi- 
ness of  that  Compromise,  as  much  as  any  other  men  versed  and  skilled  in  legal 
lore  and  in  general  learning,  men  of  acumen  and  keen  perceptions,  would  have 
permitted  that  matter  to  go  unexplained,  if  it  ever  had  been  contemplated  to 
repeal  the  Missouri  Compromise  ?  Mr.  Clay  and  Mr.  Webster  would  never 
have  done  it.  Yet  no  information  was  given  that  any  such  design  was  enter- 
tained by  any  member  of  this  body.  I  am  sure  that,  for  one,  I  did  not  entertain 
it.  Other  gentlemen,  more  astute  than  myself,  might  have  done  so,  but  I  am 
confident  that  it  was  not  the  general  understanding  that  non-intervention  was 
to  be  applied  to  these  Territories  because  they  lay  north  of  36"  30'. 

I  again  ask,  what  benefit  is  to  result  to  the  South  from  this  measure,  if 
adopted  ?  I  have  shown,  I  hope,  that  if  you  repeal  this  Missouri  Compromise, 
Texas  has  no  guarantee  left  for  the  multiplication  of  her  States,  if  she  chooses 
to  make  them.  What  are  its  advantages  ?  Will  it  secure  these  Territories  to 
the  South  ?  No,  sir,  not  at  all.  But,  the  gentleman  tells  us,  it  is  the  princi- 
ple thai  we  want.  I  can  perceive  but  one  principle  involved  in  the  measure. 


408  Houston's  Literary  JRemains. 

and  that  principle  lies  at  the  root  of  agitation  ;  and  from  that  all  the  tumult  and 
excitements  of  the  country  must  arise.  That  is  the  only  principle  I  can  per- 
ceive. We  are  told  by  Southern,  as  well  as  Northern  gentlemen,  those  who  are 
for  it,  and  those  who  are  against  it,  that  slavery  will  never  be  extended  to  that 
Territory,  that  it  will  never  go  there ;  but  it  is  the  principle  of  non-intervention 
that  it  is  desired  to  establish.  Sir,  we  have  done  well  under  the  intervention 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  if  the  gentlemen  so  call  it,  in  other  Territories  ; 
and,  I  adjure  you,  when  there  is  so  much  involved,  not  to  press  this  matter  too 
far.  What  is  to  be  the  consequence  ?  If  it  is  not  in  embryo,  my  suggestion 
will  not  make  it  so.  It  has  been  suggested  elsewhere,  and  I  may  repeat  it  here, 
what  is  to  be  the  effect  of  this  measure  if  adopted,  and  you  repeal  the  Missouri 
Compromise  ?  The  South  is  to  gain  nothing  by  it ;  for  honorable  gentlemen 
from  the  South,  and  especially  the  junior  Senator  from  Virginia  [Mr.  Hunter], 
characterize  it  as  a  miserable,  trifling  little  measure.  Then,  sir,  is  the  South  to 
be  propitiated  or  benefited  by  the  conferring  upon  her  of  a  miserable,  trifling 
little  measure  ?  Will  that  compensate  the  South  for  her  uneasiness  ?  Will  it 
allay  the  agitation  of  the  North  ?  Will  it  preserve  the  union  of  these  States  ? 
Will  it  sustain  the  Democratic  or  the  Whig  party  in  their  organizations  ?  No, 
sir,  they  all  go  to  the  wall.  What  is  to  be  the  effect  on  this  Government?  It  is 
to  be  most  ruinous  and  fatal  to  the  future  harmony  and  well-being  of  the  coun- 
try. I  think  that  the  measure  itself  would  be  useless.  If  you  establish  inter- 
vention, you  make  nothing  by  that.  But  what  will  be  the  consequence  in  the 
minds  of  the  people?  They  have  a  veneration  for  that  Compromise.  They 
have  a  respect  and  reverence  for  it,  from  its  antiquity  and  the  associations  con- 
nected with  it,  and  repeated  references  to  it  that  seem  to  suggest  that  it  marked 
the  boundaries  of  free  and  slave  territory.  They  have  no  respect  for  it  as  a 
compact — I  do  not  care  what  you  call  it — but  as  a  line,  defining  certain  rights 
and  privileges  to  the  different  sections  of  the  Union.  The  abstractions  which 
you  indulge  in  here  can  never  satisfy  the  people  that  there  is  not  something  in 
it.  Abrogate  it  or  disannul  it,  and  you  exasperate  the  public  mind.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  reason  should  accompany  excitement.  Feeling  is  enough  to  agi- 
tate without  much  reason,  and  that  will  be  the  great  prompter  on  this  occasion. 
My  word  for  it,  we  shall  realize  scenes  of  agitation  which  are  rumbling  in  the 
distance  now. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  and  may  as  well  remark  it  now,  that  the  Abolitionists 
and  Free-Soilers,  to  a  certain  extent,  will  affiliate  with  the  weaker  political  party 
at  the  North,  the  Whigs,  and  will  make  a  fair  contest  with  the  Democrats.  If 
they  throw  this  question  in  the  scale,  and  the  Democrats  do  not,  they  will  pre- 
ponderate. Then  how  are  the  Democrats  to  sustain  themselves  under  this  pres- 
sure f  Suppose  the  repeal  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  or  the  repeal  of  the  Com- 
promise of  1850  is  proposed,  and  the  Democrats  oppose  it,  they  will  meet  with 
the  objection  that  it  is  not  more  sacred  than  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the 
repeal  will  be  urged  before  the  people  ;  and  we  shall  see  our  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives with  a  preponderating  power  of  Abolitionism,  the  principles  of  which 
will  triumph.  Every  Representative  who  votes  for  this  measure  will  be  pros- 
trated ;  he  can  not  come  back,  or,  if  he  comes  back,  he  will  be  pledged  to  the  re- 
peal of  a  measure  fraught  with  so  many  blessings  of  peace  to  the  country.  With 
all  the  fancied  benefits  of  non-intervention,  they  can  not  overbalance  the  dis- 
astrous consequences  that  must  ensue  to  our  institutions. 


Southern  Democrat^  Aid  to  Free-Boilers.         409 

This  is  an  eminently  perilous  measure,  and  do  you  expect  me  to  remain  here 
silent,  or  to  shrink  from  the  discharge  of  my  duty  in  admonishing  the  South  ot 
what  I  conceive  the  results  will  be  ?  I  will  do  it  in  spite  of  all  the  intimidations, 
or  threats,  or  discountenances  that  may  be  thrown  upon  me.  Sir,  the  charge 
that  I  am  going  with  the  Abolitionists  or  Free-Soilers  affects  not  me.  The  dis- 
charge of  conscious  duty  prompts  me  often  to  confront  the  united  array  of  the 
very  section  of  the  country  in  which  I  reside,  in  which  my  associations  are,  in 
which  my  personal  interests  have  always  been,  and  in  which  my  affections  rest. 
When  every  look  to  the  setting  sun  carries  me  to  the  bosom  of  a  family  depend- 
ent upon  me,  think  you  I  could  be  alien  to  them  ?  Never — never.  Well,  sir,  it 
I  am  now  accidentally  associated  with  Abolitionists,  in  voting  against  this  meas- 
ure of  repeal — if  I  vote  with  them,  and  with  individual  Senators  with  whom  my 
relations  have  always  been  courteous  and  polite  personally,  they  well  know  that 
I  feel  no  sympathy  with  their  notions — that  I  think  them  fanatical — I  do  not  es- 
teem it  a  greater  misfortune  attendant  upon  me  than  I  have  witnessed  before,  in 
this  Chamber,  with  other  Senators  from  the  South.  In  the  passage  of  the  Com- 
promise bill  of  1850,  I  saw  associations  of  extremes  quite  as  extraordinary  as  on 
this  occasion.  I  almost  thought  that  the  extremes  of  the  Abolitionists  and  Se- 
cession parties  had  become  Siamese  twins  ;  they  were  so  intimate  that  I  could 
not  help  but  remark  it. 

Mr.  SEWARD.    Who  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  need  not  mention  who  ;  I  merely  throw  out  the  suggestion. 
I  do  not  inquire  into  the  motive  which  induced  the  introduction  of  this  bill  into 
the  Senate.  I  cast  no  reflections  on  gentlemen,  either  for  its  introduction  or  for 
its  support ;  but  I  deprecate  the  consequences  which  will  flow  from  it.  I  have 
conversed  with  several  Senators,  and  I  have  never  heard  the  first  who  would 
not  admit  that  it  was  an  unfortunate  and  ill-advised  measure.  The  venerable 
and  distinguished  Senator  from  Michigan  [Mr.  Cass]  the  other  day,  in  his 
speech,  declared,  in  substance,  that  he  thought  it  was  an  unfortunate  circum- 
stance that  it  had  ever  been  introduced  into  the  Senate,  although  it  meets  with 
his  approbation  when  it  is  here.  And  now,  when  he  who  has  been  in  the  coun- 
cils and  transactions  of  this  country  for  fifty  years,  who  has  witnessed  all  the 
vicissitudes  and  mutations  through  which  the  country  has  passed,  who  has  been 
an  actor  in  the  most  important  scenes  of  the  Union — when  he  does  not  recog- 
nize it  as  a  healing  and  welcome  measure,  I  ask  Senators  if  I  err  in  resisting  it  ? 
They  say  it  is  here.  It  is  here,  and,  if  I  had  the  power,  I  would  kick  it  out. 
What,  if  a  measure  unwholesome  or  unwise  is  brought  into  the  Senate,  and  it 
comes  from  the  party  of  which  I  am  a  member,  and  its  introduction  is  an  error, 
is  it  not  my  duty  to  correct  that  error  as  far  as  I  possibly  can  ?  Sir,  I  stand 
here  for  that  general  purpose.  My  constituents  send  me  here  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

But  I  will  not  admit  for  a  moment  that  this  meets  the  sanction  of  the  Execu- 
tive. All  his  antecedents  are  in  the  face  of  it.  Supporting  him  as  I  did,  I  must 
believe  him  consistent  and  truthful.  He  is  upon  the  record  as  an  opponent 
to  agitation  of  any  kind,  whether  in  the  Halls  of  Congress  or  anywhere  else.  He 
is  pledged  to  keep  down  and  resist  agitation,  as  far  as  in  his  power,  and  that  the 
institutions  of  the  country  shall  sustain  no  "  shock  "  during  his  Administration. 
If  this  bill  passes,  will  there  be  no  shock?  Depend  upon  it,  Mr.  President,  there 
will  be  a  tremendous  shock ;  it  will  convulse  the  country  from  Maine  to  the  Rio 


410  Houston's  Liter  a/ry  Remains. 

Grande.  The  South  has  not  asked  for  it.  I,  as  the  most  Southern  Senator  upon 
this  floor,  do  not  desire  it.  If  it  is  a  boon  that  is  offered  to  propitiate  the  South, 
I.  as  a  Southern  man,  repudiate  it.  I  reject  it.  I  will  have  none  of  it. 

Mr.  President,  not  in  any  spirit  of  unkindness — not  entertaining  unfriendly  or 
ungentle  feelings — I  will  allude  here,  by  way  of  illustration,  to  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  captivating  incidents  in  the  Holy  Bible — one  that  shows  a  forget- 
ting, and  kind,  and  amiable,  and  forgiving  temper,  which,  even  under  a  sense  of 
deep  injuries,  was  willing  to  embrace  a  brother  and  forget  the  past.  I  need  not 
relate  to  this  intelligent  assembly  the  history  of  Esau  and  Jacob.  The  birthright 
and  the  mess  of  pottage  are  familiar  to  all.  The  two  brothers  separated  in 
anger,  after  Jacob  had  acquired  the  blessing  which  should  have  been  given  to 
Esau,  and  Jacob  fled  to  Laban,  his  mother's  brother,  in  a  distant  country,  where 
he  greatly  prospered.  Afterward,  when  he  separated  his  flocks  from  those  of 
his  father-in-law,  it  became  necessary  for  him  to  journey  through  the  land  of  his 
brother  Esau,  who  was  then  a  man  of  influence,  and  power,  and  wealth.  As 
Jacob  approached,  he  thought  it  was  necessary  to  propitiate  his  brother  for  the 
wrong  which  he  had  done  him,  and  he  supposed  he  could  not  do  that  without 
some  atonement,  or  some  gift.  He  dispatched  a  portion  of  his  family,  some  ol 
his  handmaidens,  and  children,  and  servants,  with  a  drove  of  cattle,  which  he 
intended  as  an  offering  to  his  brother ;  and  the  sacred  narrative  says  that  when 
Esau  heard  that  his  brother  was  journeying  toward  his  land,  "  Esau  ran  to  meet 
him  ;  and  they  embraced  and  kissed  each  other ;  and  they  wept."  Now  I  do 
not  see  why  the  North  and  South,  if  they  have  been  separated,  might  not  em- 
brace each  other  without  any  feeling  of  anger.  But,  after  some  colloquy  had 
taken  place  between  the  brothers,  Esau  said :  "  What  meanest  thou  by  this 
drove  which  I  met  ?  "  And  Jacob  said,  "  These  are  to  find  grace  in  the  sight 
of  my  Lord."  And  Esau  then  made  a  reply  worthy  of  a  generous  spirit.  He 
said  :  "  I  have  enough,  my  brother  ;  keep  that  thou  hast  unto  thyself." 

So,  if  this  is  an  offering  to  pfopitiate  the  South,  the  South  may  say,  "  I  have 
enough,  my  brother  ;  keep  that  thou  hast  unto  thyself."  If  this  is  the  only 
offering  tendered  to  the  South,  we  will  not  ask  it ;  we  do  not  want  it ;  the  people 
will  be  angry  if  you  give  it,  and  I  never  want  to  make  trouble  with  my  friends 
at  home.  I  would  rather  you  would  keep  it.  If  you  are  indebted  in  anything  to 
the  South,  all  I  have  to  say  is,  that  you  might  find  some  other  occasion  when  it 
would  be  more  agreeable  to  cancel  the  obligation.  The  South,  as  a  community, 
only  desire  their  rights  under  the  Constitution  and  existing  compromises. 

But,  sir,  the  people  are  not  going  into  abstractions  to  understand  this  subject. 
Nor  will  there  be  a  lawyer  at  every  point,  every  cross-road,  every  public  meet- 
ing, every  muster,  or  every  court-house,  to  give  elaborate  dissertations  upon  the 
unconstitutionality  of  the  Missouri  Compromise.  I  care  nothing  about  its  con- 
stitutionality or  unconstitutionality.  Not  one  straw  do  I  care  about  it,  on  ac- 
count of  the  circumstances  out  of  which  it  grew,  and  the  benefits  flowing  from 
it.  Mr.  Jefferson  said  he  could  not  find  constitutional  authority  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  Louisiana.  If  that  was  the  case,  even  if  the  Compromise,  based  upon 
an  unconstitutional  act,  to  reconcile  the  different  sections  of  the  country,  was 
without  authority  of  the  Constitution,  it  became  a  legitimate  subject  of  legisla- 
tion. I  say  legitimate,  because  it  was  an  acquisition  of  territory  which  must  be 
governed  in  some  manner  suited  to  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion.  Hence  the 
resort  to  the  principle  of  compromise,  and  to  legislation.  Was  the  acquisition 


Henry  Clay  pointed  to  as  a  Worthy  Example.      411 

of  Florida  constitutional  ?  I  think  not.  Yet  we  retain  it  as  one  of  our  States. 
Was  the  acquisition  of  Texas  constitutional  ?  No,  sir,  it  was  not.  It  was  a 
mere  act  of  legislation  on  the  part  of  this  Government — a  compromise — pre- 
cisely such  as  the  compromise  which  this  bill  proposes  to  repeal.  But  Texas  is 
in,  and  you  can  not  thrust  us  out ;  and  that  is  the  whole  of  it.  But  it  is  not 
constitutional.  If  it  is  not,  and  validity  attaches  only  to  cojnpacts,  in  contra- 
distinction to  compromises,  then  this  is  a  compact  predicated  upon  the  compro- 
mise of  Missouri. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  constitutional,  technically.  It  is  sufficient  for  me 
to  know  that  it  has  stood  for  more  than  thirty  years,  and  received  the  approba- 
tion of  our  wisest  and  ablest  statesmen,  from  the  day  of  its  adoption  down  to 
the  present,  and  was  never  questioned  until  after  the  commencement  of  the 
present  session  of  Congress.  It  is  strange  that  an  unconstitutional  law  should 
have  remained  so  long  in  force  amid  all  the  agitation,  and  excitement,  and  bit- 
terness between  the  North  and  the  South  ;  and  that  this  is  the  first  proposition 
ever  made  to  repeal  it.  Have  we  to  yield  to  it  without  any  necessity,  and  with- 
out any  excuse  for  it,  when  we  see  that  discord  will  run  riot  in  our  land  ? 

Sir,  the  occasion  to  which  I  have  alluded,  was  not  the  only  one  on  which  I 
said  I  was  willing  to  stand  on  the  Missouri  Compromise  line,  in  defense  of  the 
rights  of  the  South.  On  another  occasion,  it  will  be  recollected  in  this  Chamber, 
when  speaking  of  the  obligations  the  country  was  under  to  a  distinguished 
statesman,  then  in  private  life,  and  whose  party  had  postponed  his  claim,  or 
pretermitted  it,  or,  in  common  parlance,  laid  him  on  the  shelf,  I  said,  that  when 
the  Missouri  agitation  was  quieted,  he  was  held  throughout  the  land  as  a  great 
pacificator;  and  if  he  had  committed  a  mountain  of  sins,  that  single  achieve- 
ment of  tranquillizing  the  great  Republic,  giving  permanency,  peace,  and  growth 
to  its  institutions,  would  have  overbalanced  them  all.  I  said  that  Henry  Clay 
deserved  a  monument  of  bronze,  of  marble,  or  of  gold,  to  be  placed  in  the 
rotunda  of  the  Capitol,  for  men  in  aftertimes  of  great  excitement  to  contem- 
plate, and  look  upon  as  a  man  who  blessed  his  country.  That  was  the  senti- 
ment I  entertained,  and  it  arose  from  veneration,  not  only  for  the  man,  but  for 
the  needed  restoration  of  harmony  to  our  native  land.  Were  I  to  make  such  a 
declaration  now,  it  would  be  thought  that  it  was  an  endeavor  to  bring  this  bill 
into  discredit.  No,  sir,  nothing  is  necessary  from  me  to  discredit  it ;  for  it  is  its 
own  condemnation  under  the  circumstances  in  which  it  is  presented  here,  at 
this  time,  in  the  midst  of  unity,  peace,  and  harmony,  while  all  is  at  rest,  with 
not  a  ripple  on  the  vast  ocean  of  our  community.  I  have  seen  agitation  and 
bitterness  before. 

I  recollect  when  I  ventured  to  make  the  first  address  in  this  Chamber  on  the 
subject  of  the  agitation  in  1850,  with  what  discountenance  it  was  received.  So 
little  was  there  a  disposition  to  harmonize,  that  when  I  suggested  that  six  Sena- 
tors, without  regard  to  party  or  section,  might  be  selected  from  the  members  of 
this  body,  who  could  compose  an  Address  and  send  it  abroad  so  as  to  harmonize 
the  country,  and  hush  the  fierce  waves  of  political  agitation  that  were  then 
lashing  the  base  of  this  Capitol,  it  met  with  no  response.  Well,  we  subsequently 
obtained  peace  and  harmony.  Let  us  preserve  it.  And  there  is  no  mode  by 
which  we  can  so  effectually  accomplish  that  object,  as  by  rejecting  the  proposed 
measure.  I  had  fondly  hoped,  Mr.  President,  that  having  attained  to  my  present 
period  of  life,  I  should  pass  the  residue  of  my  days,  be  they  many  or  few,  in 


412  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

peace  and  tranquillity ;  that  as  I  found  the  country  growing  up  rapidly,  and  have 
Witnessed  its  immeasurable  expansion  and  development,  when  I  close  my  eyes 
on  scenes  around  me,  I  would  at  least  have  the  cherished  consolation  and  hope 
that  I  left  my  children  in  a  peaceful,  happy,  prosperous,  and  united  community. 
I  had  hoped  this.  Fondly  had  I  cherished  the  desire  and  the  expectation  from 
1850  until  after  the  introduction  of  this  bill.  My  hopes  are  less  sanguine  now. 
My  anxieties  increase,  but  my  expectation  lessens.  Sir,  if  this  repeal  takes 
place,  I  will  have  seen  the  commencement  of  the  agitation ;  but  the  youngest 
child  now  born,  I  am  apprehensive,  will  not  live  to  witness  its  termination. 
Southern  gentlemen  may  stand  up  and  defend  this  measure.  They  may  accept 
it  from  the  Northern  gentlemen  who  generously  bestow  it ;  but  if  it  were  bene- 
ficial to  the  South,  it  would  have  been  asked  for.  It  was  not  asked  for — nor 
will  it  be  accepted  by  the  people.  It  furnishes  those  in  the  North,  who  are  ene- 
mies of  the  South,  with  efficient  weapons  to  contend  with. 

The  Democracy  in  the  North  have  stood  firm  to  party  ties.  They  have  fought 
gallantly  for  our  rights.  If  we  pass  this  bill  how  can  they  maintain  themselves? 
How  can  their  representatives  return  to  them  and  say  :  "  We  gave  it "  ?  Would 
not  the  reply  be :  "  You  gave  it ;  then  you  are  faithless  servants,  and  we  will 
put  you  down  ;  you  disgraced  your  party  ;  you  have  given  away  a  sacred  thing,  a 
pledge,  a  compromise  thirty-four  years  old,  which  was  venerated  for  its  antiquity, 
and  national  benefits  derived  from  it "  ?  Depend  upon  it,  they  will  be  held  to  a  strict 
account.  They  will  have  to  answer  for  it.  I  call  upon  you  to  sustain  those  who 
stood  by  you  of  the  South  in  opposition  to  those  whose  fanaticism,  and  prejudice, 
and  misguided  feeling  would  have  wrested  your  rights  from  you.  If  you  place 
them  and  their  party  in  the  predicament  which  I  have  mentioned,  you  will  be 
doing  them  great  injustice. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  very  little  hope  that  any  appeal  which  I  can  make  for 
the  Indians  will  do  any  good.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Indiana  [Mr. 
Pettit]  says,  in  substance,  that  God  Almighty  has  condemned  them,  and  has 
made  them  an  inferior  race  ;  that  there  is  no  use  in  doing  anything  for  them. 
With  great  deference  to  that  Senator,  for  whom  I  have  never  cherished  any  but 
kind  feelings,  I  must  be  permitted  to  dissent  from  his  opinions.  He  says  they 
are  not  civilized,  and  they  are  not  homogeneous,  and  can  not  be  so,  with  the 
white  race.  They  can  not  be  civilized  !  No  !  Sir,  it  is  idle  to  tell  me  that. 
We  have  Indians  on  our  western  borders  whose  civilization  is  not  inferior  to  our 
own.  It  is  within  the  recollection  of  gentlemen  here  that,  more  than  twenty 
years  ago,  President  Ross,  one  of  them,  held  a  correspondence  upon  the  rights 
of  the  Indians  to  the  Cherokee  country,  which  they  possessed  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  maintained  himself  in  the  controversy  with  great  credit  and  ability ; 
and  the  triumph  of  Mr.  Adams,  if  it  was  one,  was  much  less  than  he  had  ob- 
tained over  the  diplomatist  of  Spain  [Mr.  Don  Onis],  in  relation  to  the  occupation 
of  Florida  by  General  Jackson.  The  Senator  from  Indiana  says  that,  in  ancient 
times,  Moses  received  a  command  to  go  and  drive  the  Canaanites  and  Moabites 
out  of  the  land  of  Canaan,  and  that  Joshua  subsequently  made  the  experiment 
of  incorporating  one  tribe  of  the  heathen  with  the  Israelites,  but  it  finally  had 
to  be  killed  off.  Therefore,  the  Senator  concludes,  the  Cherokees  can  not  be 
civilized.  There  may  have  been  something  statesmanlike  in  the  policy,  but  I  do 
not  discover  -the  morality  of  it.  I  will  say,  however,  that  there  is  no  analogy 
between  the  two  cases.  The  people  of  Judea  who  were  killed,  or  exterminated, 


Indian  Statesmen  Eminent ;  and  Tribes  Civilized.   413 

were  idolaters,  and  the  object  was  to  keep  the  people  of  Israel  free  from  the 
taint  of  idols  and  idolatry,  under  the  command  of  Providence,  and  therefore 
the  extermination  in  His  dispensation  became  necessary.  But  the  Cherokees 
never  have  been  idolaters,  neither  have  the  Creeks,  nor  the  Choctaws,  nor  the 
Chickasaws.  They  believe  in  one  Great  Spirit — in  God — the  white  man's  God. 
They  believe  in  His  Son  Jesus  Christ,  and  His  atonement,  and  propitiation  for  the 
sins  of  men.  They  believe  in  the  sanctifying  efficacy  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  They 
bow  at  the  Christian's  altar,  and  they  believe  the  Sacred  Volume.  Sir,  you  may 
drive  these  people  away,  and  give  their  lands  to  the  white  man  ;  but  let  it  not  be 
done  upon  the  justification  of  the  Scriptures.  They  have  well-organized  societies  ; 
they  have  villages  and  towns ;  they  have  their  state-houses  and  their  capitols ; 
they  have  females  and  men  who  would  grace  the  drawing-rooms  or  saloons  of 
Washington  ;  they  have  a  well-organized  judiciary,  a  trial  by  jury,  and  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus.  These  are  the  people  for  whom  I  demand  justice  in  the 
organization  of  these  territories.  They  are  men  of  education.  They  have  more 
than  one  hundred  native  preachers  in  those  tribes,  as  I  have  heard.  They  have 
their  colleges,  as  I  remarked  in  my  former  address  to  the  Senate  on  this  subject. 
They  become  associated  in  friendship  with  our  young  men  in  the  various  insti- 
tutions in  the  United  States;  and  they  are  prepared  to  be  incorporated  upon 
equal  terms  with  us.  But  even  if  they  were  wild  Indians,  untutored,  when  you 
deprive  them  of  what  would  give  them  knowledge,  and  discourage  them  from 
making  an  effort  to  become  civilized  and  social  beings,  how  can  you  expect 
them  to  be  otherwise  than  savage  ? 

When  you  undertake  to  tame  wild  horses,  do  you  turn  them  from  you  and 
drive  them  into  the  desert,  or  do  you  take  care  of  them  and  treat  them  with  hu- 
manity? These  Indians  are  not  inferior,  intellectually,  to  white  men.  John 
Ridge  was  not  inferior  in  point  of  genius  to  John  Randolph.  His  father,  in  point 
of  native  intellect,  was  not  inferior  to  any  man.  Look  at  their  social  condition, 
in  the  nations  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Look  at  the  Chickasaws  who  remain  in 
the  State  of  Mississippi.  Even  among  white  men,  with  all  their  prejudices 
against  the  Indians,  with  their  transcendent  genius  and  accomplishments,  they 
have  been  elected  to  the  Legislature.  Whenever  they  have  had  an  opportunity, 
they  have  shown  that  they  are  not  inferior  to  white  men,  either  in  sense  or 
capability. 

But  the  honorable  Senator  from  Iowa  [Mr.  Dodge]  characterizes  the  remarks 
which  I  made  in  reference  to  the  Indians  as  arising  from  a  feeling  of  "  sickly 
sentimentality."  Sir,  it  is  a  sickly  sentimentality  that  was  implanted  in  me  when 
I  was  young,  and  it  has  grown  up  with  me.  The  Indian  has  a  sense  of  justice, 
truth,  and  honor,  that  should  find  a  responsive  chord  in  every  heart.  If  the  In- 
dians on  the  frontier  are  barbarous,  or  if  they  are  cannibals  and  eat  each  other, 
who  are  to  blame  for  it  ?  They  are  robbed  of  the  means  of  sustenance  ; 
and  with  hundreds  and  thousands  of  them  starving  on  the  frontier,  hunger 
may  prompt  to  such  acts  to  prevent  their  perishing.  We  shall  never  become 
cannibals  in  connection  with  the  Indians,  but  we  do  worse  than  that.  We  rob 
them,  first  of  their  native  dignity  and  character  ;  we  rob  them  next  of  what  the 
Government  appropriates  for  them.  If  we  do  not  do  it  in  this  hall,  men  are  in- 
vested with  power  and  authority,  who,  officiating  as  agents  or  traders,  rob  them 
of  everything  which  is  designed  for  them.  No  less  than  one  hundred  millions 
of  dollars,  I  learn  from  statistics,  since  the  adoption  of  this  Government,  have 


414:  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

been  appropriated  by  Congress  for  purposes  of  justice  and  benevolence  toward 
the  Indians  ;  but  I  am  satisfied  that  they  have  never  realized  fifteen  millions 
beneficially.  They  are  too  remote  from  the  seat  of  government  for  their  real 
condition  to  be  understood  here  ;  and  if  the  Government  intends  liberality 
or  justice  toward  them,  it  is  often  diverted  from  the  intended  object  and  con- 
sumed by  speculators. 

I  am  a  friend  of  the  Indian,  upon  the  principle  that  I  am  a  friend  to  justice. 
We  are  not  bound  to  make  them  promises  ;  but  if  a  promise  be  made  to  an  In- 
dian, it  ought  to  be  regarded  as  sacredly  as  if  it  were  made  to  a  white  man.  If 
we  treat  them  as  tribes,  recognize  them,  send  commissioners  to  form  treaties, 
and  exchange  ratifications  with  them,  and  the  treaties  are  negotiated,  accepted, 
ratified,  and  exchanged — having  met  with  the  approval  of  the  Senate — I  think 
they  may  be  called  compacts  ;  and  how  are  those  compacts  regarded  ?  Just  as 
we  choose  to  construe  them  at  the  time,  without  any  reference  to  the  wishes  of 
the  Indians,  or  whether  we  do  them  kindness  or  justice  in  the  operation,  or  not. 
We  are  often  prompted  to  their  ratification  by  persons  interested ;  and  we  lend 
ourselves  unintentionally  to  an  unjust  act  of  oppression  upon  the  Indians  by  men 
who  go  and  get  their  signatures  to  a  treaty.  The  Indian's  mark  is  made  ;  the 
employes  of  the  Government  certify  or  witness  it;  and  the  Indians  do  not 
understand  it,  for  they  do  not  know  what  is  written.  These  are  some  of  the 
circumstances  connected  with  the  Indians.  Gentlemen  have  spoken  here  of 
voting  millions  to  build  ships,  and  placing  the  army  and  navy  at  the  disposition 
of  the  President  in  the  event  that  England  act  inconsistently  with  treaty  stipula- 
tions. This  is  done  because,  if  England  violates  a  treaty  with  us,  our  national 
honor  is  injured.  Now,  I  should  like  to  know  if  it  becomes  us  to  violate 
a  treaty  made  with  the  Indians  when  we  please,  regardless  of  every  principle  of 
truth  and  of  honor  ?  We  should  be  careful  if  it  were  with  a  power  able  to  war 
with  us  ;  and  it  argues  a  degree  of  infinite  meanness  and  indescribable  degrada- 
tion on  our  part  to  act  differently  with  the  Indians,  who  confide  in  our  honor 
and  justice,  and  who  call  the  President  their  Great  Father,  and  confide  in  him. 
Mr.  President,  it  is  in  the  power  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to  do  some 
justice  to  the  Indians  by  giving  them  a  government  of  their  own,  and  encourag- 
ing them  in  their  organization  and  improvement  by  inviting  their  delegates  to  a 
place  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  If  you  will  not 
do  it,  the  sin  will  lie  at  your  door,  and  Providence,  in  His  own  way,  mysterious 
and  incomprehensible  to  us  though  it  is,  will  accomplish  all  His  purposes,  and 
may  at  some  day  avenge  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians  upon  our  nation.  As  a 
people  we  can  save  them  ;  and  the  sooner  the  great  work  is  begun,  the  sooner 
will  humanity  have  cause  to  rejoice  in  its  accomplishment. 

Mr.  President,  I  shall  say  but  little  more.  My  address  may  have  been  des- 
ultory. It  embraces  many  subjects  which  it  would  be  very  hard  to  keep  in 
entire  order.  We  have,  in  the  first  place,  the  extensive  territory ;  then  we  have 
the  considerations  due  to  the  Indians  ;  and  then  we  have  the  proposed  repeal  ol 
the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  seems  to  require  the  most  explanation,  and  to 
be  the  main  point  in  the  controversy.  The  great  principle  involved  in  that  repeal 
is  non-intervention,  which,  we  are  told,  is  to  be  of  no  practical  benefit  if  the 
Compromise  is  repealed.  It  can  have  no  effect  but  to  keep  up  agitation. 

Sir,  the  friends  who  have  survived  the  distinguished  men  who  took  prominent 
parts  in  the  drama  of  the  Compromise  of  1850,  ought  to  feel  gratified  that  those 


The  Florida  War  provoked  ly  White*.          415 

men  are  not  capable  of  participating  in  the  events  of  to-day,  but  that  they  were 
permitted,  after  they  had  accomplished  their  labors,  and  seen  their  country  in 
peace,  to  leave  the  world,  as  Simeon  did,  with  the  exclamation  :  "  Lord,  now 
lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." 
They  departed  in  peace,  and  they  left  their  country  in  peace.  They  felt,  as  they 
were  about  to  be  gathered  to  the  tombs  of  their  fathers,  that  the  country  they 
had  loved  so  well,  and  which  had  honored  them — that  country  upon  whose  fame 
and  name  their  doings  had  shed  a  bright  lustre  which  shines  abroad  throughout 
all  Christendom— was  reposing  in  peace  and  happiness.  What  would  their 
emotions  be  if  they  could  now  be  present  and  see  an  effort  made,  if  not  so  de- 
signed, to  undo  all  their  work,  and  to  tear  asunder  the  cords  that  they  had 
bound  around  the  hearts  of  their  countrymen  ?  They  have  departed.  The 
nation  felt  the  wound  ;  and  we  see  the  memorials  of  woe  still  in  this  Chamber. 
The  proud  symbol  (the  eagle)  above  your  head  remains  enshrouded  in  black,  as 
if  deploring  the  misfortune  which  has  fallen  upon  us,  or  as  a  fearful  omen 
of  future  calamities  which  await  our  nation  in  the  event  this  bill  should  become 
a  law.  Above  it  I  behold  the  majestic  figure  of  Washington,  whose  presence 
must  ever  inspire  patriotic  emotions,  and  command  the  admiration  and  love  of 
every  American  heart.  By  these  associations  I  adjure  you  to  regard  the  contract 
once  made  to  harmonize  and  preserve  this  Union.  Maintain  the  Missouri 
Compromise  !  Stir  not  up  agitation  !  Give  us  peace  ! 

This  much  I  was  bound  to  declare — in  behalf  of  my  country,  as  I  believe,  and 
I  know  in  behalf  of  my  constituents.  In  the  discharge  of  my  duty  I  have 
acted  fearlessly.  The  events  of  the  future  are  left  in  the  hands  of  a  wise 
Providence. 


SPEECH    IN    THE    UNITED    STATES    SENATE 

ON  TREATMENT  OF  INDIANS,  DECEMBER  31,  1854. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Mr.  President,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  in  reply  to  the 
Senator  from  Iowa,  for  I  hardly  know  what  to  think  of  his  speech.  [Laughter.] 
If  I  were  to  characterize  his  remarks  in  any  way,  I  should  say  that  they  were, 
at  least,  very  remarkable.  In  the  first  place,  let  me  say  to  that  honorable  Sena- 
tor, and  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Florida,  that  they  were  talking  about 
things  of  which  I  knew  very  little,  for  I  was  not  in  the  United  States  when  the 
occurrences  to  which  they  alluded  took  place,  and  I  was  not,  therefore,  familiar 
with  the  history  of  those  wars.  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  however,  it  was  an  out- 
rage of  a  very  delicate  character  which  brought  on  the  Florida  war. 

Mr.  MALLORY.    That  is  a  mistake,  sir. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Well,  sir,  that  was  the  report  which  was  brought  to  Texas. 
Whether  it  was  true  or  not,xl  do  not  know ;  but  that  was  the  information  which 
I  received  from  people  from  that  section  of  the  country.  As  for  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  I  know  little  or  nothing  about  it ;  for,  in  Texas  at  that  time,  we  had  no 
mail  communication  with  the  United  States,  and  we  got  but  few  papers  from 
the  States,  so  that  I  remained  uninformed  in  relation  to  those  matters ;  but,  no 
doubt,  they  were  very  exciting.  The  Senator  from  Iowa  said  the  Black  Hawk 
war  was  brought  on  by  a  council  of  the  nation ;  but  I  have  heard  that  an  ex- 
amination of  the  circumstances  will  show  that  the  first  outrage  was  committed 


416  Houston ]s  Literary  Remains. 

by  an  individual,  not  by  the  concurrence  of  the  nation,  though  they  afterward 
became  involved  in  the  general  war.  In  that  statement,  I  believe,  I  am  sustained 
by  the  history  of  the  times. 

I  have  already  stated  that  occasions  occur  where  outlaws  among  the  Indians 
commit  acts  of  aggression  on  the  whites,  and  the  whites  immediately  retaliate 
on  the  Indian  nations,  and  these  nations,  in  self-defense,  become  involved  in 
war ;  but  I  never  knew  a  case  where  a  treaty,  which  was  made  and  carried  out 
in  good  faith,  was  violated  by  the  Indians.  In  Florida  the  Indians  complained 
that  they  had  been  deceived  in  the  treaty,  and  that  the  boundaries  assigned 
were  not  as  they  understood  them  ;  and  they  killed  their  own  chiefs.  It  was 
charged  that  some  of  the  agents  were  involved  in  speculations  to  a  great  extent 
dependent  on  the  treaty.  I  recollect  it  was  so  stated  at  the  time. 

I  think,  sir,  the  Senator's  speech  was  of  a  remarkable  character  in  relation  to 
politics  and  other  matters,  which  I  am  sorry  that  he  has  introduced.  He  has 
undertaken  to  admonish  me,  and  for  this  admonition  I  am  much  obliged  to  him. 
His  experience,  his  superior  opportunities,  may  entitle  him,  in  the  opinion  of 
others,  to  the  right  of  admonishing  me ;  and  I  am  perfectly  willing,  on  that 
point,  to  yield  my  own  opinion  to  what  may  be  the  general  impression  of  the 
body.  I  did  not  provoke  his  remark  by  any  allusion  to  any  one,  predicated  upon 
my  own  disposition  to  arraign  the  conduct  of  others  ;  nor  have  I  asserted  any- 
thing in  regard  to  the  officers  of  the  army,  but  what  are  matters  of  fact,  taken 
from  the  official  documents.  When  I  made  suggestions  of  a  speculative  charac- 
ter, I  gave  them  as  such. 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  Senator  from  Iowa  has  said  that  he  would  not  have 
been  astonished  if  the  rankest  abolitionist  had  made  such  a  speech,  and  had 
avowed  such  sentiments  as  I  did.  He  says  that,  if  a  man  in  Western  New 
York  had  presented  such  views,  he  would  not  have  been  surprised.  Now,  I 
wish  to  know  what  connection  my  remarks  had  with  abolition?  What  con- 
nection they  had  with  any  one  in  Western  New  York  ?  In  what  respect  have  I 
catered  to  any  prejudice  or  morbid  sensibility  ?  I  have  stood  here  alone  in  this 
body,  against  a  powerful  array  of  talent  and  influence,  contending  for  what  I 
conceived  to  be  a  great  principle,  and  which  must  obtain,  or  the  Indian  race  be 
exterminated. 

In  regard  to  that  principle,  I  have  the  concurrence  of  the  Senator  from  Ten- 
nessee [Mr.  Bell],  who  was  once  Secretary  of  War*  and,  as  such,  had  control  of 
the  Indian  Department,  and  who  has,  since  that  period,  been  a  prominent  mem- 
ber of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs  of  the  Senate.  I  believe  that  my  opin- 
ions are  also  concurred  in  by  the  Senator  from  Arkansas  [Mr.  Sebastian],  who 
is  the  head  of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs.  I  can  inform  the  Senator  from 
Iowa  that  I  will  sustain  him  to  the  extent  of  my  humble  abilities  in  any  measure 
he  may  introduce  in  favor  of  the  Indians,  and  for  the  establishment  of  a  policy 
which  will  ultimately  benefit  them,  and  reflect  credit  upon  the  Government  of 
the  United  States. 

I  have  not  been  regardless  of  what  I  considered  the  honor  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  interest  of  the  Indians.  In  no  instance  have  I  been  remiss  in 
these  particulars.  I  could  not  cater  to  any  passion  or  prejudice  on  this  subject, 
because  I  know  of  no  societies  in  the  North,  or  in  the  South,  or  in  any  section 
of  this  Union,  for  the  advancement  of  the  civilization  of  the  Indians.  If  such 
societies  exist,  I  am  not  in  correspondence  with  them,  nor  am  I  aware  of  the 


Petition  of  Ministers  as  to  Missouri  Compromise.     417 

existence  of  any  such  associations.  Then,  for  what  ulterior  purposes  could  I 
advocate  the  rights  of  the  Indians,  or  invoke  the  justice  of  this  Government 
toward  them  ?  Could  it  be  any  expectation  of  political  benefits  ?  None  upon 
earth. 

I  presume  the  abolitionists  are  perfectly  absorbed  in  the  subject  of  abolition. 
For  myself,  I  would  rather  see  them  turn  their  attention  to  the  amelioration  of 
the  condition  of  the  Indians  on  our  Western  wilds,  or  to  the  reclamation  of 
those  whom  they  hold  in  slaver)'.  There  are  not  less  than  two  thousand  prisoners 
in  the  hands  of  the  Comanches  ;  four  hundred  in  one  band,  in  my  own  State.  The 
prisoners  can  be  reclaimed  from  those  Indians,  who  are  coming  down  to  settle 
upon  their  reservations.  They  take  no  prisoners  but  women  and  boys.  The  boys 
they  treat  with  a  degree  of  barbarity  unprecedented  ;  and  their  cruelties  toward 
the  females  are  nameless  and  atrocious.  Our  Government  is  silent  in  relation  to 
them.  Has  humanity  no  claims  upon  us  in  this  respect?  Has  justice  no  de- 
mand unanswered  ? 

Sir,  we  have  not  seen  the  facts  to  which  I  have  just  alluded  impressed  on 
a  page  of  our  official  communications  from  the  War  Department.  The  officers 
stationed  near  the  places  where  those  transactions  have  taken  place  have  not 
reported  them.  No  effort  has  been  made  to  obtain  appropriations  for  the  recla- 
mation and  redemption  of  those  prisoners.  This  is  a  subject  which  calls  aloud 
for  the  humane  influence  of  the  Senator.  There  is  no  sickly  sentimentality 
in  this,  but  a  manly  upheaving  of  soul  that,  in  consideration  of  suffering  human- 
ity, demands  that  the  Government  shall  rescue  them  from  the  most  cruel 
and  unrelenting  bondage. 

I  have  been  accused  of  catering  to  a  morbid,  sickly  sentimentality.  Sir,  I 
never  yielded  anything  of  my  own  conscientious  convictions  to  consult  the 
opinions  of  others.  I  never  stooped  to  solicit  office  ;  but  I  have  received 
and  accepted  it  to  my  own  disadvantage.  I  might  have  hated  the  Indians, 
if  I  had  a  soul  no  bigger  than  a  shell-bark.  [Laughter.] 

In  my  boyish  days,  before  manhood  had  hardened  my  thews  and  muscles, 
I  received  balls  and  arrows  in  this  body,  in  defense  of  suffering  humanity, 
particularly  women  and  children,  against  the  Indians  ;  and  I  aided  in  reclaiming 
the  brightest  spot  of  the  South — Alabama.  When  I  remember  that,  in  those 
early  days,  I  assisted  in  rescuing  females  and  children  from  the  relentless  toma- 
hawk and  scalping-knife,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  charge  that  I  have  stooped  to 
court  favor  by  the  expression  of  my  sentiments  on  this  question  is  one  which  falls 
harmless  at  my  feet. 


ON  PETITION  OF  THREE  THOUSAND  MINISTERS  AGAINST  RE- 
PEAL OF  MISSOURI  COMPROMISE,  MARCH,  1854,  IN  UNITED 
STATES  SENATE. 

Mr.  President  :  I  think  that  a  petition  of  this  kind  ought  to  be  received,  and 
that  it  is  not  subject  to  the  charge  brought  against  it  by  the  Senator  from 
Illinois  [Mr.  Douglas].  It  does  not  arraign  our  action  by  being  drawn  up  after 
that  action  was  had.  The  Nebraska  bill  passed  this  body  on  the  night  of 
the  3d,  or,  rather,  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  instant.  The  memorial  appears  to 
27 


418  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

be  dated  on  the  ist  of  March.  I  can  not  think  that  it  meant  any  indignity  to  the 
Senate.  There  is  nothing  expressive  of  any  such  feeling  in  it.  It  is  a  right  that 
all  individuals  in  the  community  have,  if  their  terms  are  respectful,  to  memorial- 
ize the  Senate  of  the  United  States  upon  any  subject.  Whether  there  is  any  ul- 
terior object  in  this  I  know  not;  but  from  the  date  of  the  memorial,  and  from  the 
number  of  signers,  I  am  induced  to  believe  that  the  memorialists  thought  there 
was  something  wrong  in  that  bill ;  and  if  they  believe  that  its  passage  would  be 
a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  they  had  a  right  to  say  so.  I 
took  the  liberty  of  making  the  same  charge  here.  There  were  more  questions 
than  that  of  non-intervention  involved  in  that  bill.  It  involved  an  infraction 
of  faith  with  the  Indians,  of  pledges  given  to  them  under  all  the  solemn  forms, 
yet  mockery,  of  treaties.  That  was  one  point  involved  ;  and  I  charged  that  the 
passage  of  the  bill  would  be  a  violation  of  plighted  faith  in  that  particular.  Was 
it  a  violation  of  faith  to  disregard  the  Missouri  Compromise,  which  was  of  so 
much  antiquity  and  utility  to  the  country  ?  That  is  a  matter  of  discussion.  I 
have  not  arraigned  the  action  of  any  gentleman  since  the  passage  of  the  bill,  but 
anterior  to  it  I  gave  my  opinions  in  relation  to  its  character  as  a  disregard 
of  treaties,  and  as  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  plighted  faith  of  the  nation  toward 
the  Indians. 

With  respect  to  the  Missouri  Compromise,  I  believe  its  repeal  to  be  as  flagrant 
a  breach  of  faith  as  the  violation  of  treaties  made  with  the  Indians.  I  have  not 
charged  Senators  with  corrupt  motives,  nor  have  I  charged  them  with  anything 
selfish  ;  but  I  certainly  can  see  no  more  impropriety  in  ministers  of  the  Gospel, 
in  their  vocation,  memorializing  Congress,  than  politicians  or  other  individuals. 
I  do  not  believe  that  these  ministers  have  sent  this  memorial  here  to  manufacture 
political  capital,  to  have  it  entered  on  the  records  of  the  Senate,  so  that  it  might 
be  taken  back  and  disseminated  through  the  country.  Sir,  it  comes  from  the 
country.  I  told  you  that  there  would  be  agitation,  but  it  was  denied  upon  this 
floor.  Is  not  this  agitation  ?  Three  thousand  ministers  of  the  living  God  upon 
earth — His  vicegerents — send  a  memorial  here  upon  this  subject ;  and  yet  you 
tell  me  that  there  is  no  excitement  in  the  country  !  Sir,  you  realize  what  I  antic- 
ipated. The  country  has  to  bear  the  infliction.  Sir,  the  coup  d'etat  was  not 
successful.  The  bill  did  not  pass  before  the  community  was  awakened  to 
it.  The  community  was  awakened  to  it  not  alone  in  New  England,  for  I  have 
seen  letters  from  the  South  and  West  stating  that  it  was  there  regarded  as 
a  breach  of  faith,  and  I  can  see  no  wrong  in  ministers  expressing  their  opinion 
in  regard  to  it.  This  protest  does  not  attack  the  reputation  of  Senators.  It  does 
not  displace  them  from  their  positions  here.  It  does  not  impair  their  capabilities 
for  the  discharge  of  the  high  functions  which  the  Constitution  has  devolved  upon 
them.  I  see  nothing  wrong  in  all  this. 

Ministers  have  a  right  to  remonstrate.  They  are  like  other  men.  Because 
they  are  ministers  of  the  Gospel  they  are  not  disfranchised  of  political  rights  and 
privileges  ;  and,  if  their  language  is  respectful  to  the  Senate,  in  anticipation 
of  the  passage  of  a  bill  which  is  obnoxious  to  them,  they  have  a  right  to  spread 
their  opinions  on  the  records  of  the  nation.  The  great  national  heart  throbs 
under  this  measure ;  its  pulse  beats  high  ;  and  is  it  surprising  that  we  should 
observe  the  effects  of  it  ?  I  trust,  sir,  that  the  nation  may  yet  again  see 
the  blessed  tranquillity  that  prevailed  over  the  whole  country  when  this  "  heal- 
ing measure  "  was  introduced  into  the  Senate.  The  position  of  the  nation  was 


The  Clergymen  not  the  Authors  of  Agitation.      419 

snviable.  It  was  unagitated.  There  was  not,  in  my  recollection,  a  time  so 
tranquil,  nor  a  community  more  happy.  A  nation  more  prosperous  existed  not 
upon  the  earth.  Sir,  I  trust  that  there  will  be  no  continuance  of  agitation  ;  but 
the  way  to  end  it  is  not  to  make  war  upon  memorialists.  Let  them  memorialize 
if  they  think  it  necessary.  If  they  state  what  is  incorrect,  let  the  subject  be  re- 
ferred to  committees,  and  let  the  committees  give  an  exposition  of  the  truth,  and 
lay  it,  in  reports,  before  the  public,  and  then  the  intelligence  of  the  nation  will 
determine  as  to  what  is  right,  and  what  consideration  ought  to  be  given  to  it. 
I  would  not  take  away  the  liberty  to  indulge  in  the  freest  expression  of  opinion, 
or  the  exercise  of  the  rights  and  privileges  which  belong  to  any  portion  of  this 
country  ;  yet  I  would  discourage  agitation.  I  may  hold  the  contents  of  this  pro- 
test, to  some  extent,  heretical  ;  yet  they  are  not  expressed  in  such  offensive  lan- 
guage as  would  justify  a  denial  of  their  right  to  memorialize.  If  it  had  been  in- 
tended to  impugn  our  motives  or  our  actions,  either  as  corrupt  or  immoral,  we 
could  bear  it.  The  people  surely  have  a  right  to  think  and  speak  upon  our  ac- 
tion. We  are  not  placed  in  a  position  so  high  that  we  are  elevated  above 
the  questioning  power  of  the  people.  They  have  the  right  to  look  into  our  ac- 
tion and  investigate  our  conduct,  and,  if  they  do  not  approve  of  it,  to  express 
their  opinions  in  relation  to  it.  I  shall  never  make  war  upon  them  on  that 
account ;  yet,  I  trust  that  whatever  disposition  may  be  made  of  the  bill  which 
we  have  passed,  the  agitation  has  already  reached  its  acme ;  and  that  from 
this  point  it  may  decline,  until  the  country  is  again  restored  to  peace  and 
happiness. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  the  misfortune  to  differ  from  my  friends  in  relation 
to  this  m'easure,  but  that  difference  is  not  sufficient  to  induce  me  to  enter  anew 
into  the  discussion  of  it.  I  will,  however,  discuss  the  propriety  of  this  memo- 
rial. The  gentlemen  misapprehend  its  character  entirely.  I  understood  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Virginia — but  I  may  have  been  mistaken — to  say  that  it 
invoked  the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty  God  upon  the  Senate. 

Mr.  MASON.     In  substance  it  does,  as  I  understand. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  There  is  no  invocation  contained  in  the  memorial.  It  is 
a  respectful  protest,  stating  their  appreciation  of  the  measure  then  pending  be 
fore  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  not  one  word  is  contained  in  it  derog- 
atory to  the  Senate  at  the  time  it  was  drawn,  and  there  is  no  invocation  of  wrath 
or  vengeance  upon  the  members  of  this  body.  It  is  a  respectful  protest,  in  the 
name  of  the  Almighty  God. 

By  the  expression  which  I  used,  that  these  ministers  were  the  vicegerents 
of  the  Almighty,  I  merely  intended  to  say  that  they  were  harbingers  of  peace  to 
their  fellow-men  ;  and  if  it  was  a  lapsus  linguce,  or  improper  expression,  it  does 
not  change  the  intention  that  I  then  entertained  in  my  mind  of  expressing  a  be- 
lief that  it  was  nothing  else  than  an  extraordinary  emergency  that  diverted  men 
from  their  ordinary  pursuits  in  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  to  engage  at  all  in,  or 
to  step  even  to  the  verge  of,  the  political  arena. 

We  are  told,  Mr.  President,  that  this  was  intended  for  the  purpose  of  agita- 
tion. It  is  certainly  a  manifestation  of  agitation  ;  but  it  could  not  have  been  in- 
tended to  create  agitation,  for  the  thing  was  done,  and  here  is  one  of  its  develop- 
ments and  consequences.  Yet,  sir,  I  can  see  nothing  wrong  in  the  memorial  so 
far  as  I  am  concerned.  If  ministers  of  the  Gospel  are  not  recognized  by  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  they  are  recognized  by  the  moral  and  social 


420  Houston? s  Literary  Remains. 

constitution  of  society.  They  are  recognized  in  the  constitution  of  man's  salva- 
tion. The  great  Redeemer  of  the  world  enjoined  duties  upon  mankind  ;  and 
there  is  a  moral  constitution  from  which  we  have  derived  all  the  excellent  prin- 
ciples of  our  political  constitution — the  great  principles  upon  which  our  Govern- 
ment, morally,  socially,  and  religiously,  is  founded. 

Sir,  I  do  not  think  there  is  anything  very  derogatory  to  our  institutions  in  the 
ministers  of  the  Gospel  expressing  their  opinions.  They  have  a  right  to  do 
it.  No  man  can  be  a  minister  without  first  being  a  man.  He  has  political 
rights  ;  he  has  also  the  rights  of  a  missionary  of  the  Saviour,  and  he  is  not  dis- 
franchised by  his  vocation.  Certain  political  restrictions  may  be  laid  upon  him  ; 
he  may  be  disqualified  from  serving  in  the  Legislatures  of  the  States,  but  that 
does  not  discharge  him  from  political  and  civil  obligations  to  his  country. 
He  has  a  right  to  contribute,  as  far  as  he  thinks  necessary,  to  the  susten- 
tation  of  its  institutions.  He  has  a  right  to  interpose  his  voice  as  one  of 
its  citizens  against  the  adoption  of  any  measure  which  he  believes  will  injure 
the  nation.  These  individuals  have  done  no  more.  They  have  not  de- 
nounced the  Senate,  but  they  have  protested,  in  the  capacity  of  ministers, 
against  what  I  and  other  Senators  on  this  floor  protested.  They  have  the 
right  to  do  it,  and  we  can  not  take  that  right  from  them.  They  will  exercise  it. 
The  people  have  the  right  to  think,  and  they  will  exercise  that  right.  They  have 
the  right  of  memorializing,  and  they  will  exercise  that  right.  They  have  the 
right  to  express  their  opinions,  and  they  will  exercise  that  right.  They  will  ex 
ercise  their  rights  in  reprobation  or  commendation  at  the  ballot-box,  too  ;  and 
preachers,  I  believe,  vote.  They  have  the  right  to  do  so.  They  are  not  very 
formidable  numerically,  but  they  have  the  right  to  do  this  as  ministers  of  the 
Gospel,  as  well  as  we  Senators  have  a  right  to  vote  for  the  adoption  of  a  meas- 
ure ;  and  if  it  is  not  in  accordance  with  their  opinions  they  have  a  right  to  con- 
demn it.  They  have  the  right  to  think  it  is  morally  wrong,  politically  wrong, 
civilly  wrong,  and  socially  wrong,  if  they  do  not  interfere  with  the  vested  rights 
of  others  in  the  entertainment  of  those  opinions. 

I  understood  my  honorable  friend  from  Mississippi  to  say  that  the  South  had 
been  groaning  for  a  long  time  under  this  oppressive  measure.  The  South,  sir, 
are  a  spirited  people,  and  how  they  could  have  submitted,  for  more  than  a  third 
of  a  century,  to  this  indignity,  this  wrong,  this  act  of  oppression,  which  has 
ground  them  down  in  their  prosperity  and  development,  and  never  have  said  a 
word  about  it  until  this  auspicious  moment  arrived,  and  that,  too,  when  political 
subjects  have  been  agitated  at  the  North  and  South — that  it  should  have  been 
reserved  for  the  action  of  the  present  Congress,  after  all  others  had  glided  by 
without  complaint,  rebuke,  remonstrance,  or  suggestion  of  appeal,  is  a  most  ex- 
traordinary thing.  My  friend  does  not  apprehend  it ;  but  there  was  no  excite- 
ment out  of  this  Capitol,  or  out  of  the  city  of  Washington.  It  originated  here. 
This  was  the  grand  laboratory  of  political  action  and  political  machinery.  The 
object  was  to  mature  the  measure  here,  and  inflict  it,  by  a  coup  d'etat,  upon  the 
nation,  and  then  radiate  it  to  every  point  of  the  country.  The  potion  does 
not  react  pleasantly.  There  is  a  response,  but  how  does  it  go  down  ?  Not 
well.  The  physic  works — it  works  badly  ;  it  works  upward. 

I  am  willing  to  receive  any  memorials  that  are  presented  to  this  body  which 
are  respectable  in  terms,  whether  they  come  from  preachers,  politicians,  civilians, 
or  from  the  beggars  that  congregate  about  your  cities ;  and  I  will  treat  them 


Hebuke  of  tlie  Charge  of  Abolition.  421 

with  respect  and  kindness.  As  long  as  they  are  respectful  in  terms  to  this  body, 
though  they  express  their  apprehension  of  a  calamity  about  to  fall  on  the  coun- 
try, it  brands  no  man  ;  and  if  they  denounce  a  measure  in  advance,  it  is  what 
they  have  a  right  to  do.  We  have  a  more  eligible  position  here  to  advocate  our 
opinions  than  individuals  have  in  social  life  to  maintain  their  positions.  We 
have  all  the  panoply  of  power  and  State  sovereignty  thrown  around  the  mem- 
bers of  this  body  to  guard  and  shield  them  against  attacks  ;  but  they  are  thrown 
in  the  midst  of  the  community  without  any  shield,  except  it  is  the  shield  of 
morality  and  propriety  of  conduct  which  gives  protection  to  their  persons.  While 
they  express  themselves  respectfully,  I  shall  never  treat  with  disrespect  preachers, 
or  any  other  individuals,  who  come  before  this  body  to  give  us  their  opinions 
upon  political  subjects. 

In  reply  to  some  remarks  of  Mr.  Douglas — 

Mr.  HOUSTON  said :  Mr.  President,  as  the  honorable  Senator  from  Illinois, 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Territories,  seemed  in  a  most  emphatic 
manner  to  address  his  remarks  to  me,  I  think  him  fully  entitled  to  the  respect  of 
my  attention.  He  has  dwelt  upon  the  Abolition  character  of  this  document. 
So  far  as  any  such  character  may  be  embodied  in  it,  I  have  nothing  to  say. 
There  are  various  opinions  entertained  here  and  elsewhere  upon  various  sub- 
jects with  which  I  have  nothing  to  do,  and  with  which  I  have  no  affiliation ;  but 
with  this  subject,  as  it  is  presented  to  the  Senate  now,  I  have  some  connection. 
With  the  controversy  which  exists  between  the  honorable  Chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Territories  and  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Chase],  and  the  gentle- 
man from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Sumner],  I  have  nothing  to  do.  I  was  not  here 
when  the  controversy  originated,  nor  when  it  was  first  introduced  into  the 
Senate.  I  have  not  participated  in  it  since;  and  however  unpleasant  such 
altercations  or  controversies  may  be,  and  however  I  may  regard  them  as  im- 
peding the  transaction  of  business  in  this  body,  I  have  forborne  either  public 
or  private  expressions  of  opinion  upon  that  matter. 

Mr.  DOUGLAS.  Mr.  President,  I  will  say  to  the  Senator  that  the  only  allusion 
which  I  had  to  him  was  the  simple  quotation  which  I  made  from  his  remarks 
when  he'  spoke  of  these  ministers  being  the  vicegerents  of  the  Almighty.  My 
other  remarks  were  intended  for  another  quarter,  so  far  as  they  had  an  applica- 
tion anywhere.  If  he  is  under  the  misapprehension  of  supposing  that  they 
referred  to  him,  I  wish  to  correct  him  ;  that  is  all.  I  do  not  want  to  interrupt 
him. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  the  disclaimer,  for  the  gentleman's 
remarks  appeared  to  be  directed  so  unequivocally  toward  me,  that  I  was  led  into 
the  misapprehension  of  supposing  that  they  were  intended  perhaps  to  apply  to 
me,  in  a  manner  in  which  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  the  gentleman  to  apply 
them.  But,  sir,  I  explained,  when  I  was  up  before,  the  misapplication  of  the 
term  "  vicegerent,"  and  I  expressed  my  opinion  to  be  that  the  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  were  the  heralds  of  the  Almighty  God,  or  His  ministers  of  peace  upon 
earth.  I  thought  the  gentleman  would  not  have  carped  upon  that  expression, 
unless  with  reference  to  some  particular  influence  which  my  views  might  have 
upon  the  auditory.  It  was  a  mere  misapplication  of  a  term,  and  I  so  explained 
it.  But,  Mr.  President,  I  think  the  object  of  this  memorial  is  misapprehended. 
I  find  no  fault  with  its  introduction  either  before  or  after  the  passage  of  the  bill 
to  which  it  refers,  for  that  bill  may  be  returned  to  the  Senate  with  amendments. 


422  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Such  things  very  frequently  occur.  At  all  events,  as  the  memorial  has  been 
prepared  with  great  care,  and  as  the  gentlemen  who  have  signed  it  have  been 
anxious  that  their  views  should  be  laid  before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
lest  other  measures  embracing  similar  principles  should  be  introduced,  I  can  see 
nothing  improper  in  allowing  them  to  lay  their  views  respectfully  before  the  Senate. 
I  do  not  think  there  is  any  evidence  that  the  gentlemen  who  have  signed  the  me- 
morial have  any  disposition  to  establish  theocracy  in  our  countiy,  or  that  they  wish 
to  take  the  Government  into  their  own  hands,  and  exercise  a  controlling  influence 
over  it.  We  find  that  those  who  have  signed  this  document  are  of  different 
sects  and  various  denominations.  I  think  there  is  no  danger  that  such  an 
amalgamation  of  interests  and  opinions  will  take  place  as  to  embody  a  force 
sufficient  to  make  any  great  impression  on  the  institutions  of  this  countiy,  or  to 
endanger  our  liberties. 

Mr.  President,  this  memorial  is  regarded  as  a  substantive  and  independent 
matter,  as  intended  to  produce  agitation,  and  to  insult  the  Senate ;  but  it  is 
really  the  effect  of  a  measure  which  I  predicted  would  have  this  influence  upon 
the  community.  The  cause  exists  in  the  Senate.  It  exists  in  the  amendment 
inserted  into  the  Nebraska  Bill  proposing  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro- 
mise, and  this  is  but  responsive  action  to  that.  The  cause  is  not  in  the  clergy* 
men  who  have  signed  this  memorial.  The  memorial  is  the  effect  of  a  cause 
brought  forward  and  presented  in  the  Senate.  The  memorial  impugns  the 
action  of  no  one.  It  is  true  the  memorialists  speak  of  the  measure  as  immoral. 
Surely  that  ought  not  to  insult  Senators.  They  are  not  such  paragons  of 
morality  that  they  can  not  bear  to  have  their  moral  character  questioned,  if  they 
should  happen  to  do  anything  which  would  not  be  strictly  moral,  according  to 
some  standards,  but  which  I  should  not  think  to  be  very  immoral.  But  is  their 
morality  of  such  a  delicate  texture  as  to  be  affected  by  a  memorial  coming  from 
"  the  land  of  steady  habits  "  ? 

We  are  told  that  there  is  a  great  principle  involved  in  the  bill  to  which  this 
memorial  refers.  This  is  a  very  formidable  and  very  visible  response  to  that 
greaf  principle  which  it  is  said  has  lain  dormant.  Sir,  I  need  not  name  the 
number  of  years  that  it  has  lain  dormant.  No  bright  genius  ever  elicited  it ;  no 
brilliant  conception  ever  discovered  it  until  this  session  had  progressed  for  some 
time,  when  the  great  principle  of  non-intervention  at  once  sprang  up  to  illumine 
the  world,  to  be  regarded  as  one  which,  at  some  future  day,  would  be  a  univer- 
sally-recognized principle.  Sir,  I  recognize  the  principles  of  self-government, 
but  I  do  it  in  sovereignty.  A  people  in  tutelage  can  not  exercise  sovereignty, 
but  States  can.  A  people  who  are  in  a  territorial  existence  which  is  fitting 
them  to  become  States,  exercise  what  may  be  called  a  quasi  sovereignty.  They 
are  never  really  sovereign  until  they  are  recognized  by  Congress  as  such,  and 
are  received  into  the  Union  as  sovereign  States.  Then  is  the  time  for  the 
operation  of  self-government,  but  it  grows  out  of  sovereignty.  Is  it  to  be  in  five 
squatters  ?  They  may  pass  a  law  to-day  and  repeal  it  to-morrow,  and  the  next 
day  they  may  pass  another  law,  and  so  on  successively  from  day  to  day,  and 
from  year  to  year,  they  may  pass  and  repeal  laws.  The  Territories  have  no 
power  to  pass  organic  laws  until  the  attributes  of  sovereignty  are  about  to 
attach,  or  have  actually  attached  to  them.  That  is  what  I  call  non-intervention. 
That  is  what  I  call  sovereignty  and  self-government.  This  is  the  great  princi- 
ple which  it  is  said  is  involved  in  the  bill  which  we  have  passed ;  and  now  we 


Army  Rule  of  Indians  Injurious.  423 

are  receiving  the  response  to  it.  I  hope  we  may  never  have  any  more  responses 
of  this  description.  I  pray  Heaven  that  we  may  never  have  another  such  pro- 
test in  this  body.  I  pray  that  there  may  never  exist  any  necessity  for  it.  But 
for  the  necessity  or  cause,  which  originated  in  this  body,  this  memorial  would 
never  have  been  laid  upon  your  table.  This  is  but  the  effect ;  the  cause  was 
anterior  to  it.  If  we  wish  to  avert  calamitous  effects,  we  should  prevent  per- 
nicious causes. 


SPEECH  ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  AN  INCREASE  OF  THE  ARMY, 
AND  THE  INDIAN  POLICY  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT,  DELIV- 
ERED IN  THE  SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  JANUARY 

29   AND   31,    1855. 

January  29,  1855. 

The  Senate  resumed,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  the  consideration  of 
the  bill  from  the  House  of  Representatives,  making  appropriations  for  the 
support  of  the  Army  for  the  year  ending  the  3oth  of  June,  1856,  the  pend- 
ing question  being  on  the  amendment  of  Mr.  Shields  to  the  amendment  of  Mr. 
Hunter  (which  is  to  provide  for  two  additional  regiments  of  regular  cavalry 
and  five  hundred  Rangers),  to  substitute  for  that  provision  two  regiments 
of  infantry  and  two  of  cavalry. 

Mr.  HOUSTON  said : 

Mr.  President :  Before  the  Senate  proceed  to  vote  upon  the  adoption  ol 
the  policy  now  proposed,  I  think  it  would  be  well  to  examine  the  causes 
which  have  led  to  the  present  condition  of  affairs,  and  then  to  inquire  into  the 
best  means  for  ths  restoration  of  peace  upon  our  Indian  frontier.  An  ex- 
amination of  this  sort  will  inform  us  whether  there  is  any  necessity  for  an 
increase  of  the  military  force  of  the  country. 

I  am  aware,  sir,  that,  in  discussing  subjects  which  relate  to  the  Indians 
or  to  th'eir  rights,  I  shall  command  but  little  sympathy  from  the  Senate,  and 
not  much  from  the  country.  They  are  a  people  isolated  in  their  interest, 
and  solely  dependent  for  protection  and  justice  upon  the  Government  of 
the  United  States.  How  far  justice  has  been  accorded  to  them  in  the  past, 
or  how  far  it  is,  in  all  probability,  to  be  awarded  to  them  in  the  future,  is  a 
matter  beyond  speculation.  If  we  are  to  judge  from  the  past  experience  of 
our  times,  we  should  infer  that  there  is  but  very  little  hope  of  anything 
being  done  for  the  red  man  ;  and  we  should  infer  that,  in  the  opinion  of  his 
white  brethren,  his  doom  has  already  been  written  and  recorded. 

Mr.  President,  the  Indians  have  been  charged  with  an  aggressive  and  hos- 
tile spirit  toward  the  whites  ;  but  we  find,  upon  inquiry,  that  every  instance 
of  that  sort  which  has  been  imputed  to  them,  has  been  induced  and  pro- 
voked by  the  white  man,  either  by  acts  of  direct  aggression  upon  the 
Indians  or  by  his  own  incaution,  alluring  them  to  a  violation  of  the  secu- 
rity of  the  whites.  They  have  tempted  the  cupidity  of  the  Indians.  If  a 
lawless  fellow  happens  to  prove  vagrant  to  his  band,  and  throws  off  all  the 
rules  and  restrictions  imposed  by  the  chiefs  on  their  warriors,  and  chooses 
to  involve  his  nation  in  a  difficulty  by  taking  the  life  of  a  white  man,  if  he 
can  do  so,  as  he  supposes,  with  impunity,  his  action  is  charged  to  his  tribe ; 


424  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

but  they  should  not  be  held  responsible.  Sir,  we  have  seen  thrilling 
accounts  of  sanguinary  massacres  which  alarm  us  at  the  first  blush  ;  and, 
if  we  are  to  believe  the  paragraphs  .disseminated  through  the  medium  of  the 
press,  we  should  suppose,  in  reality,  that  the  Indian  was  as  barbarous  as  he 
had  ever  been,  and  that  all  the  assaults  or  massacres,  as  they  are  termed, 
are  unprovoked  and  wantonly  inflicted  on  the  defenseless  white  man.  As 
an  instance  of  this,  let  me  mention  the  massacre  at  Fort  Laramie,  and  from 
that  instance  you  can  pretty  accurately  deduce  the  true  condition  of  other 
acts  of  a  similar  character.  What  were  the  circumstances  in  connection 
with  that  case  ? 

During  the  last  summer  some  bands  of  the  Sioux  nation  of  Indians  were 
encamped  within  six  miles  of  Fort  Laramie.  They  were  in  amity  with  the 
United  States,  and  on  terms  of  friendship  and  good  feeling  with  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  neighboring  fort.  A  man-  from  a  neighboring  tribe,  whose 
relatives  had,  a  year  before,  been  slaughtered  by  the  troops  at  Fort  Laramie, 
happened  to  be  among  these  bands  of  Sioux.  Some  Mormon  emigrants 
passed  by  the  camp  of  the  Indians,  and  a  cow  escaped  from  them,  made 
toward  the  village,  and  the  Mormons  pursued  her,  but  unsuccessfully.  The 
Indian  to  whom  I  have  referred,  by  way  of  revenge  for  the  loss  of  his  rela- 
tive, slaughtered  the  animal.  Complaint  was  made  at  Fort  Laramie.  The 
chiefs  instantly  said  that  they  would  see  that  reparation  was  made  for  the 
injury  which  had  been  done.  Was  this  satisfactory  to  the  commanding 
officer  ?  No,  sir  ;  but  he  detailed  a  breVet  lieutenant,  with  a  company,  for 
the  purpose  of  arresting  the  Indian.  The  company  arrived  at, the  encamp- 
ment of  the  Indians  with  two  pieces  of  artillery.  Demand  was  made  of  the 
chiefs,  but  this  Indian  said  to  them,  "  I  have  taken  a  lodge  here  ;  I  am  will- 
ing to  die  ;  you  have  nothing  to  do  with  this  matter  ;  you  have  no  concern 
with  it ;  the  responsibility  is  not  upon  your  people,  but  it  is  upon  me  alone." 
So  soon  as  this  reply  was  given  to  the  lieutenant  he  fired,  and  crippled 
one  of  the  principal  chiefs,  and  killed  a  man.  The  delinquent  still  refused 
to  give  up.  After  that,  the  chiefs  rallied  and  exhorted  the  men  to  commit 
no  outrage ;  their  influence  controlled  the  action  of  the  Indians ;  but  a 
drunken  interpreter,  who  was  calculated  to  incite  the  lieutenant  to  action, 
caused  him,  no  doubt,  to  fire  his  cannon.  The  next  thing  was  that  the  war- 
whoop  was  sounded,  and  the  lieutenant  and  part  of  his  men  were  killed.  The 
others  dispersed,  were  pursued  by  the  Indians  in  hot  blood,  and  every  man 
was  slaughtered. 

This  is  a  succinct  narrative  of  that  event.  Were  the  Indians  to  blame  ? 
He  who  violates  a  law  is  the  man  who  is  responsible  for  the  consequences 
of  that  violation.  The  Indian  intercourse  laws  of  the  United  States  have 
pointed  out  the  manner  in  which  to  proceed  in  such  a  case.  If  a  citizen 
sustains  injury  from  any  tribe,  or  from  an  individual  of  a  tribe,  informa- 
tion is  to  be  given  to  the  Indian  agent  for  that  tribe.  He  is  imme- 
diately to  make  a  demand  upon  the  chiefs  of  the  nation.  If  they  do 
not  surrender  the  individual,  which  in  all  probability  they  would  do 
immediately,  if  they  were  treated  in  good  faith,  deduction  is  made 
from  their  annuities  for  the  amount  of  the  injury,  and  there  the  mat- 
ter stops.  If  no  annuities  are  due  to  them,  rather  than  bring  on  war,  the 
United  States  Treasury  is  responsible  to  the  individual  who  has  sustained 


Army  Officers  Pro  voicing  Indian  Outrages.       425 

loss.  These  are  the  provisions  of  the  intercourse  laws.  In  this* case,  did 
either  of  the  officers  make  a  demand  on  the  chiefs  ?  The  chief  sent  an 
assurance  that  justice  would  be  done  and  the  individual  given  up,  though 
he  did  not  belong  to  their  band.  The  officers,  unwilling  to  receive  that 
assurance,  dispatched  a  handful  of  men  against  several  lodges  of  Indians, 
and  among  whom  th'ere  had  been  some  ground  of  complaint.  The  conse- 
quences which  I  have  narrated  resulted  from  this  indiscretion  and  violation 
of  law.  It  was  a  violation  of  law,  for  no  demand  was  made  upon  the  chiefs 
for  indemnity,  and  no  response  was  received  from  them.  These  gallant 
gentlemen  thought  they  should  go  there  and  make  war.  They  are  paid  for 
it ;  "  it  is  their  vocation."  Are  such  men  entitled  to  sympathy  ?  Are  they 
entitled  to  respect  ?  But  their  conduct  alarmed  the  Sioux  ;  and  because 
that  tribe  proposed  to  confederate  with  other  tribes,  we  are  asked  to  in- 
crease the  military  force  of  the  country ;  forsooth,  we  are  to  wage  war  upon 
the  winds,  for  you  might  as  well  do  it  as  upon  the  prairie  Indians. 

But  this  is  not  all  that  grew  out  of  that  transaction.  A  clamor  is  raised 
about  the  mail  party  who  were  destroyed  subsequently  to  that.  It  was  very 
natural  to  expect  that  it  would  be  done.  The  Sioux  chief,  who  was  wounded 
on  the  occasion  to  which  I  have  referred,  was  taken  to  the  Arkansas,  and 
there  he  expired  in  consequence  of  the  injury  he  had  received.  His  kindred 
resolved  to  revenge  his  death.  The  Indian  appreciates  the  ties  of  kindred 
far  beyond  any  white  man.  They  may  have  less  intelligence,  but  the  chords 
of  nature  are  stronger,  the  sensibilities  of  the  heart  more  lively  than 
those  which  .stimulate  our  Christian,  enlightened  action.  It  is  well  known 
that  the  grief  which  resounds  through  the  Indian  camp  when  a  warrior  or 
chief  expires,  or  when  a  relative  dies,  is  like  the  wailing  of  Egypt.  When 
this  chief  expired  his  friends  sought  for  a  white  man,  that  they  might  take 
vengeance  on  him — not  for  those  who  had  inflicted  the  wrong,  but  whoever 
they  might  happen  to  find  among  the  whites.  They  first  came  upon  the 
mail  party.  One,  who  was  not  a  relative  of  the  chief,  said  to  one  of  his 
kindred,  "  There  is  a  white  man,  you  can  now  take  vengeance  on  him  ;  you 
are  a  coward  if  you  do  not  do  so."  He  said  :  "  I  am  no  coward  ;  but  if  you 
say  it,  I  will  kill  him."  Then  he  went  and  killed  two  out  of  the  three  com- 
posing the  mail  party. 

Now,  sir,  what  had  been  the  condition  of  the  Indian  country  previous  to 
these  occurrences  ?  I  have  been  assured  by  gentlernen  who  have  passed 
from  California  to  Fort  Laramie,  a  distance  of  one  thousand  four  hundred 
or  one  thousand  five  hundred  miles,  that  they  met  individuals  traveling 
alone  through  that  vast  region.  They  passed  through  a  wilderness  of  one 
thousand  four  hundred  or  one  thousand  five  hundred  miles  unassailed,  and 
without  injury  from  any  one.  Did  this  look  like  a  desperate  feeling  on  the 
part  of  the  Indians,  when  they  allowed  unprotected  individuals,  sometimes 
singly,  occasionally  in  small  companies  of  three  or  four  persons,  to  pass 
through  their  country  unmolested  ?  No,  sir.  It  is  some  sudden  act  of 
wrong  and  outrage  which  stimulates  the  Indian  to  aggression.  He  has  no 
inducement  to  it  unless  he  expects  great  plunder,  because  he  is  very  well 
aware  that  if  he  cultivates  kind  and  friendly  relations  with  the  whites,  he  can 
receive  from  them  supplies  that  he  can  not  obtain  any  other  way — things 
which  gratify  his  taste  for  dress,  and  supply  his  wants  and  appetites.  For 


426  Houston '$  Literary  Remains. 

this  reaspn  the  Indian  is  always  disposed  to  be  in  peace  and  friendship  with 
his  white  neighbors  if  he  can. 

I  have  given  some  illustrations  of  the  so-called  Indian  outrages.  I  may 
refer  to  another  one,  which  not  long  since  took  place  in  Oregon,  anil  which 
is  given,  in  some  quarters,  as  a  reason  why  an  increase  of  the  Army  is 
required.  I  refer  to  a  recent  massacre  of  the  Indians  at  a  ferry-house  in 
Oregon,  as  described  by  the  agents  and  superintendents  of  that  Territory. 
A  number  of  miners,  to  the  amount  of  forty,  associated  together  to  attack  a 
village  of  seventy  Indians,  men,  women,  and  children,  without  any  means 
of  defense,  with  only  five  pieces  of  firearms,  pistols,  and  guns,  and  two  of 
them  entirely  useless.  The  officer,  who  reports  the  action,  describes  in  a 
most  military  and  elegant  style,  the  manner  in  which  he  assaulted  the  vil- 
lage in  three  divisions.  They  were  entirely  successful ;  killed  some  sixteen 
men,  killed  one  squaw,  and  wounded  a  couple,  and  no  children — that  was 
merciful !  But,  sir,  they  scattered  the  warriors  who  were  there  defenseless, 
and  applied  the  torch  to  their  wigwams.  We  are  told  by  the  gallant  gen- 
tleman who  reported  the  matter,  that  the  next  day  the  Indians  were  there 
hovering  about  the  mouldering  ashes  of  their  wigwams.  This  gallant  and 
chivalrous  man,  wonderful  to  relate,  says  he  did  not  lose  a  man  in  the 
attack.  Was  he  not  lucky  ?  [Laughter.]  That  fellow  must  look  out  for  a 
brevet ;  though  I  hope  he  will  hardly  come  here  claiming  bounty  land. 
[Laughter.] 

This  act  is  denounced  by  the  agent  and  superintendent  as  most  cruel  and 
barbarous.  The  poor  creatures  were  willing  to  do  anything  aqd  everything 
which  was  asked  of  them.  They  denied  every  charge  that  the  malicious  and 
the  wanton  had  brought  against  them  ;  and  the  truth  of  their  narrative  is 
indorsed  by  the  agent,  a  man  of  intelligence.  I  do  not  know  him  ;  but  his 
report  bears  the  impress  of  intelligence  and  integrity. 

Well,  sir,  these  circumstances,  it  is  said,  call  for  an  army  of  three  regi- 
ments, or  three  thousand  men.  What  are  they  to  cost  ?  Five  millions  of 
dollars  is  the  amount  which  it  is  proposed  to  appropriate  by  the  bill  which 
was  reported  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois.  We  are  to  appropriate  $5,000,000 
to  bring  on  a  great  Sioux  war,  to  meet  a  most  wonderful  confederacy,  which, 
it  is  said,  is  forming  among  the  Indians.  Why,  sir,  they  can  not  keep 
together  because  they  are  starving  in  little  bands,  even  in  those  parts  of 
the  country  where  they  can  command  the  most  game.  How  could  they 
remain  embodied  for  any  length  of  time  without  supplies,  without  animals, 
and  without  food,  when  their  women  and  children  are  starving?  How 
could  they,  under  such  circumstances,  remain  a  mighty  confederation  to 
sweep  our  frontier  ?  Why,  sir,  from  the  display  that  is  made,  by  the  terrible 
cry  of  alarm,  one  would  think  that  New  Orleans  itself  could  hardly  be  safe, 
but  that  the  Indians  would  sweep  down  the  Missouri  and  Mississippi,  and 
carry  death,  destruction,  and  devastation  in  their  course  ! 

Are  these  causes  calculated  to  produce  such  mighty  effects  ?  Is  it  proper 
that  the  nation  should  be  involved  in  a  general  Indian  war  at  this  time  ?  Is  it 
proper  that  $5,000,000  should  be  expended  from  the  Treasury  to  begin  this 
war  ?  If  this  be  done,  what  will  be  the  consequence  ?  The  Indians  will  not 
be  embodied  to  meet  you.  Your  troops  will  hear  that  in  some  direction 
there  is  a  Comanche,  or  a  Kioway,  or  an  Osage  camp,  and  they  will  advance 


Indian  Commissioner  Attests  Army  Outrage.    .  427 

upon  it  with  "  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  glorious  war."  ,A  morn- 
ing gun  will  be  fired  as  a  signal  to  rise  and  prepare  for  the  march.  On  such 
an  occasion,  with  the  bugle  sounding  in  advance,  how  beautiful  must  be  the 
reflection  from  the  arms  and  banners  floating  in  the  prairie  !  That  is  to  be 
the  spectacle  which  is  to  amuse  or  drive  the  Indians  ahead.  They  are  to 
meet  the  Indians  on  a  trackless  waste.  You  might  as  well  pursue  the  course 
of  a  ship's  keel  on  the  ocean,  as  to  pursue  the  Indians  of  the  prairies. 
They  would  disperse,  and  your  army  would  be  left  there ;  and  they,  per- 
haps, surrounding  you,  in  the  distance,  and  laughing  at  the  glorious  pomp 
with  which  you  were  marching  through  their  prairies.  If  you  take  men 
there  and  make  a  display  without  efficiency,  you  provoke  their  ridicule  and 
supreme  contempt. 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  course  which  has  been  pursued  since  the  days  of 
William  Penn  to  the  present  moment,  has  not  been  entirely  successful  in 
conciliating  the  Indians.  Under  the  management  of  Washington,  of  the  first 
Adams,  of  Madison,  of  Monroe,  of  the  second  Adams,  of  Jackson,  and  ol 
Polk,  we  have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  very  successful  in  maintaining 
peace  with  them.  The  suggestions  made  by  our  fathers  in  relation  to  their 
civilization  and  humanization,  are  exemplified  and  illustrated  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  southern  tribes,  who  have  received  the  greatest  benefits  of 
the  light  shed  on  them  ;  and  they  have  responded  to  it  by  the  cultivation 
of  mind,  by  the  development  of  resources,  both  physical  and  intellectual, 
which  reflect  lustre  on  their  character.  Can  not  the  Indian  now  be  in- 
fluenced in  the  same  way,  by  the  same  means  ?  Have  we  no  landmarks  to 
guide  us  ?  Have  we  not  experience  to  teach  us  ?  Have  we  not  humanity 
to  prompt  us  to  march  on  in  the  path  which  is  already  laid  out  before  us  ? 

Sir,  how  different  is  the  policy  now  pursued  from  what  it  once  was !  I 
must  read,  for  the  instruction  of  the  Senate,  an  extract  from  the  last  annual 
report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  and  I  beseech  your  attention 
to  it,  because  it  contains  more  good  sense  and  reflection  than  I  could  impart 
in  the  same  number  of  words.  It  will  be  necessary  in  the  examination  of 
this  subject,  in  relation  both  to  the  Indians  and  the  Army,  to  see  in  what 
manner  they  harmonize  with  each  other,  and  how  far  the  one  is  necessary 
to  the  success  of  the  other.  The  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  in  his 
report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  describes  a  transaction  to  which  I 
wish  to  call  attention  : 

"  As  heretofore  reported  to  you,  an  association  of  persons  has  undertaken 
to  appropriate  to  their  own  use  a  portion  of  the  land  ceded  by  the  Dela- 
wares,  fronting  on  the  Missouri  River,  and  south  of  Fort  Leaven  worth  ; 
have  laid  out  a  city  thereon,  and  actually  had  a  public  sale  of  the  lots  of  the 
same  on  the  9th  and  loth  of  October  last.  These  unlawful  proceedings 
have  not  only  taken  place  under  the  eyes  of  the  military  officers  stationed 
at  the  fort,  but  two  of  them  are  said  to  be  members  of  the  association,  and 
have  been  active  agents  in  this  discreditable  business.  Encouraged  by 
these  proceedings,  and  prompted  by  those  engaged  in  them,  other  persons 
have  gone  on  other  portions  of  the  tract  ceded  by  the  Delawares  in  trust  to 
the  United  States,  and  pretend  to  have  made,  and  are  now  making,  such 
'  claims  '  as  they  assert  will  vest  in  them  the  lawful  right  to  enter  the  land 
at  the  minimum  price  under  the  preemption  law  of  July  12,  1854." 


4:28  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

This  is  a  specimen  of  the  aid  and  succor  afforded  by  military  command- 
ers to  the  agents  to  maintain  and  preserve  peace  among  the  Indians.  These 
are  the  gentlemen  to  whom  the  agents  look  for  co-operation  in  the  discharge 
of  their  duties,  and  to  afford  equal  protection  to  the  Indians  against  aggres- 
sions from  the  whites,  as  to  the  whites  against  aggressions  from  the  Indians. 
Such  a  transaction  as  is  here  disclosed  is  an  act  of  unmitigated  infamy  in  the 
officers  who  have  lent  themselves  to  it.  I  hope  the  Executive,  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  his  power,  and  in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  and  just  discretion,  will 
frase  their  names  from  the  records  of  the  country,  and  redeem  our  annals 
from  infamy  so  blackening  as  this.  Think,  sir,  of  an  officer  wearing  an 
American  sword,  adorned  with  American  epaulettes,  the  emblem  of  office 
and  the  insignia  of  honor  and  manly  pride,  degrading  himself  by  a  violation 
of  the  faith  of  his  Government,  rendering  him  a  disgrace  to  the  uniform 
which  he  wears  and  the  earth  upon  which  he  treads  ! 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  Delaware  Indians  own  one  million  eight 
hundred  thousand  acres  of  land.  They  ceded  one  million  three  hundred 
thousand  acres  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States  for  $10,000,  reserv- 
ing to  themselves  the  land  on  which  the  city  referred  to  has  been  laid  out 
on  the  banks  of  the  Missouri.  They  confided  five  hundred  thousand  acres 
to  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  as  they  could  not  themselves  dis- 
pose of  it  except  to  the  Government ;  and,  believing  that  it  would  be  a 
source  of  wealth  and  independence  to  them,  they  have  granted  it  to  the  Gov- 
ernment, in  trust,  to  be  sold  by  it,  the  right  of  possession  remaining  in  them 
until  it  should  be  disposed  of.  It  appears,  from  the  Commissioner's  report, 
that  persons  had  gone  and  taken  possession  of  this  land.  If  they  have  not 
done  so,  they  ought  to  be  vindicated  against  the  charge.  I  regard  it  as 
authentic  and  official,  and  until  it  is  controverted  I  have  nothing  to  extenu- 
ate, nor  do  I  set  down  aught  in  malice.  Justice  requires  me  to  state  the 
facts. 

Mr.  President,  I  said  to  the  Senate,  on  a  former  occasion,  that  eighteen 
tribes  of  Indians  had  been  located  by  this  Government  within  the  limits  of 
the  present  Territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  and  that  most  of  them  had 
been  removed  therefrom  the  east  of  the  Mississippi.  They  were  located 
there  under  the  faith  of  solemn  pledges,  that  while  grass  grew  or  water  run, 
or  the  earth  brought  forth  its  fruits,  they  should  remain  on  the  lands 
assigned  to  them  unless  they  chose  to  abandon  them,  and  that  they  should 
not  be  included  within  the  boundaries  of  any  State  or  Territory.  Notwith- 
standing this,  these  Indians  were  embraced  within  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas 
bill.  They  were  taken  in — yes,  sir,  as  strangers  are  sometimes  "taken  in." 
What  is  now  their  condition,  and  what  must  it  be  in  after-time  ?  On  this 
point  let  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  speak.  In  his  recent  report 
he  says,  in  reference  to  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  Indians  : 

"  In  the  recent  negotiations  for  their  lands,  the  Indians  dwelt  upon  the 
former  pledges  and -promises  made  to  them,  and  were  averse  generally  to 
the  surrender  of  any  portion  of  their  country.  They  said  that  they  were  to 
have  the  land  '  as  long  as  grass  grew  or  water  run,'  and  they  feared  the 
result  if  they  should  consent  to  yield  any  part  of  their  possessions.  When 
they  did  consent  to  sell,  it  was  only  on  the  condition  that  each  tribe  should 
retain  a  portion  of  that  tract  as  a  permanent  home.  All  were  unitedly  and 


Wise  Recommendations  of  Commissioner.        429 

firmly  opposed  to  another  removal.  So  fixed  and  settled  was  this  idea, 
that  propositions  clearly  for  their  interest  were  rejected  by  them. 

"  The  residue  of  the  tribes  who  have  recently  ceded  their  lands  should, 
therefore,  be  considered  (subject,  in  a  few  cases,  to  a  contraction  of  limits) 
as  permanently  fixed.  Already  the  white  population  is  occupying  the 
lands  between  and  adjacent  to  the  Indian  reservations,  and  even  going 
west  of  and  beyond  them  ;  and  at  no  distant  day  all  the  country  immedi- 
ately to  the  west  of  the  reserves,  which  is  worth  occupying,  would  have  been 
taken  up.  And  then  the  current  of  population,  until  within  a  few  years,  flow- 
ing only  from  the  East,  now  comes  like  an  avalanche  from  the  Pacific 
coast,  almost  overwhelming  the  indigenous  Indians  in  its  approaches.  It 
is  therefore,  in  my  judgment,  clear,  beyond  a  doubt  or  question,  that  the 
emigrated  tribes  in  Kansas  Territory  are  permanently  there — there  to  be 
thoroughly  civilized,  and  to  become  a  consistent  portion  of  the  population, 
or  there  to  be  destroyed  and  exterminated.  What  a  spectacle  for  the  view 
of  the  statesman,  philanthropist,  Christian; — a  subject  for  the  most  profound 
consideration  and  reflection  !  With  reservations  dotting  the  eastern  por- 
tion of  the  Territory,  there  they  stand,  the  representatives  and  remnants  of 
tribes  once  as  powerful  and  dreaded  as  they  are  now  weak  and  dispirited. 
By  alternate  persuasion  and  force,  some  of  these  tribes  have  been  removed, 
step  by  step,  from  mountain  to  valley  and  from  river  to  plain,  until  they 
have  been  pushed  half  way  across  the  continent.  They  can  go  no  further ; 
on  the  ground  they  now  occupy  the  crisis  must  be  met,  and  their  future 
determined.  Among  them  may  be  found  the  educated,  civilized,  and  con- 
verted Indian,  the  benighted  and  inveterate  heathen,  and  every  intermedi- 
ate grade.  But  there  they  are,  and  as  they  are,  without  standing  obliga- 
tions in  their  behalf  of  the  most  solemn  and  imperative  character,  volun- 
tarily assumed  by  the  Government.  Their  condition  is  a  critical  one  ;  such 
as  to  entitle  them  not  only  to  the  justice  of  the  Government,  but  to  the 
most  profound  sympathy  of  the  people.  Extermination  may  be  their  fate, 
but  not  of  necessity.  By  a  union  of  good  influences  and  proper  effort, 
I  believe  they  may  and  will  be  saved,  and  their  complete  civilization 
effected. 

"  Be  that  as  it  may,  however,  the  duty  of  the  Government  is,  in  my  opin- 
ion, plain.  It  should  fulfill,  with  the  greatest  promptness  and  facility,  every 
treaty  stipulation  with  these  Indians  ;  frown  down,  at  the  first  dawning,  any 
and  every  attempt  to  corrupt  them  ;  see  that  their  ample  annuities  are 
directed  faithfully  to  their  education  and  improvement,  and  not  made  the 
means  of  their  destruction  ;  incessantly  resist  the  efforts  of  the  selfish  and 
heartless  men  who,  by  the  specious  plans  and  devices  for  their  own  gain, 
may  seek  to  distract  and  divide  them  ;  require  diligence,  energy,  and  in- 
tegrity in  the  administration  of  their  affairs,  by  the  agents  who  may  be 
intrusted  with  their  interests  and  welfare,  and  visit  the  severest  penalty  of 
the  law  on  all  who  may  violate  its  salutary  provisions  .in  relation  to  them. 
Let  these  things  be  done  ;  the  co-operation  of  the  civil  officers,  magistrates, 
and  good  citizens  of  the  Territory  secured,  and  the  most  active  efforts  of 
the  friends  of  the  benevolent  institutions  now  existing  among  them  be 
brought  into  exercise  for  their  moral  culture  ;  and,  by  harmonious  and  con- 
stant effort  and  action,  a  change  may,  and,  it  is  believed,  will,  be  brought 


430  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

about,  and  Kansas  become  distinguished  as  a  land  in  which  the  complete 
and  thorough  civilization  of  the  red  man  was  worked  out  and  accomplished." 

Sir,  it  is  the  violation  of  treaties,  and  the  bad  faith  of  the  white  man  and 
his  aggressive  course,  that  cause  the  inquietude  of  the  Indian,  and  we  feel 
it  very  much  in  the  section  of  country  in  which  I  live.  There  is  a  remedy, 
and  that  remedy  must  be  applied,  or  the  Indians  exterminated,  at  an  expense 
ten  times  beyond  what  would  civilize,  in  half  a  century,  every  red  man  who 
walks  upon  the  soil  of  America.  I  have  seen  tribes  rise  from  a  state  of  bar- 
barism to  a  condition  in  which  they  are  as  civilized  in  their  institutions,  in 
their  religion,  and  in  their  social  refinement  and  habits,  as  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  and  all  this  has  been  done  within  half  a  century.  These 
things  are  as  possible  now  as  at  any  former  time  ;  and  a  sum,  very  easily 
calculated  —  less  than  the  amount  estimated  as  necessary  to  raise  these 
troops  and  subsist  them  for  one  year — would  civilize  every  Indian  on  the 
continent,  set  him  down  on  a  piece  of  land,  and  give  him  "  a  local  habitation 
and  a  name."  Is  it  not  worth  an  attempt  ?  Is  it  not  worth  accomplish- 
ment ?  Sir,  let  me  give  you  some  experience  in  relation  to  Indians. 

The  United  States  have  regiments  in  Texas,  and  Texas  is  considered  by 
some  as  a  burden  on  the  Treasury.  Texas,  it  is  said,  exhausts  the  Army  of 
the  United  States,  and  withdraws  them  from  more  eligible  stations  to  pro- 
tect her  frontier.  I  will  show  you,  sir,  how  that  is.  In  1842  and  1843  Texas 
had  a  war  on  hand  which  had  been  brought  about  by  an  exterminat- 
ing policy  proclaimed  by  a  new  Administration,  and  peace  was  not  re- 
stored until  1843,  when  the  head  of  the  Government  of  Texas  went  about 
the  work  of  their  civilization.  He  went  into  the  wilderness,  on  the  prairies, 
and  there  met  the  Indians,  who  would  not  trust  themselves  within  the  tim- 
bered land,  nor  near  any  place  where  there  was  a  possibility  of  ambuscade. 
A  treaty  was  there  made,  which  not  only  stayed  the  tomahawk  and  the 
scalping-knife,  but  preserved  peace  and  safety  on  the  frontier  until  1849. 
We  were  for  six  years  without  massacre,  without  conflagration,  without 
prisoners  being  taken.  Not  a  Texan  was  killed  in  that  time  by  the  Indians. 
One  man  was  killed  near  the  Indian  country,  but  whether  by  the  Mexicans 
or  Indians  was  a  doubtful  question  ;  at  any  rate,  he  was  not  scalped. 

Now,  sir,  how  was  this  done  ?  By  what  means  ?  By  pursuing  a  policy 
which  had  been  initiated  in  1836,  but  was  disrupted  in  1838,  and  a  war 
brought  upon  the  entire  borders  of  that  young  Republic.  The  old  policy 
was  re-established  in  1843.  Resistance  was  made  to  it,  as  there  was  to  every 
attempt  made  to  establish  a  government.  There  was  an  attempt,  on  the 
part  of  some  lawless  men,  to  resist  everything  like  order  and  organization, 
and  throw  the  government  into  anarchy  and  misrule  ;  but  they  failed. 
These  Indians  had  been  our  enemies  ;  they  had  been  exasperated  by  unpro- 
voked aggressions  upon  them  ;  but  the  proper  conciliatory  disposition  soon 
won  their  regard  and  affection.  What  was  the  expense  of  all  this  ?  I  am 
almost  afraid  to  state  it,  for  I  fear  it  will  not  be  credited  when  we  see  the 
enormous  estimates  now  made  for  the  expense  of  treaties  with  the  Indians. 
Sir,  every  dollar  given  to  the  Executive  of  Texas  to  consummate  these 
treaties,  to  feed  the  Indians,  to  make  presents,  was  annually  $10,000  ;  and 
he  rendered  vouchers  for  the  last  cent.  For  this  sum  peace  was  accom- 


Value  of  Experienced  Agents.  431 

plished  and  maintained,  the  safety  and  protection  of  our  frontiers  insured, 
and  the  Indians  made  peaceable  and  happy. 

When  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States,  these  Indians,  on  account 
of  faith  having  been  maintained  with  them  by  the  then  Executive  of  Texas, 
refused  to  meet  and  confer  with  the  commissioners  sent  to  them  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  until  they  had  the  sanction  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Texas ;  and  the  symbols  of  confidence  were  put  in  the  hands  of  the 
commissioners  before  the  Indians  would  treat  with  them.  A  treaty  was 
then  negotiated.  What  was  the  history  of  it?  One  of  the  commissioners 
—a  noble  and  gallant  gentleman,  who  afterward  fell  at  Chapultepec,  in 
Mexico,  at  the  head  of  his  regiment— was  too  much  indisposed  to  render 
any  assistance.  His  co-commissioner  assumed  the  whole  business;  and 
what  did  he  do  ?  He  had  the  Indians'  names  signed  with  a  mark  on  a  sheet 
of  paper,  had  it  attested,  and  brought  it  on  here.  He  made  large  promises 
to  the  Indians ;  he  assured  them  of  an  annuity  of  $14,000,  to  be  paid  annu- 
ally, at  a  certain  trading-house ;  but  when  he  wrote  his  treaty  (for  he  did 
not  write  it  until  he  came  here,  when  he  appended  to  it  the  sheet  contain- 
ing the  signatures),  it  contained  a  provision  that  they  should  receive  barely 
$14,000  as  a  full  acquittance.  It  cost  $60,000  to  negotiate  this  treaty,  as  the 
records  of  the  treasury  show.  This  is  a  sum  equal  to  the  price  of  six  years' 
peace  between  the  Indians  and  the  Government  of  Texas.  Perhaps,  how- 
ever, the  people  of  Texas  were  better  then  than  now.  Since  that  time  they 
have  been  under  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  I  simply  state 
facts.  I  leave  the  inference  to  others. 

Sir,  if  the  agent  appointed  by  Mr.  Polk,  who  has  been  restored  by  the 
present  Executive — it  is  a  bright  spot  in  his  Administration,  and  I  commend 
him  for  it — had  never  been  removed,  there  would  have  been  peace  to  this 
day  on  the  borders  of  Texas ;  but  as  soon  as  the  Indian  agent  who  was  ap- 
pointed to  succeed  him  went  there,  he  must  forsooth  establish  a  ranche  ;  he 
must  have  a  farm.  The  Indians  who  had  been  settled  there  from  1843  up 
to  1849,  had  been  furnished  by  the  Government  of  Texas  with  implements 
of  husbandry,  with  seeds  of  every  description,  and  they  were  cultivating 
their  little  farms.  They  were  comfortable  and  independent.  They  were 
living  in  perfect  peace.  If  you  can  get  Indians  located,  and  place  their 
wives  and  children  within  your  cognizance,  you  need  never  expect  aggres- 
sion from  them.  It  is  the  Indian  who  has  his  wife  in  security,  beyond  your 
reach,  who,  like  the  felon  wolf,  goes  to  a  distance  to  prey  on  some  flock,  far 
removed  from  his  den  ;  or  like  the  eagle,  who  seeks  his  prey  from  the  dis- 
tance, and  never  from  the  flocks  about  his  eyrie.  The  agent  to  whom  I 
have  referred  lost  two  oxen  from  his  ranche  where  he  kept  his  cattle.  He 
went  to  the  officer  in  command  of  Fort  Beiknap,  got  a  force  from  him,  and 
then  marched  to  those  Indians,  sixty  miles  from  there,  and  told  them  they 
must  pay  for  the  oxen.  They  said,  "  We  know  nothing  about  your  oxen  , 
our  people  are  here  ;  here  are  our  women  and  children  ;  we  have  not  killed 
them  ;  we  have  not  stolen  them  ;  we  have  enough  to  eat ;  we  are  happy  ;  we 
have  raised  corn  ;  we  have  sold  corn  ;  we  have  corn  to  sell ;  we  have  sold  it 
to  your  people,  and  they  have  paid  us  for  it,  and  we  are  happy."  The  agent 
and  the  military  gentlemen  scared  off  the  Indians  from  the  limits  .of  Texas, 
and  drove  them  across  the  Red  River  to  the  Wichita  mountains,  taking 


432  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

every  horse  and  animal  they  had  to  pay  for  the  two  oxen.  This  was  done 
by  an  accredited  agent  of  the  Government,  and  by  an  officer  who  deserved 
but  little  credit.  Are  such  things  tolerable,  and  to  be  tolerated  in  the  pres- 
ent age  and  condition  of  our  Government  ? 

What  was  the  consequence  ?  Those  Indians  felt  themselves  aggrieved. 
They  saw  that  a  new  regime  had  come ;  they  had  had  the  era  of  peace  and 
plenty,  and  now  they  were  expelled  by  a  different  influence.  They  felt 
grateful  for  the  benign  effects  of  the  first  policy  toward  them,  and  that  only 
exasperated  them  to  a  greater  extent  against  the  second ;  and  they  began 
to  make  incursions,  ready  to  take  vengeance  on  any  white  men  they  might 
meet  in  their  neighborhood,  and  slay  whoever  they  might  find.  They  made 
their  forays  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  Red  River,  from  the  Wichita 
mountains,  and  came  like  an  avalanche  upon  our  unprotected  citizens. 
There  is  one  fact  showing  how  your  interference  with  the  Indians  within 
her  limits  has  injured  Texas. 

There  is  another  fact  in  connection  with  the  Indian  policy  of  Texas  which 
I  shall  mention.  How  was  it  with  the  Wichita  Indians  ?  Texas  sought  to 
conciliate  them ;  they  lived  beyond  her  borders,  and  made  incursions  from 
the  limits  of  the  United  States  into  Texas  while  she  was  an  independent 
Republic.  She  did  everything  in  her  power  to  bring  about  peace  with  them, 
and,  through  the  friendly  Indians,  was  pacifying  them.  One  of  their  chiefs, 
with  his  wife  and  little  child,  and  twelve  of  his  men,  came  to  Fort  Belknap. 
Some  one  hundred  and  fifty  or  two  hundred  miles  west  of  the  fort,  at  Ham- 
ilton's valley,  property  had  been  stolen  by  Indians.  It  was  not  known 
which  out  of  the  thirteen  different  tribes  had  taken  it ;  for  outlaws  occa- 
sionally congregated  from  each,  half  a  dozen  of  them  stealing  off  from  their 
tribes,  without  the  influence  of  their  chiefs  operating  upon  them.  They 
were  outlaws,  careless  of  the  destiny  of  their  tribes,  and  reckless  of  the 
crimes  which  they  might  commit,  so  that  they  could  gratify  their  cupidity 
and  recompense  their  daring.  These  men  had  taken  some  property.  Dra- 
goons came  on  in  the  direction  of  Red  River,  and  reached  Fort  Belknap.  So 
soon  as  they  arrived,  the  officer  said  to  this  chief :  "  Sir,  I  retain  you  as  a 
prisoner.  It  is  true  you  came  under  a  white  flag ;  but  I  am  an  officer ;  I 
have  the  power ;  I  take  you  prisoner,  and  you  must  stay  here  a  prisoner 
until  the  horses  are  brought  back.  Your  men  must  stay,  too,  except  one, 
whom  I  will  send  to  your  tribe  with  intelligence  of  the  fact."  The  chief 
said  :  "  My  tribe  have  not  committed  the  robbery ;  it  is  a  great  distance 
from  me ;  it  is  in  another  direction.  I  come  from  the  rising  sun ;  that  is 
toward  the  setting  sun  ;  I  was  far  from  it ;  you  are  between  me  and  it ;  I  did 
not  do  it."  "  But,"  said  the  officer,  "  you  are  a  prisoner."  The  officer  put 
him  in  the  guard-house.  Imprisonment  is  eternal  infamy  to  an  Indian.  A 
prairie  Indian  would  rather  die  a  thousand  deaths  than  submit  to  the  dis- 
grace of  imprisonment.  You  may  wound  and  mutilate  him  as  you  please, 
you  may  crush  every  limb  in  the  body  of  a  prairie  Indian,  and  if  he  can  make 
no  other  resistance,  he  will  spit  defiance  at  you  when  you  come  within  his 
reach.  This  chief,  meditating  upon  his  deep  disgrace,  knowing  that  he  was 
irreparably  dishonored,  unless  he  could  wash  out  his  stains  with  blood,  re- 
solved that  night  that  he  would  either  die  a  freeman  or  rescue  himself  from 
dishonor.  He  rose  in  the  night.  He  would  not  leave  his  wife  and  child  in 


Texas  Specially  Interested  in  Indian  Policy.      433 

the  hands  of  his  enemy;  so  he  took  his  knife  and  stabbed  his  squaw  and 
little  one  to  the  heart.  Not  a  groan  was  heard,  for  he  well  knew  where  to 
apply  the  poignard.  He  went  and  shot  down  the  sentinel,  rushed  upon  the 
superior  officers,  was  shot,  and  perished  like  a  warrior,  in  an  attempt  to 
wipe  a  stain  from  his  honor.  His  men  fled  and  returned  to  their  tribe,  but 
it  was  to  bring  blood,  carnage,  and  conflagration  upon  our  settlements. 
They  came  not  again  as  brothers  to  smoke  the  calumet  of  peace,  but  with 
brands  in  their  hands  to  set  fire  to  our  houses.  Contrast  that  with  the  pre- 
vious years  ;  contrast  it  with  the  harmony  which  had  before  existed,  and 
you  see  the  lamentable  result  of  sending,  as  Indian  agents  and  army  officers 
to  take  charge  of  the  Indians,  men  who  know  nothing  about  the  Indian 
character. 

Well,  sir,  how  can  Texas  expect  peace ;  how  can  she  expect  protection  to 
her  citizens  ?  Not  from  your  army.  It  has  never  given  her  protection  ;  it 
is  incompetent  to  give  protection  ;  and  it  is  a  reproach  to  the  country.  I 
will  not  say  anything  personally  unkind  of  the  officers  who  command,  for 
they  are  gentlemen ;  but  I  say  they  know  nothing  about  the  Indians,  and  I 
shall  prove  it.  Texas  deserves  protection,  and  she  can  have  it  if  a  rational 
effort  be  made  to  give  it  to  her,  but  not  by  your  troops.  What  sort  of  pro- 
tection can  she  expect  from  hostile  Indians,  when  the  commanding  officer 
of  that  military  department,  a  gallant  gentleman,  who  has  borne  himself 
nobly  in  the  heat  of  battle,  skillful  in  design,  bold  and  gallant  in  execution, 
and  in  all  the  martial  arts  replete,  but  amongst  the  Indians  unskilled.  He 
has  issued  an  order  that  no  Indian  should  go  within  twenty  miles  of  a  for- 
tress on  the  frontier  of  Texas.  The  Indians  think,  "Very  well,  you  say  the 
Indians  shall  not  come  within  twenty  miles  of  your  forts,  and  we  say  your 
men  shall  not  come  within  twenty  miles  of  us,  or  we  will  shoot  them." 
That  is  a  pretty  good  notion  for  an  Indian  ;  it  is  very  natural.  The  boun- 
dary is  fixed  by  the  white  man,  and  the  Indian  lives  up  to  it. 

Well,  sir,  there  is  a  remedy  for  all  this,  and  it  is  very  easy  to  apply  it ; 
but  how  are  we  circumstanced  there  ?  Is  it  supposed  by  some  that  we  are 
deriving  great  aid  from  the  army,  and  that  the  greatest  portion  of  the  dis- 
posable forces  of  the  United  States  is  in  Texas,  and  protecting  it?  How 
can  they  protect  us  against  the  Indians  when  the  cavalry  have  not  horses 
which  can  trot  faster  than  active  oxen,  and  the  infantry  dare  not  go  out  in 
any  hostile  manner  for  fear  of  being  shot  and  scalped !  Can  they  pursue  a 
party  who  pounce  down  on  a  settlement  and  take  property,  and  reclaim 
that  property  ?  Have  they  ever  done  it  ?  Did  the  old  rangers  of  Texas 
ever  fail  to  do  it,  when  they  were  seated  on  their  Texas  ponies  ?  They  were 
men  of  intelligence  and  adroitness  in  regard  to  the  Indian  character,  and 
Indian  warfare.  Do  you  think  a  man  is  fit  for  such  service  who  has  been 
educated  at  West  Point  Academy,  furnished  with  rich  stores  of  learning; 
more  educated  in  the  science  of  war  than  any  general  who  fought  through 
the  Revolution,  and  assisted  in  achieving  our  independence  ?  Are  you  going 
to  take  such  gentlemen,  and  suppose  that  by  intuition  they  will  understand 
the  Indian  character  ?  Or  do  you  suppose  they  can  track  a  turkey,  or  a  deer, 
in  the  grass  of  Texas,  or  could  they  track  an  Indian,  or  would  they  know 
whether  they  were  tracking  a  wagon  or  a  carriage  ?  [Laughter.]  Not  at 
all,  sir.  We  wish,  in  the  first  place,  to  have  men  suited  to  the  circumstances. 
28 


434  Houstoji's  Literary  Remains. 

Give  us  agents  who  are  capable  of  following  out  their  instructions,  and  who 
understand  the  Indian  character.  Give  us  an  army,  gentlemen,  who  under- 
stand not  only  the  science  of  command,  but  have  some  notions  of  extend- 
ing justice  and  protection  to  the  Indian,  against  the  aggression  of  the  whites, 
while  they  protect  the  whites  against  the  aggressions  from  the  Indians. 
Then,  and  not  till  then,  will  you  have  peace. 

How  is  this  to  be  done  ?  Withdraw  your  army.  Have  five  hundred  cav- 
alry, if  you  -will ;  but  I  would  rather  have  two  hundred  and  fifty  Texas 
rangers  (such  as  I  could  raise),  than  five  hundred  of  the  best  cavalry  now  in 
service.  I  would  have  one  thousand  infantry,  so  placed  as  to  guard  the 
United  States  against  Mexico,  and  five  hundred  for  scouting  purposes.  I 
would  have  five  trading-houses  from  the  Rio  Grande  to  the  Red  River  for 
intercourse  with  the  Indians.  I  would  have  a  guard  of  twenty-five  men  out 
of  an  infantry  regiment,  at  each  trading-house,  who  would  be  vigilant  and 
always  on  the  alert.  Cultivate  intercourse  with  the  Indians.  Show  them 
that  you  have  comforts  to  exchange  for  their  peltries ;  bring  them  around 
you ;  domesticate  them  ;  familiarize  them  with  civilization.  Let  them  see 
that  you  are  rational  beings,  and  they  will  become  rational  in  imitation  of 
you  ;  but  take  no  whiskey  there  at  all,  not  even  for  the  officers,  for  fear  their 
generosity  would  let  it  out.  Do  this  and  you  will  have  peace  with  the  In- 
dians. Whenever  you  convince  an  Indian  that  he  is  dependent  on  you  for 
comforts,  or  for  what  he  deems  luxuries  or  elegances  of  life,  you  attach  him 
to  you.  Interest,  it  is  said,  governs  the  world,  and  it  will  soon  ripen  into 
affection.  Intercourse  and  kindness  will  win  the  fiercest  animal  on  earth 
except  the  hyena ;  and  its  spots  and  nature  can  not  be  changed.  The  nature 
of  an  Indian  can  be  changed.  He  changes  under  adverse  circumstances, 
and  rises  into  the  dignity  of  a  civilized  being.  If  you  war  against  him,  it 
takes  a  generation  or  two  to  regenerate  his  race,  but  it  can  be  done.  I 
would  have  fields  around  the  trading-houses.  I  would  encourage  the  Indians 
to  cultivate  them.  Let  them  see  how  much  it  adds  to  their  comfort ;  how 
it  insures  to  their  wives  and  children  abundant  subsistence,  and  then  you 
win  the  Indian  over  to  civilization ;  you  charm  him,  and  he  becomes  a  civ- 
ilized man. 

Sir,  while  people  are  seeking  to  civilize  and  Christianize  men  on  the  banks 
of  the  Ganges,  or  the  Jordan,  or  the  Brahmapootra,  why  should  not  the  same 
philanthropic  influence  be  extended  through  society,  and  be  exerted  in  be- 
half of  the  American  Indians  ?  Is  not  the  soul  of  an  American  Indian,  in 
the  prairie,  worth  as  much  as  the  soul  of  a  man  on  the  Ganges,  or  in  Jeru- 
salem ?  Surely  it  is.  Then  let  the  American  Government  step  forward ; 
let  it  plant  the  standard  of  regeneration  and  civilization  among  the  Indians, 
and  it  will  command  the  co-operation  of  the  citizens  in  their  philanthropic 
efforts.  I  am  willing  to  appeal  to  the  venerable  and  distinguished  Senator 
from  Michigan,  who  knows  what  an  Indian  is,  and  what  his  disposition  is, 
perhaps  more  thoroughly  than  I  do  myself.  To  him  would  I  defer,  but  to 
no  other  man,  for  a  certain  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  Indian  character. 

There  is  another  point  in  connection  with  the  dealings  of  the  Government 
with  the  Texas  Indians  to  which  I  will  advert.  There  are  the  Comanches 
of  the  woods,  and  the  Comanches  of  the  prairie.  The  Texas  Indians  do  not 
receive  their  annuities  in  Texas,  but  they  are  brought  into  Kansas,  a  great 


Fearful  Results  of  Indian  Wars.  435 

distance  from  us,  where  they  receive  the  munificence  of  the  Government  in 
their  annuities,  on  the  east  of  the  Red  River  and  the  Arkansas.  What  is 
the  consequence  ?  They  believe  Texas  is  not  their  friend,  or  that  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  from  their  crude  notions  of  it,  would  pay  them  in  Texas, 
and  would  not  make  them  travel  over  rivers,  and  through  trackless  prairies, 
to  receive  their  presents.  They  return  to  Texas,  not  with  feelings  of  respect 
for  the  benefits  they  receive,  but  with 'contempt.  This  is  bad  policy.  You 
should  distribute  your  presents  to  the  Texas  Indians  within  the  limits  of 
Texas.  Her  territory  is  broad  enough  ;  her  domain  is  fertile  enough ;  her 
character  is  high  enough  to  justify  you  in  doing  so.  She  has  done  much 
for  herself — more  than  this  Government  has  ever  done  for  her. 

In  order  to  treat  with  the  Indians  properly,  as  I  have  said,  you  should 
take  away  your  troops,  except  the  portion  I  have  stated.  The  Indians,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Osages,  Kiowas,  and  Kaws,  are  disposed  to  be  friendly, 
I  believe.  As  to  the  disaffection  of  the  Sioux,  I  look  on  it  only  as  an  up- 
rising to  resist  aggression.  They  were  fired  on  by  artillery  and  small  arms, 
without  provocation,  and  it  is  but  natural  that  they  should  resist.  Theirs 
is  not  a  confederation  to  assail  the  whites,  but  to  protect  themselves.  I 
justify  them  in  doing  it.  I  am  sorry  there  is  a  necessity  for  it ;  but  if  I  were 
among  them,  and  they  proposed  a  confederacy  to  repel  cruelty  and  butchery, 
I  would  join  them,  and  he  would  be  a  dastard  who  would  not. 

When  gentlemen  speak  of  a  war  upon  the  Indians,  have  they  considered 
the  consequences  ? '  You  may  succeed  in  killing  their  women  and  children, 
but  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  you  kill  but  very  few  of  the  warriors.  Those 
who  march  with  martial  display  upon  the  Indians,  find  them  to-night  at 
one  point  at  dark ;  they  may  see  the  smoke  of  their  fires  ;  and  at  dawn  to- 
morrow they  will  be  fifty  or  seventy  miles  away,  with  their  caravans,  and 
every  child  and  woman,  not  even  a  dog  being  left  behind.  What  army  that 
you  could  send  of  three  thousand  men,  or  any  other  number,  could  effect 
anything  by  making  war  upon  the  Indians  ?  Why,  sir,  it  would  be  like  the 
redoubtable  exploit  of  the  celebrated  King  of  France,  who,  "  with  forty 
thousand  men  marched  up  a  hill,  and  then  marched  down  again."  [Laugh- 
ter.] Yes,  sir,  that,  I  predict,  would  be  the  history  of  such  a  campaign. 

To  accomplish  the  object  here  contemplated,  it  is  proposed  to  spend 
$5,000,000.  As  I  have  said  before,  that  amount  of  money  would  civilize 
every  Indian  on  the  continent,  if  you  sent  men  of  intelligence  and  capacity 
among  them  to  do  it.  I  have  been  delighted  with  the  reports  which  I  have 
had  the  opportunity  of  glancing  at,  accompanying  the  annual  report  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs.  One  from  a  gentleman  who  now  occupies 
a  seat  in  the  other  House  [Mr.  Whitfield]  gratified  me  exceedingly.  I  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  him  but  once  since  my  arrival.  I  knew  him,  when 
a  youth,  in  Tennessee,  and  he  has  more  than  met  my  expectations,  though 
then  they  were  not  indifferent.  He  has  proved  himself  to  be  a  man  of  fine 
perceptions,  of  excellent  judgment,  and  of  good  heart.  He  has  capacity  to 
treat  with  and  to  reclaim  the  Indians ;  and,  I  doubt  not,  that  he  and  other 
gentlemen  who  could  be  associated  with  him,  could  go  to  the  Indians,  with 
five  hundred  troops,  if  you  please — not  march  through  the  Indian  country, 
but  send  word  to  the  chiefs ;  let  them  know  they  had  a  force,  and  there  is 
not  a  chief,  who  has  had  any  relations  with  the  United  States,  but  would 


436  Houston1 ]s  Literary  Remains. 

come  forward  willingly,  make  treaties,  and  maintain  them  in  good  faith. 
But  you  must  establish  trading-houses ;  you  must  protect  them,  and  then 
you  may  command  the  Indians  absolutely,  and  you  will  have  no  murders 
upon  your  roads. 

Sir,  would  it  not  be  much  wiser  to  send  a  few  wagons  with  presents  than 
to  send  an  army?  Would  not  the  object  be  effected  much  sooner  by  send- 
ing commissioners  with  presents?  The  Executive  and  Senate  are  the 
treaty- making  power,  and  all  that  is  necessary  for  Congress  to  do,  is  to  make 
an  appropriation  for  the  purpose.  Would  it  not  be  much  easier  to  take 
presents  to  the  Indians,  and  would  not  the  object  of  attaining  and  preserv- 
ing peace  be  much  sooner  effected  in  this  way  than  by  an  army  ?  While 
you  "were  clothing  and  equipping  your  army,  and  marching  it  there,  the  In- 
dians might  kill  half  the  people  on  the  frontier.  Your  army  would  have  to 
march  thousands  of  miles  to  reach  them  ;  but  commissioners  could  go 
quietly  along,  with  four  or  five  hundred  troops,  or  as  many  as  might  be  nec- 
essary ;  I  would  leave  that  to  their  discretion  ;  I  would  select  men  of  capac- 
ity for  fighting  as  well  as  for  treating.  Send  such  men,  and  there  will  be 
no  trouble  in  bringing  about  peace.  My  life  upon  it,  $5,000,000  would  suf- 
fice to  civilize  every  Indian  who  has  ever  been  in  treaty  with  the  United 
States,  and  settle  him  in  a  quiet,  comfortable  home. 

Some  time  since  the  present  agent  in  Texas  was  ordered  to  lay  off  a  sec- 
tion of  country  in  that  State  for  the  use  of  the  Indians.  He  did  so.  He 
said  to  the  fierce  Comanches,  "  Come  here,  my  brothers,  and  settle  down." 
They  have  done  so.  The  Indians  to  whom  I  before  alluded,  who  wefl 
driven  off  by  the  former  agent,  after  robbing  them  of  their  horses,  upon  the 
assurances  given  at  the  return  of  the  present  worthy  and  intelligent  agent, 
faithful  to  his  trust,  came  back  in  perfect  confidence,  and  set  themselves  to 
building  their  houses  to  shelter  their  women,  old  men,  and  children,  while 
the  warriors  went  out  to  kill  game.  There  they  are.  The  southern  Co- 
manches went  within  the  border,  and  said,  "  Let  us  settle  ";  but  they  were 
immediately  told,  through  the  influence  of  the  army,  I  suppose,  that  they 
must  not  settle  there.  I  saw,  not  long  since,  a  letter  from  a  most  intelligent 
gentleman,  who  said  that  the  officer  at  Fort  Belknap,  with  three  companies 
of  rangers,  and  two  of  regulars,  was  daily  expecting  to  make  a  descent  on 
the  poor  Indians  who  had  been  settled  there  by  the  agent,  under  the  pledges 
of  the  Government,  which  promised  them  that  they  should  have  a  country 
where  they  should  throw  away  the  arts  of  the  wild  and  the  red  man,  and 
become  domestic,  agricultural,  and  civilized  in  their  pursuits.  They  have 
acquiesced  in  that  policy  of  the  Government,  but  are  in  constant  dread  lest 
the  military  gentleman  in  command  of  the  fort,  in  order  to  gain  laurels  and 
acquire  glory,  and  do  honor  to  his  profession,  may  make  a  descent  with  the 
regulars  and  volunteers,  or  rangers,  upon  the  poor  Indians.  If  intelligence 
of  such  a  descent  should  arrive,  I  should  not  be  surprised.  I  shall  be  dis- 
tressed, to  be  sure  ;  but  it  will  only  be  one  of  a  thousand  distresses  which  I 
have  felt  at  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  the  Indians. 

I  have  before  spoken,  Mr.  President,  of  the  talk  as  to  the  army  being  ap- 
plied to  the  defense  of  Texas.  What  is  the  efficiency  of  that  army  ?  There 
are  three  companies  at  Fort  Belknap.  What  force  do  you  suppose  they 
have  ?  They  have  the  incredible  amount  of  efficient  force  (and  part  of  them 


Impolicy  of  Increasing  the  Army.  437 

on  the  alert,  reconnoitering  and  scouting)  of  just  sixty  men.  There  were 
sixty  men  out  of  three  companies  !  Now,  how  many  men  constitute  a  corri- 
pany  ? 

Mr.  SHIELDS.    Sixty-four. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  They  have  not  one-third  of  the  requisite  number.  The 
amount  at  a  fort  where  there  are  two  companies  is  thirty  men.  That  is  the 
protection  you  afford  to  Texas.  We  have  no  efficient  force  in  Oregon.  I 
have  discovered,  in  looking  over  the  reports,  that,  at  the  fort,  near  the  ferry 
house,  where  the  massacre  of  such  unprecedented  atrocity  took  place,  there 
were  but  four  soldiers.  This  is  the  protection  your  army  affords  ! 

Now,  sir,  is  it  politic  to  increase  the  regular  force  of  the  United  States  ? 
To  govern  a  country  well,  where  intelligence  predominates  over  selfishness 
and  interest,  I  think  the  smaller  the  army  is  the  better.  I  have  had  some 
experience  in  that.  It  is  very  well  to  take  care  of  arms  and  ordnance  stores 
and  army  stores  which  would  be  useful  in  time  of  war.  It  is  necessary,  I 
think,  to  have  an  army  for  that  purpose.  You  may  have  as  great  a  stock  of 
science  as  you  please,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  you  are  bound  to  make  an 
officer  of  every  gentleman  you  educate  at  West  Point.  I  do  not  think  it 
would  be  wise  policy  to  extend  the  army  to  suit  the  establishment  of  the 
Military  Academy;  but  rather  to  suit  the  Military  Academy  to  the  interests 
and  exigencies  of  the  country.  That  is  my  opinion  about  the  army. 

The  nominal  number  of  the  army  is  fourteen  thousand.  There  is  not  a 
vacancy,  I  presume,  for  an  officer  in  the  whole  service.  According  to  the 
data  I  have  before  me,  and  the  items  1  have  given,  I  suppose  there  are  about 
four  thousand  five  hundred  men  in  the  service.  To  make  the  actual  num- 
ber of  fourteen  thousand  complete,  you  would  have  to  make  the  nominal 
force  three  times  fourteen  thousand.  Let  the  head  of  the  Department  show 
that  they  can  keep  this  establishment  perfect  before  they  go  to  ingrafting 
new  limbs  on  it,  in  its  present  imperfect  condition.  Let  the  trunk  be  sound 
before  you  graft  it.  I  know  that  the  officers  will  never  be  less  than  the  es- 
tablishment ;  and  if  the  soldiers  be  less  than  the  establishment,  it  shows 
that  it  is  too  large,  and  ought  rather  to  be  reduced.  Whenever  we  see  that 
the  present  establishment  is  kept  in  order,  and  the  requisite  number  of  men 
to  make  it  complete  always  in  the  service,  it  will  commend  itself  to  consid- 
eration ;  and  if  a  greater  amount  of  force,  or  a  larger  establishment  be  nec- 
essary, it  would  be  acceded  to.  I  do  not,  however,  now  see  any  necessity 
for  it.  If  you  increase  it,  it  will  never  get  less.  We  know  that,  even  when 
the  army  is  increased  in  time  of  war,  there  is  difficulty  in  reducing  it  to  a 
peace  establishment  afterward.  It  has  always  been  the  case,  and  always 
will  be,  that  a  man,  by  once  holding  an  office  temporarily,  acquires  a  claim 
to  it  which  is  enforced  by  relatives  and  friends  :  and  the  army  thereby  will 
become  an  eye-sore  to  the  people,  and  a  carbuncle  upon  the  body  politic. 

It  may  be  asked,  sir,  how  I  would  furnish  protection  to  the  emigrants  who 
travel  on  the  plains  to  California  and  Oregon.  I  would  fix  a  proper  season 
at  which  they  should  take  their  departure  from  Fort  Laramie.  I  would 
have  them  depart  in  companies,  each  company  consisting  of  about  one 
thousand  emigrants.  Out  of  these  one  thousand,  the  usual  proportion 
would  be  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  I  would  give  them  a  guard  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  more,  making  five  hundred  men  to  each  company.  I 


438  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

would  have  them  start  in  three  several  bodies  in  the  course  of  the  year,  so 
that  they  should  accomplish  the  trip  properly,  and  let  them  start  at  such 
distances  that  they  should  not  be  more  than  one  hundred  miles  apart.  In 
this  way  they  would  be  enabled  to  march  across  the  plains  without  difficulty. 
I  would  have  a  fort  at  each  end  of  the  road  to  prevent  the  passage  of  a  com- 
pany incompetent  to  defend  themselves,  and  not  let  them  undertake  to  cross 
the  wilderness  alone.  This  is  the  course  which  I  would  pursue,  and,  I  think, 
in  this  way  perfect  security  would  be  given  to  the  emigrants.  Thus,  if  our 
citizens  would  make  the  venture,  they  would  have  an  escort  and  a  protec- 
tion capable  of  resisting  all  the  Indian  power  which  might  come  upon  them. 

Sir,  in  the  course  of  my  remarks  I  have  said  some  things  which  might 
seem  to  bear  upon  the  officers  of  the  army  as  a  class.  My  partialities  for 
military  men,  and  for  gentlemen  of  the  army,  are  of  a  character  not  to  be 
doubted.  I  know  their  high-toned  feeling,  their  honorable  bearing,  and 
their  chivalry  ;  and  wlien  I  commented  upon  some  of  them,  I  only  spoke  of 
such  as  brought  themselves  within  the  purview  of  my  remarks  by  impro- 
priety of  conduct,  deserving  the  reprobation  of  every  man  who  appreciates 
honorable  feelings,  integrity,  and  truthfulness.  As  a  class,  however,  I  ad- 
mire and  respect  them.  I  have  experienced  their  hospitalities.  Once  I  en- 
joyed their  association  with  pleasure ;  and  my  recollections  of  early  habits, 
formed  in  their  companionship,  always  mark  a  verdant  spot  in  memory's 
waste.  It  is  only  the  guilty  and  the  culpable  that  I  condemn. 

Sir,  I  believe  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Af- 
fairs has  withdrawn  that  portion  of  the  amendment  relating  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  three  commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Indians.  But,  Mr.  President, 
if  we  wish  to  do  good  to  the  Indians,  we  have  it  in  our  power ;  if  we  wish 
to  destroy  them,  we  can  starve  them  out.  If  we  intend  to  save  them,  we 
can  do  it  by  appealing  to  their  best  feelings.  There  is  one  pathway  to  an 
Indian's  heart.  If  you  show  him  that  comforts  and  benefits  are  to  result  to 
his  wife  and  children,  you  may  command  him  absolutely,  and  he  yields  im- 
plicitly. He  has  no  opposing  thought  to  their  interest.  I  have  always  seen 
that  if  you  could  impress  an  Indian  with  the  conviction  that  comfort  and 
security  would  inure  to  his  squaw  and  pappooses,  from  the  adoption  of  a 
particular  policy,  he  would  submit  to  it.  My  colleague  [Mr.  Rusk]  knows 
that  this  is  the  way  to  the  heart  of  an  Indian.  The  proudest  warrior  is  hu- 
miliated at  the  thought  of  his  wife  and  little  ones  being  in  the  least  uncom- 
fortable. Whenever  an  Indian  intends  to  conciliate  the  whites,  he  brings 
his  family  and  settles  as  near  as  he  can  to  a  fort  or  agency,  and  says,  "  Here 
are  the  hostages  I  give  you  for  my  fidelity  to  you  ;  if  I  do  wrong,  I  know 
they  will  suffer ;  they  are  dearer  to  me  than  my  life."  The  Indians  can  be 
brought  arou  d  trading-houses. 

I  have  lost  all  hope  of  the  stations  in  Texas  doing  any  good.  I  would  not 
have  more  than  twenty-five  men  at  a  trading-house  to  give  protection,  in 
the  event  of  any  ebullition  among  the  Indians  of  a  violent  character.  It 
would  be  entirely  accidental  if  such  a  necessity  happened  around  the  trading- 
houses  as  to  require  protection  to  be  given  to  the  caravans  emigrating  to 
California  and  Oregon.  I  would  encourage  the  Indians  in  the  arts  of  peace. 
You  need  no  armies  ;  you  need  no  Indian  allies  to  butcher  them.  All  you 
have  to  do  is  to  maintain  your  faith  in  carrying  out  the  treaties  which  have 


The  Army  Needed  for  Emigrant  Convoys.       439 

been  made,  and  not  directly  or  indirectly  encourage  men  to  violate  every 
principle  of  honor  and  humanity,  and  deride  even  faith  itself. 

After  some  remarks  by  Mr.  Jones,  of  Tennessee,  Mr.  HOUSTON  said  : 

The  honorable  Senator  from  Tennessee,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  has 
fallen  into  several  errors;  he  certainly  has  misapprehended  me  as  to  the 
import  of  my  remarks  about  the  force  necessary  to  guard  the  emigrants.  I 
estimated  them,  perhaps,  at  three  thousand  annually ;  I  do  not  care  whether 
it  be  three  hundred  or  three  hundred  thousand ;  but  in  proportion  as  they 
are  numerous,  they  will  afford  themselves  efficient  means  of  defense ;  and, 
according  to  my  calculation,  in  twenty  thousand  there  would  be  furnished 
five  thousand  fighting  men.  Then,  as  to  a  smaller  force,  if  they  were  or- 
ganized in  the  march,  a  small  addition  of  soldiers  would  be  sufficient  to 
give  them  all  the  protection  that  would  be  necessary.  It  is  necessary  to 
subdivide  them  into  such  companies  as  can  conveniently  travel  together,  on 
account  of  grass,  water,  and  other  supplies  that  they  must  procure  on  the 
prairies. 

As  to  the  army  and  its  efficiency,  I  remark,  that  if  the  army  were  filled 
up  to  the  amount  that  is  necessary,  it  would  take  three  times  fourteen  thou- 
sand nominally,  to  furnish  an  efficient  force  of  fourteen  thousand  in  the 
field.  I  estimate  the  efficient  force  at  about  one-third  of  the  number  that 
appears  on  paper. 

Mr.  SHIELDS.    Will  the  Senator  permit  me  to  interrupt  him  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.    With  great  pleasure. 

Mr.  SHIELDS.     The  legal  or  authorized  force  is  a  little  over  fourteen  thou 
sand,  but  the  actual  force  is  about  eleven  thousand. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Then,  Mr.  President,  for  security,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
keep  encampments  in  sight  from  Fort  Laramie  until  they  reach  California. 
If  they  are  ever  out  of  sight  of  a  guard  sufficient  to  protect  them,  they  are 
liable  to  depredation.  If  small  companies  of  only  a  hundred  men  can  thus 
travel,  they  will  travel  at  their  own  risk  and  go  to  their  certain  destruction, 
unless  the  Indians  are  conciliated ;  and  that  shows  the  necessity  of  making 
peace  with  them.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Tennessee  says  that  it  is  an 
imperative  necessity  to  send  the  army.  He  says  if  the  commissioners  fail, 
you  must  have  recourse  to  chastisement ;  but  if  they  succeed,  the  force  of 
three  thousand  men  will  be  unnecessary. 

But,  Mr.  President,  my  life  upon  it,  and  I  do  not  say  it  lightly,  if  from  three 
hundred  to  five  hundred  men  were  taken  by  the  three  commissioners  ;  or, 
if  they  limited  their  escort  to  forty,  or  fifty,  or  one  hundred  men,  they  would 
succeed  in  conciliating  every  Indian  on  this  side  of  the  Rocky  mountains, 
if  in  the  meantime  the  white  men  do  not  commit  aggression.  If  you  send 
such  discreet  men  as  could  be  selected,  you  can  keep  peace ;  and  yet,  upon 
the  contingency  that  they  may  not  succeed,  you  are  to  go  to  the  expense  of 
an  army.  But  if  we  can  not  keep  up  our  present  establishment  of  fourteen 
thousand  complete  and  effective  men  for  actual  service,  with  all  the  resources 
of  this  nation,  its  increased  bounty,  and  pay,  and  rations,  let  us  give  up  the 
army;  let  them  go  to  more  useful  employments.  What  is  the  use  of  talking 
about  making  the  establishment  commensurate  with  the  present  wants,  if 
you  can  not  keep  up  the  present  establishment  to  the  necessities  and  exi- 


440  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

gencies  of  the  country?  Let  them  do  that,  and  expose  the  fallacy  of  the 
theory  which  says  that  we  must  keep  on  increasing  the  army  until  we  get 
the  requisite  number  to  keep  up  to  the  established  standard.  Let  them  re- 
duce the  officers  to  the  number  of  men.  That  is  the  way  to  do  it.  We 
must  have  some  criterion  to  go  by  ;  and  until  we  do  it  we  shall  never  have 
an  efficient  army.  The  army  is  small  enough.  Its  efficiency  is  the  great 
object.  Now,  fourteen  thousand  men  are  sufficient  for  all  the  exigencies  of 
the  country ;  and  we  must  have  some  mode  to  give  the  emigrants  security, 
or  they  must  go  at  their  own  hazards  or  adventure.  I  desire  to  give  them 
protection.  You  have  to  rely  upon  the  disposition  of  the  Indians  for  secu- 
rity to  our  emigrants.  Unless  you  conciliate  them,  all  the  armies  we  can 
take  will  never  give  the  emigrants  protection.  What  kind  of  security  can 
you  give  to  emigrants  for  a  distance  of  fifteen  or  eighteen  hundred  miles? 
You  can  give  no  protection  where  the  troops  would  be  a  mile  apart,  for  the 
unprotected  emigrants  might  be  attacked  and  slaughtered  before  any  succor 
could  come  to  them.  Sir,  it  is  the  feelings  of  the  Indians  which  you  have 
to  conciliate;  it  is  their  friendship,  their  confidence,  you  must  obtain. 
Treat  them  with  justice  and  liberality,  and  a  hundredth  part  of  the  money 
which  you  spend  in  supporting  the  army  will  keep  them  faithful.  They 
will  not  violate  a  treaty  unless  the  aggression  is  commenced  by  the  whites. 
A  few  outlaws  of  a  tribe  may ;  but  in  such  a  case  the  tribe  will  not  sacrifice 
its  annuities  for  the  lives  of  outcasts.  It  will  either  execute  them  or  hand 
them  over  to  the  military  authority  of  the  country  for  condign  punishment. 
In  this  way  a  few  examples  would  have  an  electric  influence  upon  all  the 
tribes,  for  they  have  a  more  direct  communication  than  the  United  States 
Government  possesses  with  all  its  mail  facilities,  until  it  establishes  a  tele- 
graph. They  carry  intelligence  a  hundred  miles  in  twenty-four  hours,  and 
do  you  think  that  the  laying  off  of  this  town  in  Kansas  is  not  already  com- 
municated to  every  tribe  of  Indians  in  the  prairies  ?  Yes,  it  is ;  they  know 
that  the  white  man  has  told  the  Indians,  the  Delawares,  a  lie ;  they  know 
they  have  stolen  their  land ;  they  know  there  is  no  faith  to  be  reposed  in 
them.  Keep  faith  with  them,  send  men  who  are  wise  and  instructed  in  the 
Indian  disposition  and  character,  and  they  will  give  you  peace — my  life  upon 
it.  You  have  not  a  solitary  man  between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific 
coast,  but  knows  that  all  the  money  in  the  Treasury  lavished,  will  never 
give  you  peace  or  protection  to  the  emigrants,  until  you  have  the  confidence 
and  the  friendship  of  the  Indians.  Were  you  to  pay  ten  thousand,  or  a 
hundred  thousand,  or  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  keep  the  troops 
there,  they  would  render  no  aid  of  importance  to  the  emigrants,  unless  you 
secure  the  friendship  of  the  Indians.  Whenever  that  is  secured  you  will 
have  peace,  but  as  long  as  you  rely  on  military  force  to  give  protection  to 
the  emigrants,  you  will  not  have  peace. 

4  January  31,  1855. 

After  a  speech  by  Mr.  Dodge,  of  Iowa,  Mr.  HOUSTON  said : 
Mr.  President,  I  am  impressed  with  the  belief  that  any  effort  of  mine,  on 
the  present  occasion,  will  be  unavailing  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  ob- 
ject which  I  have  in  view ;  but,  nevertheless,  I  regard  it  as  an  imperative 
duty  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  a  course  of 


Army  Increase  not  Needed  for  Indian  Wars.       441 

policy  which  I  consider  detrimental  to  the  peace  and  security  of  our  frontier 
settlements. 

I  admit,  sir,  that  the  measure  proposed  by  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr. 
Shields],  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  is  presented  to 
the  Senate  in  an  imposing  manner.  It  seems  to  be  indorsed  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  and  the  President  of  the  United  States ;  but,  though  I  enter- 
tain full  respect  for  the  opinions  of  those  distinguished  gentlemen,  I  must 
be  allowed  liberty  to  investigate  the  subject  for  myself,  and  to  put  my  own 
construction  on  the  facts  which  are  laid  before  us.  It  .is  not  sufficient  for 
me  that  a  measure  ctomes  here  indorsed  by  the  recommendation  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive. If  I  entertain  a  different  view  from  the  Executive  on  any  point,  I 
must  act,  as  a  Senator,  on  my  own  judgment,  and  not  in  subserviency  to  the 
views  of  others.  Are  we  to  acquiesce  in  the  proposition  now  presented  to 
us,  because  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Jones]  and  the  Senator  from 
Georgia  [Mr.  Dawson]  tell  us  it  is  indorsed  by  the  Executive  Departments, 
and  has  received  their  approbation  ?  Are  we  to  become  the  mere  recording 
instruments  of  the  opinions  of  the  Executive,  without  the  privilege  of  in- 
vestigating subjects,  and  acting  on  them  independent  of  -those  influences 
which  may  be  brought,  to  bear  on  us  ?  For  my  own  part,  Mr.  President,  I 
shall,  when  placed  here  for  the  purpose  of  deliberation  and  action,  always 
exercise  my  own  opinions,  however  much  I  may  defer  to  the  recommenda- 
tions and  opinions  of  others,  as  I  am  responsible,  not  only  to  my  constitu- 
ents, but  to  the  nation. 

I  must  confess,  Mr.  President,  that  I  can  not  regard  the  necessity  as  ur- 
gent as  it  seems  to  be  esteemed  by  other  gentlemen,  and  by  those  who  have 
recommended  it.  It  seems  to  be  a  measure  of  war,  and  retaliation  forwrongs 
done  ;  it  is  a  measure  which,  we  are  told,  is  necessary  to  save  our  frontiers 
from  aggression,  and  to  protect  them  against  violence  and  warfare.  I  can 
not  arrive  at  that  conclusion.  However  misguided  I  may  be,  or  however 
obtuse  my  faculties,  I  can  not  see  the  slightest  indications  of  a  disposition, 
on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  to  wage  hostilities  against  this  country,  or  to  en 
danger  the  lives  of  our  citizens,  if  a  correct  policy  were  pursued.  Sir,  we 
must  go  to  the  origin  of  this  matter,  to  see  how  far  causes  have  influenced 
the  present  condition  of  things.  We  shall  then  be  in  a  situation  to  apply 
the  necessary  remedies,  and  to  secure  our  frontiers  against  aggression.  In 
the  first  place,  we  are  informed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  that — 

"  During  the  past  year  the  Sioux  had  committed  many  depredations  upon 
the  property  of  the  emigrants  passing  Fort  Laramie  on  their  route  to  Ore- 
gon and  Utah.  On  the  i9th  of  August,  Lieutenant  Grattan,  of  the  6th  in- 
fantry, was  sent,  by  the  commander  of  the  post,  with  thirty-five  men  to  ar- 
rest an  offender.  This  entire  force  was  massacred  by  the  Indians,  with  the 
exception  of  one  man,  who  escaped  severely  wounded,  and  subsequently 
died.  The  circumstances  of  this  affair  were  at  first  involved  in  obscurity  ; 
but  authentic  details  have  since  proved  that  the  massacre  was  the  result  of 
a  deliberately  formed  plan,  prompted  by  a  knowledge  of  the  weakness  of 
the  garrison  at  Fort  Laramie,  and  by  the  temptation  to  plunder  a  large 
quantity  of  public  and  private  stores  accumulated  at  or  near  that  post.  The 
number  of  the  Indians  engaged  in  the  affair  was  between  fifteen  hundred 
and  two  thousand  men." 


442  Houston^ s  Literary  Remains. 

It  is  very  strange  that  numerous  outrages  have  been  committed,  as  we 
are  told  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  Sir,  what  are  the  facts  ?  Not  a  single 
outrage  was  committed  upon  the  frontier  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Laramie 
but  this  ;  and  how  was  it  produced  ?  Was  it  produced  by  the  Indians  ?  We 
are  told  by  the  Secretary,  too,  forsooth,  that  an  ambuscade  was  laid  for  the 
purpose  of  decoying  this  lieutenant,  and  massacring  him  and  his  party. 
Strange  it  was,  indeed,  that  he  should  not  have  discovered  this  ambuscade, 
when  he,  for  the  distance  of  a  mile  or  more,  had  marched  through  the  In- 
dians, with  two  pieces  of  artillery,  to  arrest  an  Indian,  without  requiring  the 
chiefs,  or  waiting  for  them,  to  surrender  the  offender.  But  what  was  the 
offense  ?  The  killing  of  a  crippled  cow.  That  embraces  the  repeated  out- 
rages upon  the  people  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Laramie,  and  on  the  route  to 
Oregon  and  to  California  ! 

Let  us  look  into  the  facts.  We  are  told  by  a  most  intelligent  gentleman, 
General  Whitfield,  an  Indian  agent,  that  these  Indians  had  committed  no 
depredations  until  they  were  fired  upon,  and  one  of  their  chiefs  wounded. 
That  took  place  before  they  attempted  to  retaliate ;  and  even  then,  in  the 
first  instance,  th'ey  abstained  from  anything  like  retaliation,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  their  chiefs,  until  the  artillery  had  fired  upon  them.  Did  that 
look  like  an  ambuscade  which  was  laid,  or  a  deliberate  design  to  massacre 
the  party  ?  Sir,  these  are  facts.  They  are  not  deductions.  They  are  veri- 
fied by  as  gallant  a  man  as  ever  was  in  a  camp  of  the  United  States — a  man 
of  intelligence  and  of  character.  What  was  the  condition  of  the  Indians 
there  ?  Why,  sir,  they  had  been  promised  annuities.  They  were  aware 
that  the  goods  had  arrived  there.  They  had  been  there  for  nearly  three 
weeks.  The  Indians  had  patiently  waited.  Their  provisions  were  scarce. 
The  agent  was  expected  to  return  daily,  and  did  soon  return  and  possess 
himself  of  all  the  facts.  The  individual  who  was  relied  on  by  the  War  De- 
partment, made  an  authentic  statement  to  the  agent,  which  was  verified  by 
no  less  than  seven  witnesses  who  were  on  the  ground,  that  the  aggression 
was  made  by  the  lieutenant,  and  at  the  instigation  of  a  drunken  interpreter, 
from  whom  the  lieutenant  had  taken  a  bottle  of  whiskey,  and  had  thrown  it 
down  and  broken  it.  Who  can  suppose  that  such  a  medium  through  which 
to  communicate  to  the  Indians  was  calculated  either  to  inspire  respect  or 
confidence,  or  that  he  was  a  very  suitable  medium  through  which  to  pre- 
sent grave  matters,  and  make  reclamation  for  a  cow  ? 

Sir,  that  cow  is  to  become  the  wonderful  prodigy  of  the  present  age,  and 
she  is  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  whole  country  for  the  lieutenant  and 
his  company,  who  fell  victims  to  indiscretion  and  rashness.  Doubtless,  in- 
duced by  the  language  of  this  drunken  interpreter,  he  acted  with  the  in- 
discretion that  would  characterize  youth,  but  not  the  deliberation  of  man- 
hood, and  yet  this  country  is  to  be  involved  in  a  war,  the  least  expense  to 
be  attached  to  which  will  be  $5,000,000.  It  will  be  an  expensive  cow  ;  and 
after  you  have  carried  on  the  war  as  long  as  the  war  continued  in  Florida, 
and  it  has  cost  you  another  forty-five  millions,  you  will  end  it  in  the  same  way 
by  peace.  Where  they  have  boundless  deserts,  and  mountains,  and  fastnesses, 
and  plains  in  which  to  find  security,  and  when  those  in  Florida,  who  were 
hemmed  in  on  an  isthmus  or  a  cape,  could  not  be  reduced  by  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  militia  of  the  South,  how  are  you  going  to  take 


Western  Indians  Disposed  to  Peace.  443 

troops  thousands  of  miles  to  subdue  these  Indians  in  the  illimitable  West  ? 
It  is  impossible  that  it  can  be  done,  Mr.  President.  Then  you  will  have  to 
purchase  peace ;  and,  beside  all  that,  for  ten  years  to  come,  you  will  have  to 
increase  your  officers,  and  clerks  in  your  accounting  offices,  to  pay  for  the 
lost  horses,  and  the  incidental  losses  and  injuries  done. 

But,  we  are  told  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Alabama  [Mr.  Fitzpatrick] 
that  there  is  great  danger  from  the  Indians,  in  large  bodies  of  two  thousand 
five  hundred,  sweeping  down  the  Missouri  River  and  the  Mississippi,  and 
that  carnage,  massacre,  and  slaughter  will  be  the  consequence  of  it.  Much 
respect  as  I  have  for  the  honorable  Senator — and  I  assure  you  it  is  of  the 
most  sincere  character — T  can  not  agree  with  him  on  these  Indian  subjects, 
though  he  has  lived  in  a  State  contiguous  to  the  Indians,  but  of  a  character 
very  different  from  those  of  the  plains.  The  Indians  of  the  plains  are  sui 
generis  when  compared  with  others.  They  are  not  like  the  Indians  located 
in  the  towns  or  wigwams  of  the  South  ;  they  have  no  marks  of  civilization 
in  their  habits.  The  want  of  contact  with  the  whites  has  deprived  them  of 
a  thousand  advantages  which  the  Indians  of  the  South  possessed  from  the 
earliest  recollection  of  the  Senator. 

But,  sir,  how  would  a  force  of  Indians  embody  themselves  on  the  frontiers 
and  remain  for  twenty  days  embodied  ?  It  can  not  be  done.  My  honorable 
colleague  [Mr.  Rusk]  well  knows  that  they  can  not  do  it,  unless  they  have 
the  appliances  and  comforts  of  the  white  man  ;  unless  they  have  stock  from 
which  th'ey  can  prepare  provisions  for  the  occasion,  and  produce  grain.  It 
is  impossible,  sir,  and  it  is  now  their  daily  employment,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  outlaws  or  war  parties  that  occasionally  go  out  to  engage  in  hunt- 
ing, to  support  their  women  and  children,  and  to  keep  them  from  starvation. 
Yes,  sir,  it  is  impossible  that  they  can  embody  themselves,  and  remain  four- 
teen days  embodied,  in  an  attitude  menacing  to  the  security  of  our  frontier 
settlements. 

I  apprehend  no  danger.  We  find,  from  every  circumstance,  that  the  In- 
dians there  are  perfectly  disposed  to  peace  and  conciliation.  There  is  no 
disposition  to  go  to  war,  except  on  the  part  of  some  outlaws  in  each  tribe, 
who  may  go  on  predatory  excursions,  regardless  of  the  authority  of  their 
chiefs ;  but  the  chiefs  have  influence  enough,  for  they  are  despotic,  their 
power  is  absolute,  and  if  you  will  give  them  time  they  will  control  the  tribe, 
and  those  fellows  will  be  surrendered,  and  make  an  atonement  for  their 
crimes.  They  will  be  surrendered,  for,  after  the  killing — I  will  not  call  it 
massacre — or  after  their  repelling  of  the  attack  made  by  Lieutenant  Grattan 
and  his  party,  which  terminated  so  disastrously  to  them,  amounting  almost 
to  their  entire  extermination,  the  chiefs,  apprehensive  of  the  consequences, 
and  of  the  difficulty  of  having  the  facts  presented  to  this  Government,  and 
fearing  the  involvement  of  their  wives  and  children  in  difficulties,  and  that 
they  should  be  harassed  and  reduced  to  starvation  to  an  extent  greater 
than  they  had  yet  experienced,  came  forward  with  propositions  to  make 
reparation  for  the  injury  done,  and  to  surrender  the  offenders.  But  the 
officer  did  not  receive  them.  No,  sir,  he  drove' them  off :  "  Away,  sir,  I  want 
nothing  to  do  with  you."  If  you  wish  to  have  a  force,  under  such  circum- 
stances, exercising  no  more  discretion  or  precaution  than  is  here  evinced, 
sufficient  to  protect  our  frontier,  you  will  have  to  maintain  three  hundred 


444  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

thousand,  instead  of  three  thousand.  Why  could  he  not  have  said  to  the 
Indians :  "  Bring  in  the  chiefs,  I  will  await  the  decision,"  or,  "  The  agent 
will  be  here,  or  is  here ;  talk  to  him  ";  but  no,  sir,  the  officers  were  willing 
to  take  the  responsibility  without  referring  it  to  the  agent. 

And  here  we  find  a  discrepancy  between  the  report  of  the  head  of  the  In- 
dian Bureau  and  the  Secretary  of  War.  We  find  that  the  Indian  agent,  in 
detailing  the  facts,  gives  them  as  they  are,  perfectly  authenticated  by  the 
best  evidence ;  and  we  find  the  officers  giving  a  different  glossary.  These 
statements  have  to  be  reconciled.  If  I  wished  information  in  relation  to 
the  army  purely,  I  would,  with  great  pleasure  and  respect,  go  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  for  I  know  his  intelligence  would  respond  to  any  inquiry  that 
is  proper  to  his  duty ;  but  if  I  want  information  in  relation  to  the  Indians, 
I  go  to  the  head  of  the  Indian  Bureau,  where  I  expect  to  find  an  able,  intel- 
ligent, and  attentive  gentleman.  In  the  present  instance,  I  am  happy  to 
say  that  I  fully  appreciate  his  conduct.  I  respect  his  capacity  and  his  con- 
sistency in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  assigned  to  him. 

Sir,  do  we  find  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War  as  complete  informa- 
tion in  relation  to  Indian  matters  as  we  receive  from  the  Commissioner  of 
Indian  Affairs  ?  I  think  not.  In  relation  to  the  recent  outrages  against  the 
Delaware  Indians,  in  the  usurpation  of  their  territory  in  disregard  of  every 
pledge  made  by  this  Government,  we  find  that  the  Secretary  of  War  has  not 
reported  the  delinquency,  or  the  criminality,  of  the  officers  engaged,  but  it 
comes  in  an  authentic  shape  from  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs. 
What  should  be  done  in  relation  to  this  matter,  it  is  not  necessary  that  I 
should  say.  I  gave  my  opinion  the  other  day  in  relation  to  what  ought  to 
be  done. 

Mr.  SHIELDS.  The  honorable  Senator  alludes  to  the  delinquency  of  some 
officers  of  the  army.  Now,  when  charges  are  made  against  certain  officers, 
I  want  to  get  at  their  names.  Let  them  be  punished  if  they  have  committed 
a  fault.  I  do  not  like  to  hear  a  general  accusation  without  specifying  the 
names  of  the  individuals.  Will  the  honorable  Senator  mention  them  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  assure  the  Senator  that  I  do  not  exactly  recollect ;  but 
I  am  perfectly  willing  to  go  as  far  as  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs. 
Doubtless  they  are  matters  of  delicacy;  and  as  an  investigation  may  be 
pending — a  court  of  inquiry,  or  a  court-martial — in  relation  to  the  officers, 
he  may  not  think  proper  to  exhibit  their  names  to  the  public.  But  he  says 
that  two  officers  of  the  army  were  engaged  in  it ;  and  I  go  as  far  as  I  am 
justified,  in  giving  a  statement  which  is  authentic,  I  have  no  doubt — I  am 
afraid  it  is ;  I  wish  I  had  a  doubt.  Our  functionaries  there,  whether  civil 
or  military,  are  bound  to  protect  the  Indians  equally  with  the  whites.  I 
want  to  see  the  officers  impressed  fully  with  the  importance  of  their  re- 
sponsibilities. 1  want  to  see  them  as  ready  to  maintain  the  dignity  and 
character  of  the  United  States,  and  preserve,  unsullied,  its  integrity,  as  I 
do  its  arms  and  its  chivalry.  It  is  as  much  their  duty  to  do  so ;  and  there 
is  a  chivalry  always  in  protecting  the  weak  against  the  strong,  the  defense- 
less against  the  aggressor.  If  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Military  Affairs  is  prepared  to  say  that  no  officer  of  the  army  has  been 
concerned  in  this  nefarious  transaction,  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  waive  it. 
If  I  have  done  injustice,  show  it  to  me,  and  I  will  take  it  back.  But  if  the 


Army  Outrage  at  Fort  Laramie.  445 

Senator  is  not  prepared  to  do  it,  I  insist  upon  it,  as  a  matter  of  grave  con- 
sideration and  import  to  the  honor  of  the  nation,  that  it  devolves  the  re- 
sponsibility on  the  Executive  of  prompt  action. 

Mr.  SHIELDS.  The  honorable  Senator  will  see,  I  think,  the  propriety  of 
my  request.  He  presents  a  report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs, 
charging  two  officers  of  the  army  with  delinquency. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     Criminality. 

Mr.  SHIELDS.  That  is  still  worse ;  but  he  does  not  enlighten  the  Senate, 
or  the  world,  as  to  who  the  two  officers  are ;  and  yet  he  expects  that  we  can 
answer  for  some  two  officers  somewhere.  Now,  what  I  ask,  in  justice  to  the 
army,  in  justice  to  the  Senate,  and  in  justice  to  the  War  Department,  is, 
that  the  honorable  Senator  specify  who  the  men  are,  and  what  the  crimi- 
nality is  of  which  they  have  been  guilty,  and  then  I  will  join  him  in  punish- 
ing them. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  The  report  is  made  by  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Af- 
fairs, and  is  predicated  upon  the  statement  of  General  Whitfield.  The  gen- 
tlemen named  are,  Major  Maclin  and  Major  Ogden,  of  the  United  States 
Army.  If  they  are  innocent  of  this,  I  most  heartily  hope — having  known 
one  of  them,  and  felt  an  interest  in  his  appointment — they  will  be  enabled 
to  vindicate  themselves  most  fully,  and  to  establish  the  character  which,  I 
believe,  they  were  entitled  to  up  to  this  time,  or  until  this  information 
came. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  here  was  a  report  made  in  relation  to  the  Indians  at 
Fort  Laramie.  We  are  told  that,  for  three  years,  these  recommendations 
for  an  increase  of  the  army  have  been  before  the  Senate  ;  and  yet,  wonder- 
ful to  tell,  all  the  outrages  that  have  been  committed  upon  the  emigrants 
to  California,  and  Oregon,  was  the  crippled  cow  transaction.  Three  years 
ago  there  was  a  call  for  this  as  loudly  as  there  is  now,  and  yet  no  disastrous 
consequences  have  taken  place  ;  for,  if  Lieutenant  Grattan  had  never  gone 
there,  there  would  never  have  been  any  difficulty ;  or  if,  previous  to  that 
time,  the  army  had  not  gone  and  committed  outrages  upon  the  Indians 
across  the  Missouri  River,  there  would  not  have  been  any  difficulty. 

Here,  sir,  by  way  of  digression,  I  will  state  that  Governor  Stevens, 
with  sixty  men,  and  comparatively  few  presents,  perhaps  not  amounting  to 
more  than  $5,000  in  value,  traveled  through  all  the  hostile  tribes  from  Fort 
Laramie,  or  where  he  first  struck  the  Indian  country,  to  Oregon,  and  nevei 
met  with  molestation.  He  conciliated  them  all ;  and  he  speaks  of  theii 
great  anxiety  to  conciliate  the  United  States,  and  the  great  respect  and  hos- 
pitality with  which  he  was  treated.  Sometimes  his  men  were  in  numbers 
of  four,  or  greater  or  less,  as  it  happened,  and  they  were  always  in  perfect 
security,  and  treated  with  the  utmost  hospitality.  He  often  ventured  him- 
self with  three  or  four  men  into  the  midst  of  Indian  lodges,  and  received 
their  hospitality ;  and  when  he  rose  from  a  council,  in  which  all  his  men  had 
been  seated  on  handsome  buffalo  skins,  those  skins  were  carried  to  his  tent 
as  an  expression  of  respect  and  hospitality.  The  Indians  could,  at  any 
time,  have  annihilated  his  whole  command  ;  but  he  was  a  gentleman  of  dis- 
cretion, and  possessed  of  as  much  chivalry  as  any  one  who  wore  the  uniform 
of  the  United  States.  That  shows  you  that  there  is  no  actual  danger. 

We  hear  constantly  of  traders  going  through  the  country ;  and  when  a 


446  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

gentleman  here  felt  some  little  alarm  on  one  occasion,  and  described  his 
situation  as  most  critical,  he  said  that  traders  had  gone  out  when  these  oc- 
currences took  place  at  Fort  Laramie,  and  he  would  have  sent  for  them,  only 
he  was  afraid  they  would  all  be  massacred.  The  Indian  traders  have  gone 
on.  They  have  nothing  to  defend  them.  They  have  no  guards,  no  arms ; 
and  yet  a  simple  trader,  with  persons  enough,  Indian  or  white,  to  pack  and 
convey  the  articles  of  traffic  which  he  possesses,  or  the  proceeds  of  his  trade, 
can  go  through  the  whole  Indian  country,  and  not  meet  with  the  slightest 
molestation  or  injury.  How  does  this  happen,  Mr.  President?  Does  it 
happen  that  the  Indians  are  hostile,  and  that  they  will  not  attack  a  weak 
party  ;  that  they  want  the  United  States  to  send  armies  to  hurl  defiance  at 
them  ?  Sir,  their  complaint  is,  whenever  aggression  has  been  said  to  have 
been  committed  by  them,  or  whenever  they  have  retaliated,  that  it  has 
been  because  the  white  man  first  blooded  the  path,  and  they  wished  to 
walk,  too,  in  a  path  of  blood.  Yes,  sir,  that  is  the  secret  of  it.  When  our 
traders  can  go  from  Fort  Laramie,  or  from  the  frontier  of  Missouri,  Iowa, 
Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  with  perfect  impunity,  and 
return  laden  with  stores  from  the  desert  or  the  wilderness,  obtained  in 
traffic  with  the  Indians,  I  say  when  our  troops  are  injured,  there  is  a  fault 
somewhere,  and  that  fault  is  in  not  cultivating  kind  relations  with  the  In- 
dians, and  treating  them  with  justice  and  humanity.  It  is  the  interest  of 
the  traders  to  conciliate  them,  and  we  never  hear  of  their  being  robbed. 
We  are  told  that  the  Indians  exact  blackmail  from  our  emigrants  to  Cali- 
fornia. Yes,  sir,  they  do ;  because  persons  who  have  preceded  them  have 
provoked  and  irritated  the  Indians.  I  grant  you  that  no  caravan  ought  to 
go  without  some  military  protection.  The  male  portion  of  the  party  well 
armed,  with  a  small  military  force,  can  always  defend  themselves  against  as 
many  Indians  as  can  remain  embodied  in  any  country  where  the  buffalo  is 
not  abundant.  I  am  for  giving  ample  protection,  wherever  it  may  be,  to 
the  emigrant  trains ;  but  they  should  go  in  such  detachments  or  caravans 
as  will  render  it  convenient  to  afford  them  subsistence,  for  I  would  not  that 
one  scalp  should  be  taken. 

I  can  exemplify,  to  some  extent,  an  impression  that  I  have  when  I  contrast 
war  measures  with  peace  measures.  I  well  recollect  in  1835,  1836,  1837,  and 
1838,  in  Texas,  we  had  peace.  The  Comanches  would  come  down  to  the  very 
seaboard  in  amity  and  friendship,  would  repose  confidently  in  our  dwellings, 
would  receive  some  trifling  presents,  and  would  return  home  exulting,  unless 
they  were  maltreated,  or  their  chiefs  received  indignities.  If  they  did  receive 
such,  they  were  sure  to  revisit  that  section  of  the  country,  as  soon  as  they  went 
home,  and  fall  upon  the  innocent. 

For  the  years  I  have  mentioned,  in  Texas,  we  had  perfect  peace  ;  and,  mark 
you,  it  did  not  cost  the  Government  over  $10,000  a  year.  We  had  no  standing 
army.  A  new  Administration  came  in,  and  the  Legislature  immediately  appro- 
priated $1,500,000  for  the  creation  of  two  regular  regiments.  Those  regiments 
were  raised.  What  was  the  consequence  ?  The  policy  had  changed  in  the 
inauguration  of  the  President.  He  announced  the  extermination  of  the  Indians. 
He  marshaled  his  forces.  He  made  incursions  on  a  friendly  tribe,  who  lived  in 
sight  of  our  settlements,  where  the  arts  of  peace  were  cultivated  and  pursued  by 
them— by  agriculture  and  other  arts,  and  by  the  exchange  and  traffic  of  such 


Indians  Friendly  to  all  but  Soldiers.  447 

productions  of  the  soil  as  were  convenient.  They  lived  by  traffic  with  Nacog- 
doches.  The  declaration  was  made,  and  it  was  announced  by  the  Cabinet  that 
they  would  kill  off  "  Houston's  pet  Indians."  Well,  sir,  they  killed  a  very  few 
of  them  ;  and  my  honorable  colleague  knows  very  well,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the 
volunteers,  they  would  have  licked  the  regular  army — as  the  Indians  said  ;  I  was 
not  there. 

The  Cherokees  had  ever  been  friendly ;  and,  when  Texas  was  in  consterna- 
tion, and  the  men  and  women  were  fugitives  from  the  myrmidons  of  Santa 
Anna,  who  were  sweeping  over  Texas  like  a  simoon,  they  had  aided  our  people, 
and  given  them  succor ;  and  this  was  the  recompense.  They  were  driven  from 
their  homes,  and  were  left  desolate.  They  were  driven  up  among  the  Coman- 
ches.  What  was  the  consequence  ?  Every  Indian  upon  our  borders,  from  the 
Red  River  to  the  Rio  Grande,  took  the  alarm.  They  learned  that  extermina- 
tion was  the  cry ;  and  hence  it  was  that  the  flood  of  invasion  came  upon  our 
frontiers,  and  drenched  them  with  blood.  The  policy  of  extermination  was  pur- 
sued, and  a  massacre  of  sixteen  chiefs  at  San  Antonio,  who  came  in  amity  for  a 
treaty,  took  place.  That  was  in  1840.  Before  this  army  was  raised  they  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  coming  down  for  purposes  of  peace  and  commerce.  But  an 
army  of  Indians  marched  through  the  settlements  to  the  seaboard,  one  hundred 
or  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  undetected,  I  grant  you,  avoiding  the  dense  set- 
tlements, went  to  Linville,  upon  tide  water,  rifled  the  stores,  and  slaughtered 
the  men,  if  there  were  any,  the  women  treated  with  cruelty,  and  their  children's 
brains  were  dashed  against  the  walls  of  their  peaceful  habitations.  The  exter- 
minating policy  brought  it  on.  The  country  became  involved  in  millions  of 
debt,  and  the  Indians  in  Texas  were  kept  in  constant  irritation. 

That  was  in  1840;  and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1843  that  intercourse  could 
be  had  with  them  through  the  medium  of  the  pipe  of  peace,  the  wampum,  and 
the  evidences  of  friendship.  Then,  what  I  related  the  other  day  occurred,  and 
kind  relations  were  again  brought  about,  which  subsisted  until  1849.  For  the 
last  year  there  has  not  been  the  life  of  a  citizen  lost  on  our  borders  that  may  be 
attributed  to  the  Indians.  One  old  man  and  three  children  were  found  neai 
Medina,  and  another  man  was  found,  not  scalped,  and  we  know  not  by  whose 
hands  he  came  to  his  death — whether  he  was  killed  by  Indians  or  Mexicans. 
They  have  detected  companies  of  felons  there,  whites  and  Mexicans,  stealing 
horses,  and  running  them  through  the  wilderness  to  Red  River.  The  forts,  they 
knew,  were  there,  and  they  could  dodge  them,  and  go  within  one  mile,  or 
twenty,  or  thirty,  just  as  they. please.  They  are  perfectly  harmless. 

The  Indians  have  killed  several  soldiers — and  why  ?  Whenever  they  get  the 
chance  they  treat  them  like  dogs.  What  did  they  do  ?  The  agent  made  an 
agreement  with  the  principal  officer,  for  the  Indians  (to  enable  them  to  subsist), 
that  they  should  have  a  certain  amount  of  powder  and  lead ;  and  the  sutler 
should  be  permitted  to  sell  it.  The  commanding  officer  was  absent.  Perhaps 
the  young  lieutenant,  or  the  junior— I  hope  the  Senator  will  not  ask  for  the 
name,  for,  indeed,  I  have  forgotten  it — was  in  command.  The  Indians  came 
in,  and  asked  the  sutler  for  powder.  He  said,  "  No,  you  can  not  get  one  grain 
of  powder  or  lead."  "  Why,"  say  they,  "  our  women  and  children  are  crying 
with  hunger,  and  we  want  to  go  out  and  kill  game  and  feed  them  ;  we  want  the 
powder."  "No,  you  can  not  get  powder,"  says  he.  They  then  said,  "  If  you 
drive  us  off,  we  will  have  to  go  and  join  the  northern  Comanches.  We  have 


448  Houston? B  Literary  Remains. 

always  been  disposed  to  be  friendly,  but  we  can  not  stay  and  starve.  We  must 
go  and  join  the  stronger  party."  "Well,"  says  the  officer,  "you  may  go." 
"  But,"  say  they,  "  if  war  comes  on."  The  reply  is,  "  War  is  my  trade  ;  bring  it 
on  as  soon  as  you  please."  They  separated;  and  the  agent  had  to  send  two 
hundred  miles  a  friendly  Delaware  Indian,  before  he  could  overtake  that  band, 
and  with  difficulty  he  got  them  back.  The  agent  had  to  traverse  and  ride  seven 
hundred  miles  to  effect  the  restoration  of  harmony. 

That  is  the  way  they  manage.  If  these  are  the  gentlemen  that  are  to  hold 
the  lives  and  property,  and  the  security  of  our  citizens  in  charge,  I  want  them  to 
be  men  of  some  discretion,  some  wisdom,  some  little  experience,  not  those  who 
have  just  burst  from  the  shell,  or  juveniles  from  the  Military  Academy,  without 
ever  having  seen  an  Indian,  and  knowing  nothing  of  their  disposition.  Send 
men  of  age  and  discretion,  who  have  some  sympathy  for  the  whites,  if  they  have 
no  respect  for  the  Indians.  Then,  sir,  you  may  dispense  with  a  great  deal  of  the 
force  which  you  now  have,  or  ought  to  have,  to  make  the  army  efficient. 

Now,  you  see  the  consequence  of  this  wiping  out  of  the  Indians,  and  making 
them  respect  you.  Whenever  you  attack  them,  you  embody  them  ;  for  we  are 
told  by  an  agent,  Mr.  Vaughan,  a  gentleman  of  high  respectability,  as  I  under- 
stand, that  the  Indians  are  disposed  to  live  in  perfect  amity  with  the  United 
States ;  and  that  they  do  not  only  say  that  they  are  disposed  to  be  at  peace,  but 
that  they  report  the  hostility  of  other  Indians,  and  say  that  they  will  co-operate 
with  the  whites  in  giving  them  any  information  and  aid  that  they  possibly  can  ; 
and  will  assist  them  in  a  conflict  with  hostile  Indians  ;  so  that  there  is  no  danger 
to  be  apprehended.  If  you  conciliate  but  one  part,  the  others  will  not  attempt 
to  enter  into  hostilities.  It  is  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  that  I  desire  to  see 
the  appliances  of  peace,  not  of  war,  used.  Here,  for  instance,  Mr.  Vaughan 
says : 

"  The  Brulies  from  the  Platte,  the  Ouh-Papas,  Blackfeet,  Sioux,  a  part  of  the 
Yanctonnais,  Sans  Arc,  and  Minecougan  bands  of  the  Missouri,  openly  bid  de- 
fiance to  the  threats  of  the  Government,  and  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  they  do  not 
fear  the  result,  should  soldiers  come  to  fight  them." 

That  is  all  hearsay.     It  is  reported  as  hearsay,  not  as  being  authentic. 

"  The  rest  of  the  tribes  in  this  agency  are  disposed  to  do  right,  and  many  of 
them  at  once  will  unite  in  exterminating  the  above  bands.  Several  of  them 
have  come  voluntarily  to  me,  and  stated  that,  should  a  force  be  sent  here  to 
chastise  these,  they  will  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  give  any  information 
relative  to  their  locality  and  movements  in  their  power,  and  render  any  assist- 
ance that  may  be  required  of  them." 

Well,  now,  when  you  can  divide  the  Indians  in  this  way  and  have  one  party, 
suppose  you  were  to  send  two  hundred  men  against  hostiles,  you  could  acquire 
an  equal  Indian  force,  so  as  to  countervail  them,  and  the  whites  would  deter- 
mine at  once  the  preponderance  in  favor  of  our  Government.  Mr.  President,  I 
assure  you  I  can  not  agree  to  the  proposition.  Besides,  the  general  objections 
which  I  have  to  the  increase  of  the  army  as  the  policy  of  the  Government,  I  will 
say  that  we  have  enough  in  the  present  force,  if  properly  employed,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  convoys  necessary  to  the  emigrant  trains,  and  it  would  be  very 
easy  to  digest  a  system  for  that  purpose  short  of  the  contemplated  three  thou- 
sand tr  ops. 

Sir,  I  discovered  furthermore  that  in  the  plan  suggested  the  section  of  country 


Legislation  for  Indians  Legitimate.  449 

from  which  I  come  is  left  entirely  free  from  all  the  influences  of  its  provision  and 
all  its  benefits.  My  honorable  colleague  says  that  those  who  are  in  danger 
ought  to  feel  for  home.  I  say  so  too,  but  I  am  sure  he  has  not  looked  into  this, 
and  exercised  his  accustomed  sagacity,  or  he  would  perceive  that  Texas  has  not 
been  mentioned  in  this  provision  ;  but  it  relates  to  the  emigrant  routes  of  Cali- 
fornia. Texas  is  to  be  put  out  of  the  way. 

There  is  nothing  central  there — no  preponderating  political  influence  there. 
Texas  is  neglected. 

I  made  a  proposition  the  other  day,  that  if  the  troops  are  to  be  called  out,  and 
one-fourth  of  the  money  were  given  to  our  agent  that  would  be  annually  ex- 
pended, I  would  stake  my  life  upon  the  event  that  we  should  have  perfect  peace 
there ;  and  the  influence  of  peace  there  would  radiate  to  the  Pacific.  Justice 
will  be  done.  Their  wants  will  be  supplied.  We  must  remember,  sir,  there  is 
a  race  of  mortals  wild,  who  rove  the  desert  free.  They  owe  no  homage  to  the 
written  rules  which  men  have  made ;  owe  no  allegiance  to  the  idle  forms  which 
art  suggests ;  but,  proud  of  freedom  in  their  native  wilds,  they  need  but  compe- 
tency's aid  to  make  them  blest.  Well,  sir,  feed  them.  You  have  it  to  do,  or 
you  have  to  kill  them.  Which  is  the  most  expensive,  leaving  out  the  humanity 
of  the  thing  ?  If  you  merely  regard  it  as  a  matter  of  dollars  and  cents,  you  will 
find  that  to  feed  them  is  cheaper  than  to  kill  them,  though  you  should  not  lose 
a  human  life,  nor  the  labor  or  the  exposure  of  the  citizens,  and  suffer  the  casual- 
ties which  would  be  brought  upon  them  by  a  war. 

I  go  for  conciliation  ;  and  I  come  here,  Mr.  President,  to  legislate  in  part  for 
Indians,  but  not  to  legislate  for  Indians  to  the  exclusion  of  the  whites.  But  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Jones],  for  whose  eloquence  and  high 
conceptions  I  have  great  respect — though  I  do  not,  in  everything,  coincide  with 
him — differs  from  me.  I  must  be  permitted  to  make  a  commentary  upon  a  few 
sentences  which  appear  in  the  remarks  that  he  made  the  day  before  yesterday. 
He  said  : 

"  I  am  not  here  to  legislate  for  Indians.  I  am  here  to  legislate  for  white  folks 
and  negroes,  and  not  for  Indians.  I  have  no  Indian  constituency  ;  and  I  con- 
fess that  I  have  no  great  sympathy  for  them.  When  I  remember  their  barbari- 
ties in  my  own  State,  when  I  see  there  the  graves  made  by  their  hands,  this 
heart  of  mine  has  no  warm,  impulsive  feeling  for  them.  I  would  do  them  no 
wrong;  I  would  give  them  all  the  protection  which  can  be  accorded  to  them  ; 
but  I  would  protect  our  own  citizens  against  them.  They  should  perpetrate  no 
outrage  upon  our  citizens  if  I  could  avert  it." 

Mr.  President,  the  Senator  says  he  has  no  Indian  constituency.  I  have  none  ; 
and  moreover,  Mr.  President,  I  have  no  Buncombe  constituency,  either. 
[Laughter.]  I  have  a  very  proud  and  exalted  constituency.  They  are  pretty 
much  self-existent  and  independent.  But,  Mr.  President,  I  come  here  to  legis- 
late for  Indians.  I  find  them  embraced  within  the  pale  of  our  Constitution.  It 
points  out  the  course  for  me  to  pursue  in  relation  to  them  in  my  legislative 
action.  The  principles  of  our  Government,  independent  of  the  express  letter  ot 
the  Constitution,  would  suggest  to  me  what  course  to  pursue.  They  are  here 
recognized  by  the  action  of  this  body  in  the  ratification  or  rejection  of  treaties 
which  have  been  made  with  them.  I  grant  you  it  is  a  farce  which  has  lost  now 
even  the  solemnity  of  a  farce,  if  it  ever  had  any ;  but  still  I  come  here  to  legis- 
late for  the  Indians.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  sir,  it  is  always  with  great  reluctance 
29 


450  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

that  I  see  the  subject  of  legislation  for  negroes  introduced  into  the  Senate.  I 
do  not  think  it  a  proper  place  for  it.  I  have  never  recognized  the  right  of  the 
Senate  to  do  it,  and  I  never  will ;  and  there  I  take  issue  with  the  honorable 
Senator  in  that  particular. 

But,  independent  of  that,  the  Indians  are  a  people  who  are  upon  our  boi 
ders.  We  are  brought  in  contact  with  them.  We  have  taken  their  soil, 
their  country.  They  have  yielded  to  superior  intelligence,  and  to  the  spirit 
of  domination  inherent  in  our  race.  They  are  a  feeble  race,  yielding  to  the 
pressure  of  circumstances,  and  to  the  mastery  of  white  men.  But,  sir,  if 
they  are  inferior,  and  have  fallen  beneath  our  prowess,  and  they  are  pros- 
trate, let  us  raise  them  up;  let  us  elevate  them  ;  let  us  bring  them  to  equal- 
ity with  ourselves  as  to  intelligence,  for  they  are  not  inferior  in  native 
capacity,  they  are  not  inferior  in  the  employment  of  mechanical  arts.  What 
did  the  Senator  from  California  [Mr.  Weller]  say  yesterday  ?  He  stated 
that  the  wild  Indian  boys,  who  were  taken  in  California,  and  put  to  agricult- 
ural pursuits,  learned  with  the  same  readiness  that  the  white  boys  did,  to 
plow,  and  the  arts  of  agriculture,  so  far  as  they  had  been  tried.  It  was 
manly  testimony,  and  it  commends  the  gentleman  and  his  experience  to 
consideration.  He  tells  you,  too/  that  a  few  years  ago,  there  were  not  less 
than  ten  thousand  Indians  in  four  counties,  who  have  now  dissolved  and 
melted  away,  until  but  a  fraction  over  three  thousand  remain.  With  the 
vast  number  that  are  still  there,  perhaps  the  proportion  of  diminution  will 
soon  be  as  great.  We  ought  to  look  with  some  degree  of  commiseration 
upon  these  people.  It  is  not  the  duty  of  every  gentleman  to  feel  sympathy 
for  them,  but  he  should  feel  a  manly  respect  for  himself  ;  he  should  feel  for 
humanity  in  any  shape,  for  a  merciful  man  will  be  merciful  to  his  beast. 
They  are  degraded  and  sunk  by  their  contact  with  the  white  man.  They 
have,  unfortunately,  first  to  learn  his  vices,  and,  by  degrees,  to  glean  his  vir- 
tues. But  yet  we  see,  under  these  influences,  nations  rise,  become  respect- 
able, intelligent,  scientific,  and  not  only  scientific,  or  learned,  but  we  find 
them  with  their  judicial  department,  their  political  department,  their  admin- 
istrative department,  and  their  Christian  department.  You  find,  in  the  last 
twenty  years,  not  less  than  seventy  ministers  of  the  Gospel  have  grown  up 
among  the  Creeks,  the  last  to  raise  a  hostile  arm  against  the  United  States. 
Why  not  produce  the  same  result  with  other  tribes  ?  My  distinguished 
friend  from  Michigan  [Mr.  Cass]  well  knows  that  the  Indian  is  susceptible, 
not  only  of  improvement,  rapid  improvement,  proportioned  to  the  facilities 
afforded  to  him,  but  that  he  has  as  high  and  generous  impulses  as  ever 
swayed  the  human  heart,  or  quickened  life's  vital  current ;  and  who,  when 
their  friendship  is  plighted,  would  give  their  life  to  redeem  you  from  an 
adversary's  blow.  Yet  these  men  are  not  worth  legislating  for !  Were 
their  existence  to  terminate,  and  not  to  go  beyond  this  earthly  sphere,  were 
there  no  eternity  to  receive  the  undying  spirit  of  an  Indian,  humanity  would 
bid  us  do  justice  to  the  red  men.  But  they  have  an  undying  spirit,  and  if 
you  inflict  wrongs  upon  them  and  they  are  unredressed,  the  accountability 
is  beyond  human  power  to  tell ;  but  the  honor  of  this  nation  demands  the 
maintenance  of  good  faith  toward  them.  Have  we  heard  that  any  efforts 
have  been  made  to  redress  the  wrongs  recently  inflicted  on  the  Delawares  ? 
No  sir,  we  have  not  heard  that  the  military  there  have  interposed  and 


The  Black  Hawk  and  Florida  Wars  not  Analogous.  451 

driven  the  offenders  from  their  land.  It  is  not  neutral  territory  ;  it  is  their 
property ;  and  the  United  States  is  pledged,  by  treaty,  and  by  honor,  to 
protect  them  in  its  possession.  They  have  delegated  a  trust  to  the  United 
States  to  sell  this  land  if  they  dispose  of  it  for  their  benefit ;  but  they  have 
not  given  it  to  the  aggressor.  Will  the  Government  permit  the  wrongs  to 
go  unredressed  ?  Where  is  the  military  authority  there,  that  they  do  not 
expel  the  aggressors,  in  obedience  to  the  intercourse  law — persons  who  are 
there  without  permission  ?  Sir,  the  nation's  honor  grovels  in  the  dust,  its 
ermine  is  soiled,  its  glories  are  clouded. 

Mr.  President,  I  am  reluctant  to  detain  the  Senate  ;  but  I  must  take  the 
liberty  of  making  a  suggestion,  and  it  may  be  regarded  in  the  character  of 
prophecy  or  fancy,  as  may  be  most  convenient  and  acceptable.  Raise  the 
three  thousand  troops,  make  a  general  war  with  the  Indians,  and  it  will 
take  five  years  to  terminate  it.  It  will  become  a  focus  of  excitement.  It 
will  virtually  arrest  emigration  to  California  and  to  Oregon.  It  will  cost 
you  fifty  millions  of  dollars,  and  you  then  will  have  to  approach  these  In- 
dians through  the  medium  of  pacification.  Send  your  wise  men,  three  com- 
missioners, if  you  please,  and  send  two  or  three  hundred  men,  as  discreet 
men  might  designate,  and  you  will  make  peace  with  every  man  in  the 
course  of  nine  months,  and  give  perfect  security  to  your  emigrant  trains. 
You  will  not  hear  of  bloodshed,  unless  it  results  from  a  spirit  of  retaliation 
provoked  by  the  whites.  This  being  done,  you  would  have  the  blessed  re- 
flection that  you  have  saved  the  effusion  of  human  blood.  The  women  and 
children  of  the  Indians  will  be  preserved.  But  if  you  call  the  attention  of 
the  warriors  to  war  and  battle,  and  to  marauding,  by  way  of  retaliation* 
upon  your  trains,  starvation  will  ensue  for  want  of  the  means  of  subsistence. 
Mark  these  words  ;  pacific  force  will  give  peace  and  save  millions  of  money; 
a  hostile  force  will  expend  millions,  waste  human  life  and  dishonor  the 
nation. 

After  some  remarks  by  Mr.  Dodge,  of  Iowa,  and  Mr.  Mallory, 

Mr.  HOUSTON  said  :  Mr.  President,  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  in  reply 
to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Iowa,  for  I  hardly  know  what  to  think  of  his 
speech.  [Laughter.]  If  I  were  to  characterize  his  remarks  in  any  way,  I 
should  say  that  they  were,  at  least,  very  remarkable.  In  the  first  place,  let 
me  say  to  that  honorable  Senator,  and  to  the  honorable  Senator  from  Flor- 
ida, that  they  were  talking  about  things  of  which  I  knew  very  little,  for  I 
was  not  in  the  United  States  when  the  occurrences  to  which  they  alluded 
took  place,  and  I  was  not,  therefore,  familiar  with  the  history  of  those  wars. 
If  I  am  not  mistaken,  however,  it  was  an  outrage  of  a  very  delicate  charac- 
ter which  brought  on  the  Florida  war. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  That  is  a  mistake,  sir. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Well,  sir,  that  was  the  report  which  was  brought  to  Texas. 
Whether  it  was  true  or  not,  I  do  not  know  ;  but  that  was  the  information 
which  I  received  from  people  from  that  section  of  the  country.  As  for  the 
Black  Hawk  war,  I  know  little  or  nothing  about  it ;  for  in  Texas,  at  that 
time,  we  had  no  mail  communications  with  the  United  States,  and  we  got 
but  few  papers  from  the  States,  so  that  I  remained  uninformed  in  relation 
to  those  matters  ;  but  no  doubt  they  were  very  exciting.  The  Senator  from 
Iowa  said  the  Black  Hawk  war  was  brought  on  by  a  council  of  the  nation ; 


452  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

* 

but  I  have  heard  that  an  examination  of  the  circumstances  will  show  that 
the  first  outrage  was  committed  by  an  individual,  not  by  the  concurrence 
of  the  nation,  though  they  afterward  became  involved  in  the  general  war. 
In  that  statement,  I  believe,  I  am  sustained  by  the  history  of  the  times.  I 
have  already  stated  that  occasions  occur  where  outlaws  among  the  Indians 
commit  acts  of  aggression  on  the  whites,  and  the  whites  immediately  retal- 
iate on  the  Indian  nations,  and  those  nations,  in  self-defense,  become  in- 
volved in  war  ;  but  1  never  knew  a  case  where  a  treaty,  which  was  made  and 
carried  out  in  good  faith  by  the  Government,  was  violated  by  the  Indians. 
tn  Florida  the  Indians  complained  that  they  had  been  deceived  in  the 
treaty,  and  that  the  boundaries  assigned  were  not  as  they  understood  them  ; 
and  they  killed  their  own  chiefs.  It  was  charged  that  some  of  the  agents 
were  involved  in  speculations  to  a  great  extent,  dependent  on  the  treaty.  I 
recollect  it  was  so  stated  at  the  time. 

I  think,  sir,  the  Senator's  speech  was  of  a  remarkable  character  in  relation 
to  politics  and  other  matters,  which  I  am  sorry  that  he  has  introduced. 
He  has  undertaken  to  admonish -me,  and  for  this  admonition  I  am  much 
obliged  to  him.  His  experience,  his  superior  opportunities,  may  entitle 
him,  in  the  opinion  of  others,  to  the  right  of  admonishing  me  ;  and  I  am 
perfectly  willing,  on  that  point,  to  yield  my  own  opinion  to  what  may  be 
the  general  impression  of  the  body.  I  did  not  provoke  his  remarks  by  any 
allusion  to  any  one,  predicated  upon  my  own  disposition  to  arraign  the  con- 
duct of  others  ;  nor  have  I  asserted  anything  in  regard  to  the  officers  of  the 
army,  but  what  are  matters  of  fact  taken  from  the  official  documents.  When 
I  made  suggestions  of  a  speculative  character,  I  gave  them  as  such. 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  Senator  from  Iowa  has  said  that  he  would  not 
have  been  astonished  if  the  rankest  Abolitionist  had  made  such  a  speech, 
and  had  avowed  such  sentiments  as  I  did.  He  says  that,  if  a  man  in  West- 
ern New  York  had  presented  such  views  he  would  not  have  been  surprised. 
Now,  I  wish  to  know  what  connection  my  remarks  had  with  Abolition  ? 
What  connection  had  they  with  any  one  in  Western  New  York  ?  In  what 
respect  have  I  catered  to  any  prejudice  or  morbid  sensibility  ?  I  have  stood 
here  alone  in  this  body,  against  a  powerful  array  of  talent  and  influence, 
contending  for  what  I  conceived  to  be  a  great  principle,  and  which  must 
obtain  or  the  Indian  race  be  exterminated.  In  regard  to  that  principle,  I 
have  the  concurrence  of  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Bell],  who  was 
once  Secretary  of  War,  and  as  such  ha4  control  of  the  Indian  department, 
and  who  has,  since  that  period,  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Commit- 
tee on  Indian  Affairs  of  the  Senate.  I  believe  that  my  opinions  are  also 
concurred  in  by  the  Senator  from  Arkansas  [Mr.  Sebastian],  who  is  the  head 
of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs.  I  can  inform  the  Senator  from  Iowa 
that  I  will  sustain  him  to  the  extent  of  my  humble  abilities  in  any  measure 
he  may  introduce  in  favor  of  the  Indians,  and  for  the  establishment  of  a 
policy  which  will  ultimately  benefit  them  and  reflect  credit  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States. 

I  have  not  been  regardless  of  what  I  considered  the  honor  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  interest  of  the  Indians.  In  no  instance  have  I  been  remiss 
in  these  particulars.  I  could  not  cater  to  any  passion  or  prejudice  on  this 
subject,  because  I  know  of  no  societies  in  the  North,  or  in  the  South,  or  in 


Charge  of  Catering  to  "Know-Nothings?         453 

any  section  of  this  Union,  for  the  advancement  of  the  civilization  of  the  In- 
dians. If  such  societies  exist,  I  am  not  in  correspondence  with  them,  nor 
am  I  aware  of  the  existence  of  any  such  associations.  Then,  for  what  ulte- 
rior purposes  could  I  advocate  the  rights  of  the  Indians,  or  invoke  the  jus- 
tice of  this  Government  toward  them  ?  Could  it  be  any  expectation  of 
political  benefits  ?  None  upon  earth.  I  presume  the  Abolitionists  are  per- 
fectly absorbed  in  the  subject  of  Abolition.  For  myself,  I  would  rather  see 
them  turn  their  attention  to  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  Indians 
on  our  western  wilds,' or  to  the  reclamation  of  those  whom  they  hold  in  slav- 
ery. There  are  not  less  than  two  thousand  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the 
Comanches  ;  four  hundred  in  one  band,  in  my  own  State.  The  prisoners 
can  be  reclaimed  from  those  Indians,  who  are  coming  down  to  settle  upon 
their  reservations.  They  take  no  prisoners  but  women  and  boys.  The 
boys  they  treat  with  a  degree  of  barbarity  unprecedented  ;  and  their  cruel- 
ties toward  the  females  are  nameless  and  atrocious.  Our  Government  is 
silent  in  relation  to  them.  Has  humanity  no  claims  upon  us  in  this  respect? 
Has  justice  no  demand  unanswered  ?  Sir,  we  have  not  seen"  the  facts  to 
which  I  have  just  alluded  impressed  on  a  page  of  our  official  communica- 
tions from  the  War  Department.  The  officers  stationed  near  the  places 
where  those  transactions  have  taken  place  have  not  reported  them.  No 
effort  has  been  made  to  obtain  appropriations  for  the  reclamation  and  re- 
demption of  those  prisoners.  This  is  a  subject  which  calls  aloud  for  the 
humane  influence  of  the  Senator.  There  is  no  "sickly  sentimentality"  in 
this,  but  a  manly  upheaving  of  soul,  that,  in  commiseration  of  suffering  hu- 
manity, demands  that  the  Government  shall  rescue  them  from  the  most 
cruel  and  unrelenting  bondage. 

I  have  been  accused  of  catering  to  a  morbid  "sickly  sentimentality." 
Sir,  I  never  yielded  anything  of  my  own  conscientious  convictions  to  con- 
sult the  opinions  of  others.  I  never  stooped  to  solicit  office  ;  but  I  have 
received  and  accepted  it  to  my  own  disadvantage.  I  might  have  hated  the 
Indians,  if  I  had  a  soul  no  bigger  than  a  shell-bark.  [Laughter.] 

In  my  boyish  days,  before  manhood  had  hardened  my  thews  and  muscles, 
I  received  balls  and  arrows  in  this  body,  in  defense  of  suffering  humanity 
particularly  women  and  children,  against  the  Indians ;  and  I  aided  in  re- 
claiming the  brightest  spot  of  the  South — Alabama.  When  I  remember 
that^  in  those  early  days,  I  assisted  in  rescuing  females  and  children  from 
the  relentless  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  charge 
that  I  have  stooped  to  court  favor  by  the  expression  of  my  sentiments  on 
this  question,  is  one  which  falls  harmless  at  my  feet. 

I  hardly  know  what  to  think  of  the  gentleman's  remarks  as  to  catering 
for  the  presidency.  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  about  the  extraneous  sub- 
jects which  he  has  introduced.  I  suppose  the  shortest  way  of  naming  what 
he  intended  to  allude  to,  is  by  the  term  "  Know-Nothing."  Now,  of  the 
Know-Nothings  I  know  nothing  [laughter]  ;  and  of  them  I  care  nothing. 
But  if  the  principles  which  I  see  charged  to  them  in  many  instances  are  the 
principles  which  they  seek  to  carry  out,  I  can  say  to  gentlemen  that  I  con- 
cur in  many  of  them.  If  their  object  is  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  one 
religion  or  sect  upon  another,  I  am  with  them.  I  say,  resist  all  such  en- 
croachments, and  leave  all  religion  uncontaminated  by  the  perversion  of 


454  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

power  that  might  accidentally  result  in  proscription  and  the  inquisition* 
"  I'll  none  of  it ";  I  am  opposed  to  and  would  prevent  such  a  result. 

I  admit  that  we  are  all  descended  from  foreigners,  because,  originally, 
there  were  no  natives  here  who  were  white  men.  Many  of  those  foreigners 
who  originally  came  here  were  baptized  in  the  blood  of  the  Revolution  ;  but 
they  were  not  such  men  as  are  now  coming  to  our  shores,  and  should  not  be 
named  in  connection  with  those  who  are  spewed  loathingly  from  the  prisons 
of  England,  and  from  the  pauper  houses  of  Europe.  Such  men  are  not  to 
be  compared  to  our  ancestry,  or  to  the  immigration  which,  until  recently, 
has  come  to  our  shores  from  foreign  countries.  If  the  object  of  those  to 
whom  the  Senator  from  Iowa  has  referred,  be  to  prevent  men  of  infamous 
character  and  paupers  from  coming  here,  I  agree  with  them.  I  would  say, 
establish  a  law  requiring  every  person  from  abroad,  before  being  received 
here,  to  bring  an  indorsement  from  one  of  our  consuls  abroad,  and  produce 
evidence  of  good  character  from  the  place  whence  he  emigrates,  so  that, 
when  he  comes  here,  we  may  receive  him  into  full  communion  with  all  the 
rights  guaranteed  to  him  by  the  laws  which  may  exist  at  the  time  of  his  im- 
migration. But,  sir,  to  say  that  a  felon,  who  left  his  prison  the  day  he  sailed 
for  this  country,  or,  perhaps,  was  brought  in  chains  to  the  vessel  which  bore 
him  here,  is,  in  five  years,  to  stand  an  equal  with  the  proudest  man  who 
walks  on  our  soil,  the  man  who  has  shed  his  blood  to  consecrate  liberty  and 
his  country,  is  not  the  kind  of  arrangement  that  I  go  for. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  Will  the  Senator  from  Texas  allow  me  to  ask  him  one 
question  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.    With  pleasure. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  As  the  subject  of  Know-Nothingism,  as  it  is  called,  has 
been  brought  here 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  have  not  introduced  it,  and  I  am  not  going  to  com- 
ment on  it. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  Precisely  so ;  the  Senator  has  not  introduced  the  sub- 
ject, and  perhaps  he  is  not  responsible  for  its  introduction  ;  but  he  is  under- 
taking to  say  what  he  himself  thinks  upon  it.  Now,  as  he  is  speaking  on 
the  subject,  I  should  like  to  understand  distinctly  whether  he  approves  or 
does  not  approve  of  so  much  of  the  creed  attributed  to  the  Know-Nothings 
as  would  make  those  who  profess  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  ineligible 
to  office  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.    I  would  vote  for  no  such  law. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  asked  the  gentleman  whether  he  approved  that  or  not 
— not  whether  he  would  vote  for  it. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  No,  sir;  I  could  not  approve  of  such  a  law.  But  the 
proscription  which  is  charged  on  those  to  whom  allusion  has  been  made,  is 
no  more  than  formerly  existed  between  Whigs  and  Democrats.  When 
party  discipline  was  kept  up,  if  a  Whig  voted  for  a  Democratic  candidate 
he  was  ruled  out  of  his  party  and  branded  as  a  deserter ;  and  if  a  Democrat 
voted  for  a  Whig  he  was  disowned  by  his  party.  That  species  of  political 
proscription  will  exist  everywhere,  according  to  the  notions  of  people.  1 
do  not  set  up  my  opinion  as  the  doctrine  by  which  others  are  to  be  gov- 
erned. I  am  governed  by  my  own  principles,  and  my  own  sentiments,  and 
I  have  a  right  to  vindicate  them,  and  I  am  responsible  for  them  to  the 


Miaapprekensions  of  Iowa  Senator.  455 

world.  When  the  Senator  from  Iowa  supposes  that  I  would  cater  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States,  he  does  me  great  injustice.  I  would  not 
cater  for  any  office  beneath  Heaven.  But,  sir,  I  know  one  thing:  if  it  were 
to  be  forced  upon  me,  I  should  make  a  great  many  changes  in  some  small 
matters.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  President,  I  am  very  sorry  that  my  young  friend  from  Iowa,  for  whom 
I  entertain  so  much  respect,  should  have  acted  as  he  has  done.  He  cer- 
tainly has  gone  beyond  anything  that  I  had  imagined.  He  supposes  that 
my  object  in  addressing  the  Senate  on  this  Indian  subject  was  to  connect  it 
with  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  bill.  I  have  not  thought  of  that  bill  except 
that  I  alluded  to  the  manner  in  which  it  was  passed  yesterday  evening,  when 
the  Senate  refused,  rather  discourteously,  as  I  thought,  to  adjourn  to  en- 
able a  Senator  to  speak ;  but  I  now  take  back  what  I  then  said,  for  the  Sen- 
ate did  afterward  adjourn.  I  alluded  then  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
passage  of  the  Nebraska  bill  was  effected,  but  I  have  not  thought  of  it  in 
the  speeches  which  I  have  made  upon  our  Indian  relations.  I  have  sought 
to  let  it  go  by  and  rest  in  peace.  I  have  not  been  anxious  to  renew  the  con- 
troversy in  regard  to  it.  If  it  is  for  good,  I  hope  good  will  result  from  it ; 
if  for  evil,  I  hope  the  least  possible  evil  will  be  the  result.  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  that  now,  and  I  shall  not  allude  to  it  further. 

The  Senator  from  Iowa  says  that  I  have  attacked  the  Indian  agents  and 
the  officers  of  the  army.  I  have  not  rejected  upon  a  single  agent  of  this 
Government.  If  I  think  honestly  that  a  measure  recommended  by  the  Ad- 
ministration is  impolitic,  unwise,  and  unproductive,  of  good  to  the  country, 
I  have  the  undoubted  right  to  oppose  it  in  argument,  and  to  vote  against 
it.  That  is  a  privilege  which  pertains  to  me  as  a  Senator  from  one  of  the 
States  of  this  Union.  I  have  a  right  to  exercise  that  privilege.  It  arro- 
gates nothing  to  myself,  and,  therefore,  I  shall  exercise  it.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, to  be  supposed,  because  I  vote  against  this  measure,  that  I  am  opposed 
to  the  Administration,  or  find  fault  with  its  every  act.  If  the  gentleman  had 
reflected,  he  would  have  come  to  .the  conclusion  that  the  Administration 
has  done  so  many  good  acts  that  I  can  not  particularize  them  ;  and  because 
I  do  not  concur  in  this  measure,  it  is  not  condemnatory  of  the  general 
course  of  the  Administration.  All  I  have  to  do,  at  present,  is  with  this 
measure. 

The  Senator  from  Iowa  misapprehended  me  in  another  respect ;  and  that 
was,  in  supposing  that  I  was  opposed  to  raising  even  five  hundred  men.  I 
say,  raise  that  number ;  raise  men  enough  to  go  as  convoys  or  guards  to  the 
emigrating  parties  ;  and,  besides  that,  send  out  commissioners  who  are  wise 
and  discreet  men — such  as  were  taken  to  explore  the  promised  land  of  Ca- 
naan in  olden  times.  Let  them  go  and  bring  reports  of  the  feelings  of  the 
Indians,  and  see  whether  good  fruits  will  not  result.  Let  them  go  there 
and  make  treaties  with  the  Indians.  Let  them  take  two  hundred,  or  three 
hundred,  or  five  hundred  men  with  them.  If  I  were  going  I  should  not 
take  more  than  three  hundred.  Indeed,  I  believe  one  hundred  would  be 
sufficient  to  meet  the  Comanches.  One  hundred  Americans,  with  Sharp's 
rifles,  would  subdue  the  whole  of  them,  if  they  could  get  the  Indians  to 
come  to  them.  There  is  the  difficulty.  You  know  there  is  an  old  adage 
about  catching  birds.  Nurses  tell  children  to  put  a  little  salt  upon  their 


456  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

tails,  and  you  have  them.  [Laughter.]  You  can  not  catch  these  fellows  in 
that  way.  You  can  not  get  near  enough  to  them  ;  and  there  is  the  difficulty. 

But,  sir,  in  order  to  sustain  what  I  said  in  relation  to  officers  of  the 
army,  I  wish  to  read  an  extract  from  the  last  official  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Indian  Affairs  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior : 

"  As  heretofore  reported  to  you,  an  association  of  persons  has  undertaken 
to  appropriate  to  their  own  use  a  portion  of  the  land  ceded  by  the  Dela- 
wares,  fronting  on  the  Missouri  River,  and  south  of  Fort  Leaven  worth , 
have  laid  out  a  city  thereon,  and  actually  had  a  public  sale  of  the  lots  of  the 
same  on  the  9th  and  loth  of  October  last.  These  unlawful  proceedings 
have  not  only  taken  place  under  the  eyes  of  the  military  officers  stationed 
at  the  fort,  but  two  of  them  are  said  to  be  members  of  the  association,  and 
have  been  active  agents  in  this  discreditable  business.  Encouraged  by  these 
proceedings,  and  prompted  by  those  engaged  in  them,  other  persons  have 
gone  on  other  portions  of  the  tract  ceded  by  the  Delawares  in  trust  to  the 
United  States,  and  pretend  to  have  made,  and  are  now  making,  such  '  claims  ' 
as  they  assert  will  vest  in  them  the  lawful  right  to  enter  the  land  at  the 
minimum  price  under  the  preemption  law  of  July  22,  1854." 

There  is  the  authority  from  which  I  drew  my  conclusions  in  relation  to 
the  conduct  of  those  officers.  I  have  not  branded  them  with  any  oppro- 
brious terms.  If  they  are  innocent^what  I  said  can  not  injure  them  ;  if  they 
are  guilty,  there  is  no  condemnation  too  deep  for  them. 

Mr.  DODGE,  of  Iowa.  I  hope  the  Senator  from  Texas  will  name  the  per- 
sons who  have  been  guilty  of  the  conduct  to  which  he  has  alluded. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  have  given  the  quotation  from  the  official  documents. 
I  will  tell  the  Senator  the  reasons  why  I  referred  to  that  transaction.  In 
the  first  place,  it  was  to  demonstrate  the  fact  that  aggressions  are  committed 
upon  the  Indians  ;  and  is  not  this  calculated  to  dissolve  the  bands  of  peace, 
and  bring  on  war?  In  the  next  place,  this  country  is  under  the  control  of 
the  military  ;  and  why  have  they  not  restrained  those  people  from  such  an 
outrage  ? 


SPEECH    FAVORING    A    MEXICAN    PROTECTORATE. 

Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  April  20,  1858. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  move  to  take  up  the  resolution  I  had  the  honor  to  submit 
some  weeks  since  on  the  subject  of  a  protectorate  over  Mexico  and  Central 
America ;  and  I  believe  it  is  in  order  to  offer  some  remarks  on  that  motion. 

Mr.  HUNTER.  I  must  say,  in  regard  to  that  motion,  that  I  shall  have  no  ob- 
jection to  it,  provided  it  will  not  supersede  the  consideration  of  the  special  order. 
When  is  the  hour  for  its  consideration  ? 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.    At  one  o'clock. 

Mr.  HUNTER.  Then  I  will  say  that  of  course  I  do  not  object  to  taking  up 
the  resolution,  if  at  one  o'clock  we  shall  proceed  with  the  special  order. 

Mr.  GWIN.  I  thought  the  deficiency  bill  was  the  special  order  for  twelve  and 
a  half  o'clock. 


Protectorate  over  Mexico  Legitimate.  457 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  special  order  was  fixed  for  half-past 
twelve  o'clock  yesterday ;  but  it  is  for  one  o'clock  to-day. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  hope  I  may  be  allowed  to  conclude  my  remarks  ;  they  are 
limited. 

Mr.  HUNTER.  The  Senator  from  Texas  tells  me  that  he  will  not  occupy 
more  than  an  hour,  and  as  I  am  anxious  to  go  on  with  the  deficiency  bill,  per- 
haps it  would  be  better  that  he  should  commence  now.  It  will  only  postpone 
the  consideration  of  that  bill  for  half  an  hour.  I  hope  the  Senate  will  consent 
to  let  him  take  up  his  resolution. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  move  to  take  up  the  resolution  for  the  purpose  of  offering 
a  substitute,  and  proposing  that  it  be  referred  to  a  special  committee  to  consist 
of  seven.  1  do  not  suppose  that  will  lead  to  any  argument  whatever.  I  wish 
to  offer  some  views  explanatory  of  the  object  of  the  resolution. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to ;  and  the  Senate  proceeded  to  consider  the  resolu- 
tion submitted  by  Mr.  Houston  in  regard  to  establishing  a  protectorate  over 
Mexico  and  other  Central  American  States. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Mr.  President,  it  will  be  recollected  that  a  few  weeks  ago  I 
offered  a  resolution  to  instruct  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations  to  inquire 
into  the  expediency  of  establishing  a  protectorate  over  Mexico  and  the  Central 
American  States  by  this  Government.  That  resolution,  without  being  amply 
discussed,  was  laid  upon  the  table.  I  have  risen  for  the  purpose  of  proposing  a 
substitute  for  it,  by  which  the  inquiry  shall  be  confined  to  Mexico,  and  submitted 
to  a  select  committee. 

It  is,  perhaps,  nothing  more  than  respectful  to  Great  Britain,  inasmuch  as  we 
have  been  negotiating  with  her  for  several  years  in  relation  to  Honduras  and 
the  Mosquito  shore,  that  the  differences  between  the  two  countries  should  be 
amicably  adjusted,  if  possible,  before  we  proceed  to  intervene  for  the  regulation 
of  the  affairs  of  the  five  puny  .States  beyond  Mexico.  Moreover,  the  condition 
of  most  of  those  States,  bad  as  it  is,  is  incalculably  better  than  that  of  our  poor, 
distracted,  adjoining  neighbor.  Their  public  demoralization,  too,  affects  us  less 
injuriously. 

The  State,  sir,  which  I  have  enjoyed  the  honor  of  representing  in  this 
chamber,  in  part,  with  my  lost  but  unforgotten  colleague,  since  the  emblem  of 
her  national  independence  took  its  place  among  the  galaxy  of  stars  which  is  un- 
furled over  our  heads,  has  a  paramount  interest  in  the  establishment  of  orderly 
government  in  Mexico.  It  is  as  essential  to  her  public  morality  and  general  pros- 
perity as  is  that  of  any  one  State  in  the  Union  to  another.  The  line  of  partition 
between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  stretches  nearly  two  thousand  miles — 
one  thousand  of  which  is  Texan.  Along  a  considerable  portion  of  that  line,  on 
our  side,  savages  abound,  over  whose  propensities  for  the  commission  of  crime 
on  the  inhabitants  on  the  other  side  we  can  exercise,  although  obligated  by 
solemn  treaty  stipulations  to  do  so,  no  effectual  restraint.  On  account  of  the 
depredations  incessantly  perpetrated  by  the  Comanches  and  other  tribes  upon 
the  Mexicans,  the  border  population  is  steadily  receding  into  the  interior ;  and 
instead  of  progressive  civilization,  the  chances  multiply,  from  day  to  day,  that 
the  country  will  be  turned  over  to  barbarism — to  the  savages  now  within  our 
own  limits.  Mexico  can  not  prevent  it,  because  she  is  never  free  from  civil  war 
or  other  intestine  commotions ;  and  we  can  not,  at  any  cost,  short  of  hermeti- 
cally sealing  our  frontier.  Thus  good  neighborhood  on  either  part,  as  matters 


458  Houston 's  Literary  Remains. 

at  present  stand,  is  next  to  an  impossibility.  The  one  can  not  repel,  and  the 
other  can  not  pursue.  The  wild  Indian  in  his  forest  wanderings  has  no  respect 
for,  if  he  even  had  a  knowledge  of,  the  lines  which  separate  civilized  nations. 
He  roams  wherever  his  untutored  mind  points  the  way,  making  in  his  strides  the 
powerless — whether  the  white  or  the  red  man — his  victim.  Different,  vastly 
different,  is  the  condition  of  the  neighborhood  on  our  northern  frontier.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  British  Provinces  are  so  assimilated  in  character  and  identi- 
fied in  interests  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  States  that  they  are  as 
much  the  same  as  if  they  constituted  one  people.  Practically  there  is  nothing 
but  a  political  line  of  division  between  them.  The  Marcy-Elgin  treaty  cemented 
their  intercourse,  and  commercially  annexed  the  Canadas  and  other  adjacent 
possessions  of  Queen  Victoria  to  those  States.  We  gave  to  the  colonies  every- 
thing that  they  asked — everything  that  they  could  have  desired. 

The  Senator  from  New  York  told  us  the  other  day,  in  substance,  that  the 
North  was  mighty,  and  that  it  would  speedily  become  still  mightier.  In  the 
majesty  of  its  power  it  may,  at  no  distant  day,  bring  those  colonies  into  the 
Union,  and  particularly  if  they  should  become  dissatisfied  with  the  rule  of  the 
mother  country.  Nor  can  it  be  pleaded  that  they  are  not  prepared  for  ad- 
mission. Every  day  that  passes — such  is  the  frequency  of  their  communication 
with  the  citizens  of  Michigan,  New  York,  and  New  England — they  receive 
practical  lessons  in  the  science  of  self-government,  adopting  of  course  the 
tenets  of  anti-slavery.  Their  number  does  not  greatly  exceed  a  third  of  that  of 
Mexico,  and  yet  they  probably  contribute  ten  times  as  much  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  North  as  Mexico  does  to  the  prosperity  of  the  South.  I  do  not  mention 
this  in  the  language  of  sectional  complaint,  but  in  justification  of  the  measure  I 
propose. 

The  notion,  sir,  that  Mexico  will  ever  help  herself  out  of  the  extremities  to 
which  she  has  been  so  deplorably  reduced,  is  too  absurd  to  be  entertained  by  a 
rational  mind.  The  more  she  struggles,  ostensibly  for  the  bettering  of  her  con- 
dition, the  more  anarchical  she  becomes.  To  bring  such  a  population  as  hers 
into  the  Union  would  be  to  assume  the  gravest  of  responsibilities.  To  suffer 
her  to  be  parceled  out  by  filibusters — each  chief  perhaps  a  despot — would  be 
to  fraternize  with  every  desperate  adventurer  in  our  own  land,  and  to  invite  to 
our  continent  all  the  wild,  vicious  spirits  of  the  other  hemisphere.  Nor  could 
we  consent,  without  palpable  dishonor,  to  see  her  placed  in  the  leading-strings 
of  any  European  Power,  even  were  there  a  disposition  manifested  to  so  place 
her.  We  have,  then,  no  alternative,  if  we  put  the  slightest  value  upon  our  in- 
terests, and  are  not  disposed  to  disregard  our  duty,  but  to  arrange  plans  imme- 
diately for  ruling  her  wisely,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  gently. 

In  the  consummation  of  great  measures  we  are  apt  to  be — perhaps  a  little  too 
apt — a  closely  cost-calculating  people.  In  the  matter  of  the  proposed  protecto- 
rate of  Mexico,  one  of  the  first  questions  which  is  likely  to  suggest  itself  to  our 
countrymen  is  that  relating  to  the  expenditure  it  will  involve.  Happily,  this  can 
be  readily  and  satisfactorily  answered. 

The  protectorate  must  be  self-protecting— the  expense  incident  to  it  defrayed 
by  the  protected.  The  General  Government  of  Mexico  could  probably  be  ad- 
ministered, taking  a  term  of  ten  years,  for  $6,000,000 ;  while  her  custom  receipts, 
under  a  well-regulated  and  honestly  administered  revenue  tariff,  would  double 
that  amount. 


The  Means  and  Benefits  of  Protectorate.        459 

% 

Our  Gulf  and  Pacific  squadrons  would  be  ample  for  the  protection  of  her 
commerce  in  those  quarters,  and  without  subjecting  us  to  additional  outlays. 
Five  thousand  reliable  regular  troops,  properly  garrisoned  and  distributed, 
would  insure  the  establishment  and  preservation  of  internal  order;  and  the 
adoption  of  a  good  police  system  would  eventuate  in  bringing  to  justice,  and 
effectually  subduing,  the  rapacious  and  blood-thirsty  bandits  who  infest  her 
highways.  Hence  it  is  clear  that  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  improve  the  con- 
dition of  Mexico  immeasurably;  to  breathe  the  breath  of  new  life  into  her 
nostrils ;  and  without  incurring  the  risk  of  a  dollar.  What  a  salutary  change 
would  this  be,  not  only  for  both  countries,  but  for  the  world  at  large-! 

Faithless  to  her  engagements,  Mexico  has  been  for  a  long  time  but  a  little 
better  than  a  national  outlaw.  She  is  powerful  for  the  commission  of  wrongs, 
but  powerless  for  their  redress.  Our  Department  of  State  is  the  repository  for 
the  grievances  of  our  citizens  by  her  high-handed  deeds  ;  but  nothing  more  than 
a  repository,  since  the  securing  of  indemnities  for  outrages  has  become  a  some- 
what obsolete  idea.  Those  grievances  are  doubtless  magnified  in  a  pecuniary 
point  of  view,  as  grievances  ever  are  where  a  government  is  responsible ;  but 
still  there  should  be  an  authority  in  Mexico  with  which  they  may  be  adjusted 
and  provided  for,  as  ascertained  to  be  valid.  The  claimants  might  select  one 
commissioner  for  their  examination,  Mexico  another;  and,  in  case  of  disagree- 
ment, the  two  an  umpire.  So  with  the  inhabitants  of  other  countries,  who  have 
experienced  wrongs  at  her  hands  which  have  not  been  redressed.  With  respect 
to  her  funded  debt,  it  amounts  to  about  fifty-five  million  dollars,  and  is  chiefly 
owned  in  England  and  on  the  Continent.  It  was  consolidated  in  1846,  by  a 
convention  between  the  Government  of  Mexico  and  a  committee  of  the  bond- 
holders, by  which  it  was  to  bear  five  per  cent,  coupon  interest.  The  war  in 
which  Mexico  became  involved  with  the  United  States  so  enfeebled  her  that  she 
was  unable  to  provide  the  interest,  or  a  single  dividend  of  it,  until  some  time 
along  in  1850,  when  she  sent  a  commissioner  to  London  to  represent  the  state 
of  her  finances,  and  to  make  a  new  proposal  to  her  creditors.  This  proposal 
was  to  the  end  that  she  would  pay  out  of  the  California  indemnity  money  the 
interest  in  arrears,  and  pledge  one-fourth  of  the  custom-house  receipts  on  im- 
ports as  well  as  exports  for  the  payment  of  the  future  interest  of  the  debt,  pro- 
vided the  bondholders  would  agree  to  diminish  the  rate  of  interest  from  five  to 
three  per  cent.  To  this,  after  some  hesitation,  they  consented.  Since  then, 
such  is  the  faithlessness  with  which  she  has  acted,  and  such  the  subterfuges  that 
she  has  had  to  resort  to  in  order  to  sustain  her  sickly  existence,  that  she  has  ap- 
propriated to  herself  nearly  all  the  customs  dues  received  ;  having  remitted  only 
a  sufficient  amount  to  pay  four  of  the  semi-annual  three  per  cent,  interest  divi- 
dends which  have  since  matured.  With  this  arrangement,  to  which  Mexico  is 
bound,  we  could  not  interfere,  as  her  protector,  unless  with  the  assent  of  the 
bondholders.  It  might,  however,  probably  be  modified  to  their  own  and  her 
advantage.  The  assumption  of  it  by  this  Government,  as  a  consequence  of  the 
protectorate,  is  too  idle  a  supposition  to  be  entertained.  Great  Britain  could  not 
expect  more  from  us  in  the  premises  than  to  see  that  the  portion  of  the  revenue 
from  the  customs  stipulated  for  was  regularly  placed  at  the  disposal  of  those 
bondholders  when  collected.  This  would  in  all  likelihood  defray  the  interest  as 
it  accrued,  besides  creating  a  sinking  fund  for  the  absorption,  in  a  few  years,  of 
the  principal,  and  thus  extricate  the  hand  of  our  unfortunate  neighbor  from  the 


460  Houston }s  Literary  Remains. 

lion's  mouth.     England,  as  I  shall  presently  show,  would  be  well  enough  pleased 
to  have  it  so  extricated. 

Mr.  President,  I  have  looked,  but  looked  in  vain,  in  both  wings  of  this  Capi- 
tol, for  a  fellow-member  who  was  a  fellow-member  with  me  when  the  celebrated 
Monroe  doctrine  was  announced.  Of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  Senators 
and  Representatives  who  constituted  the  Congress  which  commenced  its  ses- 
sion on  the  first  Monday  of  December,  1823,  I  stand  here  alone,  and  I  will  not 
disguise  it,  as  one  who  regards  himself  as  among  the  last  of  his  race — as  one 
who  feels  that  he  is  approaching  his  journey's  end  on  life's  pilgrimage,  and  who 
has  now  no  other  ambition  to  gratify  than  to  "  render  the  State  some  service." 
All  those  worthy  spirits,  alas  !  have,  one  by  one,  quitted  earth,  with  the  excep 
tion  of  President  Buchanan,  ex-President  Van  Buren,  ex-Senator  Branch,  ex- 
Senator  Rives,  Governor  Letcher,  and  Governor  Wickliffe  of  Kentucky,  Gov- 
ernor Johnson  of  Virginia,  General  Mercer,  General  Campbell  of  South  Caro- 
lina, Mr.  Saunders  of  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Stuart  of  Pennsylvania,  Mr.  Blair  of 
Tennessee,  and  possibly  two  or  three  others.  To  say  nothing  of  the  distin- 
guished merits  of  the  survivors,  in  that  great  Congress  might  have  been  seen, 
in  the  full  meridian  of  strong  intellect,  the  Jacksons  and  Clays,  the  Websters 
and  Randolphs,  the  Macons  and  Forsyths,  the  Bentons  and  Livingstons,  the 
Barbours  and  Johnsons,  the  McLanes  and  McDuffies,  the  Kings  and  Smiths, 
the  Taylors  and  Hamiltons,  the  Floyds  and  Holmeses,  the  Ruggleses  and  Bart- 
letts.  It  was  to  such  men,  chosen  alike  for  their  wisdom  and  integrity,  repre- 
senting twenty-four  sovereign  States  and  thirteen  millions  of  inhabitants,  that 
Mr.  Monroe  (counseled  by  a  Cabinet  composed  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  William 
H.  Crawford,  John  C.  Calhoun,  Samuel  L.  Southard,  William  Wirt,  and  John 
McLean)  addressed  himself  in  such  confident  and  resolute  language  with  refer- 
ence to  the  ulterior  purposes  of  this  country.  I  shall  never  cease  to  remember 
the  exultant  delight  with  which  his  noble  sentiments  were  hailed.  They  met 
not  only  with  a  cordial,  but  an  enthusiastic  reception  both  in  and  out  of  Con- 
gress. They  were  approved  with  as  much  unanimity  as  if  the  entire  population 
of  the  Union  had  been  previously  prepared  to  re-echo  their  utterance.  At  that 
glorious  epoch  there  was  a  broad,  towering  spirit  of  nationality  extant.  The 
States  stood  in  the  endearing  relation  to  each  other  of  one  for  all,  and  all  for 
one.  The  Constitution  was  their  political  text-book,  the  glory  of  the  Republic 
their  resolute  aim.  Practically,  there  was  but  one  party,  and  that  party  animated 
by  but  one  object — our  upward  and  onward  career.  As  if  in  atonement  for  the 
wrong  inflicted  upon  the  country  by  the  angry  Missouri  controversy,  which  was 
then  fresh  in  every  mind,  there  seemed  to  be  no  circumscription  to  that  genuine 
patriotism  which  everywhere  within  our  embraces  displayed  itself.  May  we  not 
trust,  Mr.  President,  that  a  similar  result  will  ensue  from  the  still  more  angry 
Kansas  controversy,  and  that  the  benign  influences  of  such  results  will  be  as 
durable  as  creation  ?  This  will  assuredly  be  the  case  if  the  only  question  asked 
within  this  Capitol  when  an  embryo  State  asks  for  admission  into  the  Union  is  : 
Does  her  constitution  conform  to  the  national  requirement — "  a  republican 
form  of  government" ?  We  have  cheapened  ourselves  immensely  in  the 
world's  esteem,  and,  I  fear,  polluted  our  system  of  government,  in  our  extrava- 
gant disbursements,  which  have  been  overlooked  in  the  profitless  strife  which 
had  its  emanation  in  the  hostility  to  the  institution  of  negro  slavery.  Let  each 
new  State,  hereafter,  come  slave  or  free,  as  she  chooses,  and  we  shall  henceforth 


History  of  "Monroe  Doctrine"  461 

have  peace,  the  peace  of  union  as  contemplated  by  the  authors  and  founders  of 
'  our  Republic.  We  have  grander  ends  to  attain  than  the  frittering  away  of  a 
healthful  existence  upon  such  loathsome,  ignoble  subjects.  Our  aspirations 
should  be  to  spread  our  heaven-inspired  principles,  by  our  lofty  public  bearing, 
on  to  the  most  remote  and  benighted  regions;  proudly,  in  the  rectitude  of  our 
intentions,  taking  our  place  at  the  very  head  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is 
for  us,  if  we  are  equal  to  our  mission,  to  realize  for  America  the  poet's  vision  of 
the  future  of  England : 

"  Wherever  the  bright  sun  of  heaven  shall  shine, 
Her  honor  and  the  greatness  of  her  name 
Shall  be  and  make  new  nations  ;  she  shall  flourish, 
And,  like  a  mountain  cedar,  reach  her  branches 
To  all  the  plains  about  her." 

But,  sir,  to  return  to  the  Monroe  doctrine.  In  their  notice  of  the  message  at 
the  time  it  was  promulgated,  the  then  as  now  calm,  observing  editors  of  the 
National  Intelligencer  remarked : 

"It  does  honor  to  its  author,  and  the  most  material  parts  are  conceived  in 
the  true  spirit  of  the  days  in  which  he  first  engaged  in  the  scenes  of  public  life." 

Sir,  that  doctrine  is,  perhaps,  quite  familiar  to  every  member  of  this  Senate  ; 
but  such  has  been  my  unrelaxing  pride  in  it  for  nearly  thirty-five  years,  increased, 
if  possible,  by  the  fact  that  I  am  the  only  person  entitled  to  a  seat  in  this  build- 
ing to  whom  it  was  addressed,  that  I  can  not  refrain  from  its  perusal,  nor  from 
narrating  its  history  and  explaining  its  purpose. 

Our  relations  at  that  time  were  not  in  a  satisfactory  condition  with  the  Em- 
peror of  all  the  Russias — the  differences  having  grown  out  of  a  claim  of  that 
autocrat  to  a  portion  of  this  continent — and  in  this  connection  Mr.  Monroe 
made  the  emphatic  declaration  : 

"  In  the  discussions  to  which  this  interest  has  given  rise,  and  in  the  arrange- 
ments in  which  they  may  terminate,  the  occasion  has  been  judged  proper  for 
asserting  as  a  principle,  in  which  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States 
are  involved,  that  the  American  continents,  by  the  free  and  independent  condi- 
tion which  they  have  assumed  and  maintain,  are  henceforth  not  to  be  considered 
as  subjects  for  future  colonization  by  any  European  Power." 

Subsequently  he  reviewed  the  political  condition  of  the  two  hemispheres,  and 
referring  to  the  desire  of  the  Holy  Alliance  to  re-establish  Spain  in  her  late 
American  possessions,  he  fearlessly  stated  that — 

"  We  owe  it,  therefore,  to  candor,  and  to  the  amicable  relations  existing  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  those  Powers,  to  declare  that  we  should  consider 
any  attempt  on  their  parts  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of  this  hemi 
sphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety.  With  the  existing  colonies  or  de- 
pendencies of  any  European  Power  we  have  not  interfered,  and  shall  not  inter- 
fere. But  with  the  Governments  who  have  declared  their  independence  and 
maintained  it,  and  whose  independence  we  have,  on  great  consideration  and  on 
just  principles,  acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  any  interposition  for  the  pur- 
pose of  oppressing  them,  or  controlling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny,  by 
any  European  Power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  un- 
friendly disposition  towards  the  United  States." 


462  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

"It  is  impossible  that  the  Allied  Powers  should  extend  their  political  system 
to  any  portion  of  either  continent  [American]  without  endangering  our  peace 
and  happiness  ;  nor  can  any  one  believe  that  our  Southern  brethren,  if  left  to 
themselves,  would  adopt  it  of  their  own  accord.  It  is  equally  impossible,  there- 
fore, that  we  should  behold  such  interposition,  in  any  form,  with  indifference." 

Shortly  after  the  settlement  of  Europe  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  the 
more  despotic  continental  Governments  suddenly  became  seriously  troubled 
on  account  of  the  liberal  sentiments  which  strikingly  manifested  themselves 
in  Spain  and  elsewhere.  The  Holy  Alliance,  in  its  conferences  at  Troppau  and 
Laybach,  declared  eternal  hostility  to  all  popular  institutions,  announcing  its  pur- 
pose to  "  repress  republican  opinions  wherever  they  might  be  found,  and  to  ex- 
tinguish the  feelings  that  prompted  them."  To  use  its  avowed  language  : 

"  To  preserve  what  is  legally  established  was,  as  it  ought  to  be,  the  invariable 
principle  of  their  policy.  Useful  or  necessary  changes  in  legislation,  and  in  the 
administration  of  States,  ought  only  to  emanate  from  the  free  will  and  the  intel- 
ligent and  well-weighed  conviction  of  those  whom  God  has  rendered  responsible 
for  power." 

The  Czar  of  Russia  had  promised  Ferdinand  of  Spain  that  if  he  would  over- 
throw the  constitution  of  that  kingdom  he  would  assist  him,  not  only  in  fortify- 
ing his  throne,  but  also  in  re-establishing  his  authority  over  the  revolting 
Spanish-American  provinces.  To  this  proposition  England  dissented,  in  terms 
so  decided  as  to  cause  its  relinquishment — an  occurrence  not  displeasing  to  Aus- 
tria, as  she  was  averse  to  the  marching  of  a  large  Russian  army  across  her 
bosom  in  the  direction  of  the  Pyrenees.  But  France,  acting  in  the  interest  of 
the  Holy  Alliance,  and  probably  with  a  view  to  selfish  ulterior  objects,  deter- 
mined to  intervene  in  the  affairs  of  Spain,  and — under  the  alleged  excuse  to  Eng- 
land that  she  wished  to  prevent  the  yellow  fever,  which  was  prevailing  in  Portu- 
gal, from  entering  her  limits — she  established  an  army  in  the  confines  of  the 
Spanish  realm,  which  she  designated  a  "  cordon  sanit air e"  The  disappearance 
of  the  disease,  however,  from  the  peninsula,  did  not  lead  to  its  withdrawal,  and 
subsequently  she  bestowed  upon  it  the  title  of  the  "  army  of  observation."  But 
it  was  not  long — in  the  summer  of  1823 — until  she  marched  it  over  her  boun- 
dary and  undertook  to  control  Spain.  When,  in  1808,  Napoleon  attempted  to 
place  the  crown  of  that  realm  durably  upon  the  head  of  his  brother  Joseph,  he 
unquestionably  contemplated  the  acquisition  by  his  house  of  all  the  distant  pos- 
sessions. This  idea  might  not  have  been  the  actuating  one  in  the  armed  occu- 
pation of  Spain  by  France ;  but  it  is  certain  that  she  regarded  those  possessions 
as  a  prize  worth  securing,  if  they  could  be  obtained  at  a  reasonable,  or,  indeed, 
an  extravagant  cost.  She  saw  distinctly  that  they  were  as  good  as  lost  to  the 
mother  country,  which  was  in  a  deplorable  moral,  financial,  commercial,  and 
physical  condition.  Mr.  Canning,  as  Premier,  made  unceasing  efforts  to  influ- 
ence France  to  recall  her  army  from  Spain,  but  they  were  disregarded.  This  en- 
lightened British  statesman  boldly  arrayed  his  Government  against  the  principles 
of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and  lost  no  suitable  occasion  to  publicly  proclaim  the  sen- 
timents by  which  the  British  were  animated — sentiments  which  were  warmly 
responded  to  at  home,  and  by  the  larger  portion  of  the  continental  public.  They 
were  simply  these,  and,  from  their  very  nature,  in  violent  antagonism  with  those 
entertained  by  "he  stipendiaries  of  the  crowned  head  contrivers  of  the  Congress 


The  British  Minister  its  Inspirer.  463 

of  Verona :  The  people  the  origin  of  all  power,  the  object  of  all  governments 
the  good  of  the  governed. 

Nor  were  suitable  opportunities  left  unavailed  of  by  the  Premier  for  strength- 
ening and  cementing  the  ties  of  friendship  between  his  own  and  this  country. 
In  a  speech  which  he  delivered  to  his  townsmen  of  Liverpool,  on  the  25th  of 
August,  1823,  at  a  banquet  which  they  gave  to  Christopher  Hughes,  our  excel- 
lent Minister  to  the  Netherlands,  he  said,  among  other  things : 

"On  such  an  occasion  he  might  be  permitted  to  express  the  gratification 
he  felt,  in  common  with  the  great  mass  of  the  intelligent  and  liberal  men  of  both 
countries,  to  see  the  animosities  necessarily  attendant  on  a  state  of  hostility  so 
rapidly  wearing  away,  and  giving  place  to  feelings  so  consonant  to  the  true  in- 
terests of  the  two  nations,  united  by  a  common  language,  a  common  spirit 
of  commercial  enterprise,  and  a  common  regard  for  well-regulated  liberty.  It 
appeared  to  him  that  of  two  such  nations  the  relative  position  was  not  wholly 
unlike  that  which  occasionally  occurred  in  families,  where  a  child  having  perhaps 
displeased  a  parent — a  daughter,  for  instance— in  contracting  a  connection  of- 
fensive to  that  parent's  feelings,  some  estrangement  would  for  a  while  necessarily 
ensue  ;  but,  after  a  lapse  of  time,  the  irritation  is  forgotten,  the  force  of  blood 
again  prevails,  and  the  daughter  and  the  mother  stand  together  against 
the  world." 

About  the  time  this  speech  was  delivered,  Mr.  Canning  is  reported  to  have 
had  an  interview  with  our  Minister  near  the  Court  of  St.  James,  in  which  he  ex- 
plained the  policy  of  his  Government  with  respect  to  Spain  and  the  South 
American  States,  desiring  the  co-operation  of  the  United  States,  if  necessary,  in 
its  enforcement.  Our  Minister,  it  appears,  had  no  instructions  upon  the  subject, 
but  transmitted  the  proposal  to  Washington  for  consideration.  On  the  3ist  of 
March  previous  the  Prime  Minister  wrote  to  the  British  Minister  at  Madrid  to 
intimate  to  the  French  Minister  near  that  Court,  in  terms  sufficiently  distinct  to 
admit  of  no  misconception,  that  while  Great  Britain  utterly  disclaimed  any  in- 
tention of  appropriating  to  herself  any  of  the  former  colonies  or  dependencies  of 
Spain,  she  would  not  tacitly  consent  to  their  acquisition,  or  that  of  either  of 
them,  by  France.  This  led  to  a  conference  between  himself  and  the  Prince  de 
Polignac,  the  French  Minister,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1823,  in  which  the  latter 
proposed  : 

"  That  in  the  interests  of  humanity,  and  especially  in  that  of  the  Spanish 
colonies,  it  would  be  worthy  of  the  European  Governments  to  concert  together 
the  means  of  calming,  in  those  distant  and  scarcely  civilized  regions,  pas- 
sions blinded  by  party  spirit,  and  to  endeavor  to  bring  back  to  a  principle 
of  union  in  government,  whether  monarchical  or  aristocratical,  people  among 
whom  absurd  and  dangerous  theories  were  now  keeping  up  agitation  and 
disunion." 

But  the  conference  terminated  without  a  result,  Mr.  Canning  no  doubt  deem- 
ing it  better  to  await  intelligence  from  this  capital  relative  to  his  proposal  to  our 
Minister.  The  world-renowned  message  contained  Mr.  Monroe's  answer.  It 
was  as  unexpected  as  a  destructive  earthquake,  and  dispelled  every  hope  which 
had  been  indulged  in  Paris,  and  in  autocratic  circles  elsewhere,  of  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  Spain  in  her  lost  possessions.  It  was  thus  that  the  triumph  of  Eng- 
land over  the  Holy  Alliance  was  effected,  as  was  explained,  when  Parliament 


464  Houstorfs  Literary  Remains. 

met  in  the  following  February,  by  the  Marquis  of  Lansdowne  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  Mr.  Brougham  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

In  the  discussion  upon  the  speech  from  the  throne,  at  the  opening  of  the  ses- 
sion, the  Marquis  observed,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  commenting  upon  that 
part  of  it  relating  to  the  non-recognition  of  the  Spanish-American  States  in 
terms  of  disapproval  : 

"  But  if  we  had  been  tardy,  it  was  a  satisfaction  to  find  that  America  had,  on 
this  occasion,  taken  that  decisive  step  which  so  well  became  its  character  and  its 
interest.  As  that  important  decision  was  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  every 
portion  of  the  world  where  freedom  was  valued,  he  could  not  grudge  to  the 
United  States  the  glory  of  having  thus  early  thrown  her  shield  over  those 
struggles  for  freedom  which  were  so  important,  not  merely  to  America  herself, 
but  to  the  whole  world."  .  .  .  .  "  Let  their  Lordships  look  to  what  had  hap- 
pened in  the  United  States.  There  a  population  of  three  millions  had,  in  the 
course  of  forty  years,  been  increased  to  ten  millions." 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  during  the  same  day  and  in  the  same  discussion, 
Mr.  [now  Lord]  Brougham,  remarked  : 

"  The  Holy  Alliance  !  [A  cry  of  '  Hear  ! ']  What,  was  this  designation  ot 
these  sovereigns  doubted  ?  Why,  it  was  not  his,  but  that  which  they  had  given 
themselves.  There  was  but  one  view  that  could  be  taken  of  that  league  ot 
conspirators  and  of  the  motives  of  their  alliance."  .... 

"  The  question,  however,  with  regard  to  South  America,  he  believed  was  now 
disposed  of,  or  nearly  so  ;  for  an  event  had  recently  happened  than  which  no 
event  had  ever  dispersed  greater  joy,  exultation,  and  gratitude  over  all  the  free- 
men in  Europe — an  event  in  which  he,  as  an  Englishman,  connected  by  ties  ot 
blood  and  language  with  America,  took  peculiar  satisfaction.  An  event,  he  re- 
peated, had  happened,  which  was  decisive  on  that  subject ;  and  that  event  was 
the  message  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  Congress.  The  line  of 
policy  which  that  message  disclosed  became  a  great  and  independent  nation ; 
and  he  hoped  his  Majesty's  Ministers  would  be  prevented  by  no  mean  pride  or 
paltry  jealousy  from  following  so  noble  and  illustrious  an  example.  He  trusted 
that  as  the  United  States  had  had  the  glory  of  setting,  we  should  have  the  good 
taste  to  follow  the  example  of  holding  fast  by  free  institutions,  and  of  assisting 
our  brother  freemen,  in  whatever  part  of  the  globe  they  should  be  found,  in 
placing  bounds  to  that  impious  alliance  which,  if  it  ever  succeeded  in  bringing 
down  the  Old  World  to  its  own  degraded  level,  would  not  hesitate  to  attempt  to 
master  the  New  World  too." 

Mr.  Canning,  the  Premier,  in  reply,  stated  that— 

"  In  some  of  the  principles  laid  down  in  the  message  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  he  entirely  agreed;  and  he  might  be  permitted  to  say  that,  long 
before  the  message  went  forth,  it  was  distinctly  admitted  in  the  State  Papers  of 
Great  Britain  that  the  question  between  the  mother  country  and  the  colonies 
was  not  a  fit  subject  for  foreign  interference  ;  but  he  did  not  agree  in  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  parent  State  had  not  a  right,  if  she  could,  to  recover  her  own  colo- 
nial dominions."  [Mr.  Brougham  motioned  that  such  a  principle  was  not  laid 
down.]  "  Mr.  Canning,  continuing.  In  the  paper  to  which  the  honorable  and 
learned  gentleman  referred,  there  was  a  passage  which  many  individuals  con- 
strued in  that  way,  and  he  certainly  understood  the  honorable  and  learned  gen- 


English  Sentiment  Calling  for  Protectorate.       465 

tleman  so  to  have  construed  it.  He  was  clearly  of  opinion,  with  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  that  no  foreign  State  had  a  right  to  interfere  pending  the 
dispute  between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country ;  but  he  was  as  strongly 
of  opinion  that  the  mother  country  had  a  right  to  attempt  to  recover  her 
colonies  if  she  thought  proper." 

Mr.  Canning's  construction  of  the  message  was  clearly  correct,  as  will  have 
been  seen  from  the  extracts  which  I  have  read  from  that  document.  Spain, 
ruled  by  France,  as  the  swordsman  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  was  included  in  the 
declaration  that — 

"  With  the  Governments  who  have  declared  their  independence  and  maintain 
it,  and  whose  independence  we  have  on  great  consideration  and  on  just  prin- 
ciples acknowledged,  we  could  not  view  an  interposition  for  the  purpose  of  op- 
pressing them,  or  controlling  in  any  other  manner  their  destiny  by  any  Euro- 
pean Power,  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  manifestation  of  an  unfriendly  dispo- 
sition toward  the  United  States." 

It  has  often  been  asserted,  sir,  that  Mr.  Canning  originated  the  Monroe  doc- 
trine. It  has  been  seen  to  what  extent  he  is  entitled  to  that  credit.  The  an- 
nouncement of  that  doctrine,  as  valuable  a  purpose  as  it  served  his  Government, 
perhaps  took  no  one  more  by  surprise  than  himself.  Little  could  it  have  been 
imagined  that  a  young  republic,  with  nothing  like  half  of  its  present  population, 
could  summon  resolution  to  proclaim  at  the  top  of  its  voice,  to  all  the  poten- 
tates of  the  other  hemisphere,  in  substance :  "  You  may  manage  your  affairs  as 
you  choose  there,  but  you  shall  not  carry  your  system  or  systems  of  government 
to  the  world  of  the  West.  With  stout  hearts  and  strong  minds,  and,  above  all, 
relying  upon  God's  favor,  we  will  prevent  the  establishment  of  any  new  European 
alliances  in  this  hemisphere,  or  perish  in  the  effort." 

At  the  time  of  preparing  his  message  it  may  have  been  seen  by  Mr.  Monroe 
that  circumstances  might  arise  rendering  it  necessary  that  the  exercise  of  a  con- 
trolling influence  over  one  or  another  of  those  young  republics  would  become  a 
necessity  on  the  part  of  this  country.  Mr.  Clay,  in  his  zeal  for  their  recognition, 
has  asserted,  in  his  place  in  the  other  House,  that  "  it  would  be  impugning  the 
wisdom  of  Almighty  God  to  suppose  that  He  had  created  beings  incapable  of 
self-government ";  but  Mr.  Monroe  was  not,  perhaps,  quite  so  sanguine.  He, 
however,  was  determined,  as  far  as  his  official  influence  could  be  advantageously 
employed  in  the  instance  of  those  republics,  that  the  experiment  should  have  a 
fair  trial.  But  if  it  should  result  in  failure  no  foreign  Power  should  attempt 
their  resubjugation.  It  would  become  a  duty  under  our  mantle  to  nourish, 
cherish,  and  protect  such  as  could  not  take  care  of  themselves.  The  unlocking 
of  the  rich,  varied,  natural  stores  of  Mexico  would  redound  not  only  to  the  en- 
larged welfare  of  that  country,  but  to  the  good  of  every  country  interested  in 
commerce  and  in  enlightened  civilization.  She  is,  literally,  the  thriftless  "talent 
tied  up  in  a  napkin."  She  can  never  be  otherwise  until  we  exercise  a  controlling 
influence  over  her.  We  must  make  her  respectable  and  respected.  She  has 
been  going  down  so  long  that  she  is  incapable  of  rising.  With  life  and  property 
secure,  it  is  estimated  that  she  could  produce  $100,000,000  of  silver  annually. 
Instead  of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  railroads  she  might  in  a  score  of  years  have 
as  many  hundreds.  With  such  an  attractive  climate  and  fruitful  soil  and  varie- 
gated scenery  she  would  become  the  center  of  fashionable  travel  and  the  abode 
30 


466  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

of  enterprising  industry ;  and  the  occurrence  would  not  only  command  the 
approval,  but  also  the  admiration,  of  Great  Britain  and  other  European  States. 
The  London  Times,  which  moulds  rather  than  follows  public  opinion,  says : 

"  There  is  not  a  statesman  who  would  wish  to  see  Great  Britain  hamper  her- 
self with  an  inch  of  Mexican  ground.  Let  the  United  States,  when  they  are 
finally  prepared  for  it,  enjoy  all  the  advantages  and  responsibility  of  ownership, 
and  our  merchants  at  Liverpool  and  elsewhere  will  be  quite  content  with  the 
trade  that  may  spring  out  of  it.  The  capacity  of  the  Mexican  population  for 
appreciating  a  constitutional  rule  is  not  so  remarkable  that  we  should  volunteer 
to  administer  it." 

The  Monroe  doctrine  has  been  repeatedly  ridiculed  of  recent  years,  and  by 
grave  Senators,  as  the  merest  of  abstractions — as  unmeaning  and  valueless. 
But  let  me  tell  you,  sir,  that  but  for  that  doctrine  Texas  probably  had  never  en- 
tered your  confederacy.  Canning  might  have  yielded  to  Polignac  for  the  con- 
solidation of  a  monarchical  or  aristocratical  form  of  government  for  the  ci-devant 
colonies  of  Spain,  by  which,  of  course,  she  would  have  been  included  as  one  of 
those  colonies,  had  it  not  been  for  the  seasonable  declaration  of  that  doctrine, 
and  the  thrill  of  joyous  delight  with  which  it  was  hailed  by  the  votaries  of  liberty 
everywhere.  On  this  account  alone  I  may  be  pardoned  for  fancying  that  it  is 
deserving  of  a  worthier  designation,  even  by  the  most  violent  tongue,  than  an 
abstraction.  When  Cortez  returned  to  Madrid  from  his  conquering  expedition 
to  America,  he  went  to  Court.  The  haughty  Charles  V.,  observing  his  stately 
mien  as  he  approached  him,  emphatically  demanded  :  "  Who  are  you,  sir  ?  " 
"  The  man,"  replied  he,  "  who  has  given  you  more  provinces  than  your  ances- 
tors left  you  cities  !  "  With  equal  truth  may  it  be  said  of  Texas  that  she  has 
been  instrumental  in  giving  the  Union  more  dollars  that  its  founders  left  it 
cents.  She  has  been  instrumental  in  developing  its  resources  more  in  twelve 
years  than  had  been  previously  developed  in  sixty.  I  do  not  mention  this  in  a 
spirit  of  vainglory.  Who  could  be  vainglorious  of  such  a  State  ?— a  State  that 
is  advancing  with  giant's  strides  in  all  that  constitutes  a  State  to  the  head  of  the 
column  of  the  Southern  division  of  the  Union  ?  The  time  may  come — yes,  will 
come,  sir — when  if  she  shall  be  as  properly  cared  for  by  this  Government  in  her 
intercourse  with  Mexico  as  New  York  has  been  cared  for  in  her  intercourse 
with  the  British  Provinces,  she  may  be  to  that  division  what  the  Empire  State 
is  to  the  Northern  division.  But  whatever  her  future  power,  I  trust  that  the 
language  of  her  sons  will  ever  be,  in  contradistinction  to  the  supercilious  ex- 
pressions which  fell  from  the  lips  of  a  distinguished  Senator  a  few  days  ago,  as 
far  as  concerns  the  exercise  of  might  for  the  purpose  of  sectional  oppression: 

"  O  !  'tis  excellent 

To  have  a  giant's  strength  ;  but  it  is  tyrannous 
To  use  it  like  a  giant." 

Whenever  one  section  of  this  country  presumes  upon  its  strength  for  the  op- 
pression of  the  other,  then  will  our  Constitution  be  a  mockery,  and  it  would 
matter  not  how  soon  it  was  severed  into  a  thousand  atoms  and  scattered  to  the 
four  winds.  If  the  principles  are  disregarded  upon  which  the  annexation  of 
Texas  was  consummated,  there  will  be  for  her  neither  honor  nor  interest  in  the 
Union  ;  if  the  mighty,  in  the  face  of  written  law,  can  place  with  impunity  an 
iron  yoke  upon  the  neck  of  the  weak,  Texas  will  be  at  no  loss  how  to  act,  or 


Texas  Exceptional  as  a  State  of  tlie  Union.       467 

where  to  go,  before  the  blow  aimed  at  her  vitals  is  inflicted.  In  a  spirit  of  good 
faith  she  entered  the  Federal  fold.  By  that  spirit  she  will  continue  to  be  influ- 
enced until  it  is  attempted  to  make  her  the  victim  of  Federal  wrong.  As  she 
will  violate  no  Federal  rights,  so  will  she  submit  to  no  violation  of  her  rights  by 
Federal  authority.  The  covenant  which  she  entered  into  with  the  Government 
must  be  observed,  or  it  will  be  annulled.  Louisiana  was  a  purchase.;  California, 
New  Mexico,  and  Utah  a  conquest ;  but  Texas  was  a  voluntary  annexation.  If 
the  condition  of  her  admission  is  not  complied  with  on  the  one  part,  it  is  not 
binding  on  the  other.  If  I  know  Texas,  she  will  not  submit  to  the  threatened 
degradation  foreshadowed  in  the  recent  speech  of  the  Senator  from  New  York. 
She  would  prefer  restoration  to  that  independence  which  she  once  enjoyed,  to 
the  ignominy  ensuing  from  sectional  dictation.  Sorrowing  for  the  mistake 
which  she  had  committed  in  sacrificing  her  independence  at  the  altar  of  her 
patriotism,  she  would  unfurl  again  the  banner  of  the  "  lone  star  "  to  the  breeze, 
and  re-enter  upon  a  national  career  where,  if  no  glory  awaited  her,  she  would 
at  least  be  free  from  a  subjection  by  might  to  wrong  and  shame.  But  I  will 
dismiss  such  thoughts  from  my  mind,  and  indulge  in  their  stead  the  pleasing 
belief  that  the  Federal  Constitution,  the  Constitution  of  our  fathers,  the  Consti- 
tution of  compromise  between  conflicting  interests,  will  ever  be  found  potent 
enough  to  overpower  the  most  formidable  sectional  opposition  which  may  be 
advanced  against  its  provisions.  Beyond  it  there  would  be  but  little  left  worth 
living  for. 

In  conclusion,  I  trust,  sir,  that  you  will  pass  the  resolution  which  I  now  send 
to  the  Secretary.  Of  the  form  of  the  protectorate  I  have  said  comparatively 
nothing.  It  will  be  for  the  committee,  if  ordered,  to  decide  upon  that,  with 
such  lights  as  may  be  placed  before  it.  I  have  no  preferences  on  the  subject. 
It  may  assimilate  to  that  of  Great  Britain  over  the  Ionian  Isles,  or  be  entirely  origi- 
nal in  its  character.  No  advantages  in  trade  intercourse  ought  to  be  claimed  by 
us  which  should  not  become  common  to  other  countries,  and  no  more  authority 
exercised  than  would  be  indispensable  to  secure  obedience  to  salutary  law. 

I  send  to  the  Chair  a  preamble  and  resolution  as  a  substitute  for  that  which  I 
before  offered.  I  ask  that  it  be  read. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows  : 

"WHEREAS,  The  events  connected  with  the  numerous  efforts  of  the  people  of 
Mexico  to  establish  upon  a  reliable  basis  an  orderly  system  of  self-government 
have  invariably  resulted  in  complete  failure  ;  and  whereas  the  condition  of 
Mexico  is  such  as  to  excite  alarming  apprehensions  that  she  may  precipitate 
herself  into  a  wild  condition  of  anarchy,  and  the  more  so  as  she  has  demon- 
strated from  time  to  time  her  .utter  inability  to  suppress  intestine  commotions 
and  to  conquer  the  hordes  of  bandits  by  which  she  was  infested ;  and  whereas 
the  United  States  of  America,  on  account  of  the  continental  policy  which  they 
cherish  and  desire  to  enforce,  can  never  permit  Mexico  to  be  resubjugated  by 
Spain,  or  placed  under  the  dominion  of  any  foreign  Power ;  and  whereas  one  of 
the  most  important  duties  devolving  upon  civilized  governments  is  to  exact  from 
adjoining  nations  the  observances  of  good  neighborhood,  thus  shielding  them- 
selves against  impending  or  even  remote  injury  to  their  border  security  :  There- 
fore— 

"  Resolved,  That  a  select  committee  of  seven  be  raised  to  inquire  and  report 
to  the  Senate  whether  or  not  it  is  expedient  for  the  Government  of  the  United 


468  Houston? $  Literary  Remains. 

States  of  America  to  declare  and  maintain  a  protectorate  over  the  so-called 
Republic  of  Mexico,  in  such  form  and  to  such  extent  as  shall  be  necessary  to 
secure  to  this  Union  good  neighborhood,  and  to  the  people  of  said  country  the 
benefits  of  orderly  and  well-regulated  republican  government." 

Mr.  HUNTER.     I  call  now  for  the  special  order. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

Mr.  HUNTER.     I  gave  way  for  the  Senator  to  make  a  speech. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     It  will  not  take  a  moment,  I  hope. 

Mr.  SEWARD.     I  move  that  it  lie  on  the  table  and  be  printed. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to. 


SPEECH   DELIVERED   IN   THE   SENATE   OF   THE   UNITED 
STATES,    APRIL   23,    1856. 

The  Senate  having  under  consideration  the  Resolutions  of  Mr.  Iverson  for 
the  appointment  of  a  Special  Committee  to  examine  the  members  of  the  Naval 
Board  under  oath — 

Mr.  HOUSTON  said  :  Mr.  President,  I  am  suffering  from  hoarseness  and  indis- 
position ;  and  the  explanations  which  have  just  been  made  have  occupied  a  large 
share  of  our  time  ;  but  yet  I  shall  proceed  to  occupy  a  portion  of  the  time  of  the 
Senate  to-day  with  some  remarks  in  relation  to  the  action  of  the  Naval  Retiring 
Board,  which  is  now  before  us  for  consideration. 

It  is  proper  for  me  to  state,  prefatory  to  the  remarks  which  I  propose  to  sub- 
mit, why  it  is  that  I  am  under  the  necessity  of  now  addressing  the  Senate  on 
this  subject.  Sir,  I  have  been  charged  with  dragging  into  this  debate,  person- 
alities and  individual  character  in  a  manner  calculated  to  produce  irritation  and 
Dad  feeling.  When  I  spoke  before,  I  disclaimed  any  intention  of  that  kind ; 
and  I  believe  the  records  of  the  Senate  will  verify  the  fact,  that  I  not  only  dis- 
claimed it,  but  that,  in  point  of  truth,  my  former  remarks  are  not  liable  to  such 
a  construction. 

It  will  be  recollected,  Mr.  President,  that  this  debate  was  first  inaugurated 
into  the  Senate  by  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Clayton],  in  secret 
session.  He  referred  to  a  resolution  which  I  had  introduced  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  from  the  archives  of  the  Navy  Department  certain  information  ;  and 
he  animadverted — though  not  with  any  degree  of  severity,  with  an  implied  cen- 
sure— on  the  course  which  I  had  thought  proper  to  adopt.  His  own  course,  I 
must  say,  struck  me  as  somewhat  novel. 

Here  I  must  express  my  sincere  and  unqualified  regret  that  the  venerable 
Senator  is  not  present  to  hear  every  word  which  I  have  to  utter  in  relation  to 
the  course  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  adopt.  I  will  not,  in  his  absence,  say 
all  that  I  should  say  if  he  were  present.  I  am  sure  that  no  Senator  in  this  body 
entertains  half  the  sincere  regret  for  his  absence  that  I  do.  For  the  la^t  ten 
days  I  have  postponed  my  address  that  the  Senator  might  be  present,  so  that  he 
might  hear  what  I  have  to  say,  and  so  that  he  might  be  prepared  to  repel  any 
improper  accusation,  if  such  should  be  brought  against  him. 

Sir,  I  have  no  accusation  to  make  against  the  venerable  Senator  [Mr.  Clay- 
ton], I  shall  advert  to  his  own  remarks,  but  not  with  that  degree  of  point  which 


Eulogy  of  one  Injustice  to  other  Naval  Officers.     469 

I  desired  to  do,  and  which  his  presence  would  necessarily  suggest.  I  know  his 
ability  and  distinction.  I  am  aware  of  his  adroitness  in  debate.  I  know  his 
diplomatic  capacity.  I  fully  appreciate  those  high  qualities  which  distinguish 
him  from  the  ordinary  mass  of  mankind.  I  aspire  to  none  of  those  distinctions; 
I  am  too  humble  in  my  pretensions  even  to  emulate  his  proud,  preeminent  po- 
sition ;  but  I  must  nevertheless  be  permitted  to  vindicate  the  course  which  I 
have  taken  in  reference  to  the  measure  now  before  the  Senate. 

It  will  be  recollected,  Mr.  President,  that  the  Senator  at  some  period — I  do 
not  recollect  the  precise  date,  nor  is  it  material — came  forward,  after  the  Senate 
had  gone  into  executive  session,  and  indicated  a  desire  to  present  to  us  a  most 
momentous  subject  —one  deeply  affecting  his  own  feelings.  I  must  confess  that 
I  felt  the  deepest  sympathy  with  the  Senator  then.  I  had  heard  of  his  indispo- 
sition, which  had  detained  him  from  the  Senate  Chamber  for  ten  days  previous 
to  this  event,  and  I  believed  it  was  a  valedictory  that  he  came  here  to  deliver  to 
the  Senate ;  and  I  supposed  it  would  command  all  the  sympathy  which  his  col- 
leagues in  the  Senate  could  afiford. 

This  was  my  impression  then  ;  and  if  I  were  in  the  habit  of  surrendering  to 
sensibility  to  a  womanish  extent,  I  believe  I  should  have  wept,  such  was  the 
plaintive  tone  and  manner  of  the  Senator.  Great  was  my  astonishment,  how- 
ever, when  I  heard  his  speech,  after  leave  was  accorded  to  him  to  have  it  read, 
as  he  was  unable  to  deliver  it.  It  was  an  address  carefully  collated,  conned, 
prepared,  punctuated,  the  i's  dotted,  the  t's  crossed,  and  everything  done  in  nice 
order — documents  referred  to  with  great  particularity,  and  of  the  most  astound- 
ing import — all  prepared  for  the  occasion.  Senators  sympathizing  with  him, 
asked  him  to  sit  on  the  chair  to  rest  himself.  He  read  it  all.  It  was  painful  to 
hear  his  plaintive  tones.  His  voice,  usually  vigorous ;  his  manner,  characteris- 
tically animated  and  nervous,  seemed  to  have  become  enervated;  and  he  sunk 
down  into  the  softest  gesticulations  and  most  pathetic  tones,  yielding  apparently 
to  the  force  of  disease.  His  tone  and  manner  commanded  the  richest  stores  of 
sympathy  from  every  feeling  heart  in  the  Senate. 

But,  sir,  when  that  speech  appeared  in  print,  what  was  it  ?  It  was  a  flaming 
eulogy ;  it  was  the  inauguration  of  Captain  Du  Font's  fame  and  name  into  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  Was  it  brought  forward  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances ?  or  was  it  intended  to  send  it  forth  as  a  harbinger  for  the  purpose  of 
forestalling  anything  that  might  result  from  the  communication  of  certain 
documents  (when  his  name  had  not  been  previously  alluded  to  in  the  Senate), 
and  by  that  means  give  him  an  advantage  which  he  would  not  otherwise  pos- 
sess ?  Was  it  fair,  was  it  courteous  to  the  Senate,  or  was  it  to  take  a  snap 
judgment  on  the  sympathies  of  the  Senate,  and  foist  a  man  before  the  public  in 
the  most  imposing  attitude  ? 

No  sooner  was  the  speech  delivered  here,  than  leave  was  asked  to  remove 
Irom  it  the  injunction  of  secrecy,  and  throw  it  wide  to  the  world.  It  was  done 
in  executive  session.  Gentlemen  may  have  said :  "  It  must  be  something  of 
great  importance  ;  we  will  read  the  Senator's  speech,  and  see  what  it  is."  The 
injunction  was  removed,  and  the  speech  was  published.  On  examining  it,  we 
find  it  to  be  an  attempt  to  indoctrinate  us  with  the ,  Senator's  opinion  that 
Captain  Du  Pont  is  a  perfect  nonpareil.  [Laughter.]  Yes,  sir  ;  here  it  is  ;  this 
is  the  title-page  to  the  speech  : 

"  Captain  S.  F.  Du  Pont,  U.  S.  Navy.     Speech  of  Hon.  John  M.  Clayton,  of 


470  Houston }s  Literary  Remains. 

Delaware,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  March   u,  1856,  in  executive 
session.     The  injunction  of  secrecy  had  been  removed." 

Who  could  resist  an  inclination  to  get  possession  of  this  rich  morceau,  when 
it  was  a  secrecy  worthy  of  the  note  and  attention  of  Senators  ?  It  is  a  most 
imposing  thing.  After  this  introduction,  on  the  first  page  of  the  body  of  the 
pamphlet,  before  addressing  the  distinguished  officer  of  this  body  who  presides 
over  its  deliberations,  I  find,  in  flaming  capitals,  the  words :  "  Captain  S.  F.  Du 
Pont,  U.  S.  N.,"  and  then  it  begins  : 

"  Mr.  Clayton  said,"  etc. 

Now  I  think  this  is  one  of  the  rarest  diplomatic  moves  that  I  have  discovered. 
It  is  worthy  of  the  negotiator ;  it  is  worthy  of  the  diplomatist ;  but  whether  it 
really  will  have  the  effect  which  was  designed,  I  know  not.  Yet,  sir,  I  have 
been  charged  with  introducing  personalities  and  personal  character  into  this 
body.  What  does  the  Senator  say  in  this  speech  ?  He  gives  a  most  delicate, 
and  at  the  same  time — I  should  almost  be  tempted  to  say — a  most  equivocal, 
pledge ;  for  he  says  : 

"  I  owe  it  to  common  justice  to  bear  my  sincere  testimony  in  his  behalf,  and 
to  repel  the  efforts  made  to  injure  him,  no  matter  when  or  by  whom  made." 

He  pledges  his  "  sincere  testimony  "  on  this  occasion.  It  never  would  have 
suggested  itself  to  me  to  attempt  to  qualify  the  testimony  of  the  honorable 
Senator,  unless  he  had  implied  that  he  had  two  species  of  testimony — sincere, 
and  equivocal,  or  jocose.  [Laughter.]  My  opinion  was,  that  there  was  but  one 
species  of  testimony,  and  that  it  was  always  sincere,  because  it  is  presented  un- 
der the  solemnity  of  an  obligation  to  tell  the  truth. 

By  examining  this  speech,  we  find  that  the  Senator  from  Delaware  goes  on 
and  introduces  the  name  of  Lieutenant  Maury,  and  various  others.  He  intro- 
duces the  names  of  Messrs.  Pendergrast,  Du  Pont,  Missroon,  and  other  officers 
who  were  on  board  the  Ohio  in  1839  and  1840,  by  reading  a  document  exculpa- 
tory of  them  written  by  a  former  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  He  thereby  put  their 
general  characters  in  issue  ;  and  I  believe  it  would  be  technically  correct,  in  a 
court  of  law,  under  the  indulgence  of  the  judge,  under  such  circumstances,  to 
prove  the  facts  in  regard  to  them.  I  had  called  for  certain  documents  from  the 
Navy  Department,  but  they  were  not  presented  to  the  Senate  when  this  speech 
was  made.  The  Senator  was  not  apprised,  from  any  assurance  given  to  those 
who  called  for  them,  that  they  would  ever  be  presented,  or  made  a  matter  of 
consideration  before  this  honorable  body.  Still,  he  chose  to  anticipate  them. 
The  result  was,  that  he  involved  himself  in  the  dilemma  of  having  his  friends 
brought  before  the  Senate,  not  in  the  most  enviable  point  of  view.  I  am  not  so 
sure  but  that  he  was  a  little  too  diplomatic  in  that  respect.  Men  may  go  too 
far.  I  find  here  something  designed  to  cover  up  a  nice  little  reflection.  On 
page  6  of  the  pamphlet  speech,  I  find  the  following : 

"  No  man  who  has  a  proper  respect  for  the  honored  memory  of  the  Commo- 
dore will  seek  to  recall  these  events  for  the  purpose  of  casting  unjust  reflections 
upon  the  living ;  and  I  purposely  forbear  all  comment  upon  any  part  of  the  pro- 
ceedings except  the  triumphant  final  vindication  of  Du  Pont  and  his  associates 
contained  in  the  letter  of  the  Secretary,  which  justly  closed  the  whole  contro- 
versy forever.'' 


Insubordination  in  Junior  Officers.  471 

The  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  was  unacquainted  with  the  subject,  ior 
that  letter  was  as  far  from  closing  the  controversy  as  anything  could  possibly  be. 
I  am  glad  that  the  Senator  has  not  pledged  to  the  statement  his  "  sincere  testi- 
mony," because  it  would  have  implicated  him ;  but,  as  I  have  intimated,  he  in- 
volved not  only  his  friends,  but  others  who  had  no  connection  whatever  with 
the  papers  called  for,  and  whose  names  were  not  included  in  them.  I  leave  that 
point,  however,  for  the  present. 

When  I  formerly  addressed  the  Senate  on  this  question,  my  course  was  also 
the  subject  of  comment  on  the  part  of  the  Senator  from  Delaware  near  me  [Mr. 
Bayard].  For  that  gentleman  I  entertain  feelings  of  kindness  and  personal  re- 
spect. I  admire  his  talents,  his  intelligence,  and  his  usefulness  in  the  Senate.  I 
am  aware  of  the  fact,  that  he  is  justly  the  pride  of  his  constituency.  All  these 
considerations  conspired  to  impress  me  most  favorably  and  kindly  toward  him , 
but  I  think  that  he  did  not,  in  his  remarks  on  the^  occasion  to  which  I  allude, 
exercise  that  courtesy  which  is  looked  for,  expected,  and  desired  in  the  Senate. 
I  stated  that  Captain  Du  Pont  had,  when  a  lieutenant,  insulted  Captain  Smith. 
The  honorable  Senator  replied  that  it  was  untrue,  and  asked  me  for  my  authority. 
I  told  him  ;  but  he  said  it  was  untrue,  and  that  the  authority  on  which  I  relied 
could  not  be  tortured  into  the  meaning  which  I  gave  it,  unless  I  had  greater 
powers  of  perversion  than  ever  he  had  before  suspected  me  to  possess.  I 
thought  that  was  pretty  sharp  ;  but  I  suppose  that,  as  it  was  a  gratuity,  I  ought 
to  be  thankful  for  it  and  take  it.  Therefore  I  did  so.  [Laughter.]  On  that 
point  I  desire  to  place  myself  right,  and,  without  any  unkind  feelings  to  the 
Senator,  to  vindicate  my  veracity ;  but  I  shall  indulge  in  no  asperity  of  remark 
toward  him,  because  I  have  no  unkind  feeling  to  gratify,  and  I  have  great  re- 
spect to  cherish. 

I  propose  to  read  the  evidence  on  which  I  based  the  statement  that  Du  Pont 
had  insulted  Captain,  now  Commodore  Smith,  of  the  navy ;  and  then  it  will  be 
seen  whether  my  construction  is  not  the  most  reasonable  one.  The  distin- 
guished Senator  intimated  before  that  I  really  had  not  read  my  extracts  in  a 
manner  to  please  him,  implying  that  my  education  was  not  as  good  as  it  ought 
to  have  been.  I  shall  overlook  that  remark  ;  but  really  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
deductions  which  I  draw  from  the  documents  are  most  rational  for  a  plain,  com- 
mon-sense man.  I  think  that  Captain  Smith  was  insulted ;  and  to  show  it  I 
shall  read  what  he  wrote  to  Commodore  Hull  in  reply  to  a  letter  of  Mr.  Du 
Pont.  If  I  did  not  read  all  the  letters  to  which  I  referred  before,  it  was  not  be- 
cause I  had  any  purpose  to  garble  them,  as  was  intimated.  They  are  all  very 
rich.  Captain  Du  Font's  productions  are  all  of  a  classical  character.  I  should 
like  to  give  them  all,  but  it  would  render  my  speech  too  voluminous.  He  had 
complained  of  the  accommodations  of  the  Ohio.  He  was  placed  on  the  orlop 
deck — a  deck  that  comes  to  the  water  line,  I  believe.  It  appears,  from  the  ink- 
lings which  have  transpired  here,  that  Commodore  Hull  had  taken  his  family  on 
board  the  Ohio,  as  was  customary  on  ships  of  war  at  that  period,  by  permission 
of  the  Secretary.  Because  Du  Pont  and  some  other  officers  were  excluded  from 
the  cabins  to  give  place  to  the  ladies,  they  were  provoked ;  and  four  of  them, 
according  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  formed  "  cabals  "  for  the  purpose  of  an- 
noying the  Commodore  and  expelling  the  ladies.  I  do  not  say  whether  or  not 
that  was  social  and  gentlemanly ;  I  doubt  it.  When  they  made  complaint  to 
Commodore  Hull,  as  the  documents  will  show,  they  were  occupying  quarters  to 


472  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

which  they  had  been  ordered  by  the  Navy  Department.  When  complaint  was 
made  Commodore  Hull  ordered  Captain  Smith  to  provide  them  cabins  or  tem- 
porary accommodations  on  the  deck,  so  as  to  relieve  them  from  the  confined 
atmosphere  below,  where  it  was  said  to  be  insalubrious.  When  this  offer  was 
made  to  Mr.  Du  Pont,  he  said,  in  a  letter  to  Captain  Smith,  dated  July  29,  1839  : 

"  But  the  commander-in-chief,  having  decided  that  he  is  not  authorized  to 
make  any  permanent  change,  of  which  he  is  of  course  the  sole  and  proper  judge, 
I  prefer  remaining  where  the  Navy  Department  has  placed  me  as  long  as  my 
health  will  endure  it,  rather  than  occupy  quarters  which  I  deem  unfit  for  an 
officer  holding  the  third  rank  known  in  our  service,  and  from  which  he  may  be 
ejected  at  any  moment." 

This  refusal  was  given  to  Captain  Smith,  who  had,  at  his  instance,  provided 
these  quarters.  He  declined  going  into  them.  Did  Commodore  Hull  press 
him  ?  No,  sir.  Why  ?  Because  he  was  where  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  had 
placed  him.  Commodore  Hull  had  not  placed  him  there.  Then,  sir,  that  ven- 
erable and  gallant  commodore,  the  first  that  ever  struck  a  British  flag  upon  the 
ocean  in  our  war  of  1812,  still  bore  the  proud  sailor's  spirit  in  his  heart,  loving 
his  country,  and  exacting  due  obedience  to  his  orders.  I  have  read  what  Mr. 
Du  Pont  said  in  his  letter  to  Captain  Smith.  At  page  44  of  Executive  Docu- 
ment No.  44,  of  the  present  session — the  same  from  which  I  last  read — I  find 
this  letter  of  Captain  Smith  : 

"  UNITED  STATES  SHIP  '  OHIO,'  at  Sea,  July  30,  1839. 

"  SIR  : — I  have  received  from  Lieutenant  Du  Pont  a  very,  as  I  think,  extraor- 
dinary and  uncalled-for  communication,  which  I  think  it  is  proper,  as  well  as  it 
is  a  duty,  to  inclose  to  you. 

"  The  true  military  course  for  me  to  pursue  would  be  to  compel  him  to  occupy 
the  apartment  assigned  to  him  in  addition  to  that  which  he  has  so  much  com- 
plained of,  and  which  he  says  is  untenable  ;  but  under  the  present  state  of  ex- 
citement upon  the  subject  of  accommodations  of  the  ward-room  officers,  I  do 
not  deem  it  expedient  to  take  such  a  course,  but  to  allow  the  gentleman  to  re- 
main in  the  apartment  assigned  to  him  by  the  Navy  Department,  which  he  pre- 
fers to  that  prepared  for  and  appointed  to  him  by  myself,  and  which  was  cer- 
tainly intended  by  me  to  relieve  him  from  what  he  complained  of  in  the  other. 
The  tenor  and  character  of  this  communication,  as  well  as  the  course  he  has 
taken,  first,  in  making  the  complaint  referred  to,  and  then  declining  to  accept 
the  accommodation  offered  as  a  remedy  for  the  evil,  develop  a  spirit  of  dictation 
in  its  author  too  clearly,  to  my  view,  to  require  comments  from  me. 
"  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"JOSEPH  SMITH, 
"  Captain  United  States  Ship  Ohio. 
•'  COMMODORE  ISAAC  HULL,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  United  States  Naval 

Force  in  the  Mediterranean,  at  sea." 

Now,  I  leave  it  to  the  candor  of  any  and  every  Senator  to  determine  whether 
I  made  an  untrue  statement,  or  drew  a  false  deduction,  in  asserting  that  he  had 
insulted  Captain  Smith.  Is  not  this  the  language  of  an  insulted  man  ?  Cer- 
tainly it  is. 

'Mr.  MALLORY.  Will  my  friend  allow  me  to  draw  his  attention  to  one  point 
in  this  connection  ? 


Apology  no  Atonement  for  Official  Misconduct.    473 

Mr.  HOUSTON.    With  great  pleasure. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  know  that  the  honorable  Senator  from  Texas  wishes  the 
,'etters  which  he  is  now  presenting  to  be  understood  by  the  Senate  in  a  manner 
perfectly  fair  to  all  parties.  I  therefore  call  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  he 
read  but  one  part  of  a  paragraph  of  the  letter  of  Mr.  Du  Pont,  to  which  he  re- 
ferred. If  he  will  read  the  closing  paragraph  of  that  letter,  the  Senator  from 
Texas  will  see  that  Captain  Du  Pont  expressly  disclaimed  any  intention  what- 
ever of  giving  offense,  and  expressed  thankfulness  for  the  consideration  which 
had  been  shown  him. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  That  is  true ;  but  if  a  man  spits  in  your  face  and  then  says  he 
did  not  intend  to  insult  you,  would  you  believe  him  ?  Or  if  a  man  knocks  you 
down  and  then  begs  your  pardon,  and  says  he  did  not  mean  to  do  it,  would  you 
believe  him  ?  "Words  qualifying  a  matter  of  that  kind  can  have  no  force. 

Mr.  MALLORY.     I  only  ask  that  the  paragraph  be  read  in  connection. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  would  have  read  it  myself  with  great  pleasure,  but  I  ob- 
jected, because  Du  Pont  is  so  copious  and  diffuse  in  his  writings,  that  if  I  were 
to  attempt  to  read  all  that  he  says,  my  speech  would  be  entirely  too  bulky.  I 
will,  however,  read  the  paragraph  to  which  the  Senator  from  Florida  has  called 
my  attention.  Mr.  Du  Pont  said,  as  I  have  already  shown,  in  his  letter  to  Cap- 
tain Smith,  that  he  would  not  occupy  the  quarters  prepared  for  him,  but  would 
remain  in  those  assigned  to  him  by  the  Navy  Department.  He  first  grumbled 
about  the  accommodations  provided  by  the  Department ;  others  were  prepared 
for  him,  which  he  declined  to  occupy ;  and  after  insulting  Captain  Smith  in  the 
way  I  have  detailed,  he  goes  on  in  this  letter  to  say : 

"  I  trust,  sir,  however,  that  you  will  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that  I  do  not 
fully  appreciate  the  consideration  which  induces  you  to  do  all  that  you  conceive 
lies  in  your  power  to  alleviate  the  present  state  of  things." 

I  am  very  glad  that  I  have  read  this  paragraph,  because  it  shows  that  he  did 
not  intend  this  indignity  for  Captain  Smith  so  much  as  for  Commodore  Hull. 
It  was  there  the  arrow  was  directed,  but  he  did  not  shoot  it.  He  says  that 
Captain  Smith  did  all  that  he  possibly  could,  but  yet  that  they  were  not  accom- 
modated. Why  ?  Because  Commodore  Hull  was  in  the  way — that  is  it.  I 
am  glad  that  I  read 'it,  because  it  just  suits  me. 

I  think  the  inference  which  I  drew  from  this  correspondence  is  a  fair  one ; 
and  it  is  evident  from  it  that  I  stated  nothing  untrue  when  I  said  that  Captain 
Smith  was  insulted.  I  am  perfectly  aware  of  the  source  whence  the  distin- 
guished Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  derived  his  information  on  this 
point.  I  was  not  aware  at  the  time  of  the  existence  of  a  document  which,  I 
presume,  induced  the  contradiction  that  he  so  unceremoniously  administered  to 
me.  I  shall  allude  to  it.  Lieutenant  Du  Pont,  after  he  returned  from  the 
Mediterranean,  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Department  dated  June  5,  1840.  In  that 
letter,  rendering  his  apology  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  he  says  that  he  was 
very  much  astonished  to  hear  that  Captain  Smith  was  offended.  I  will  read  his 
owft  language : 

"  But  Captain  Smith,  in  speaking  of  it  to  Mr.  Pendergrast,  the  executive 
officer  of  the  ship,  ofter  remarking  that,  in  his  opinion,  it  involved  me  in  an  in- 
consistency with  a  previous  communication  to  him,  added  :  'but  it  is  a  perfectly 
respectful  letter,  and,  if  it  required  an  answer,  I  would  reply  to  it  in  the  same 


474  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

spirit  in  which  it  is  sent' ;  and  this  observation  was  reported  to  me  at  the  time 
by  Mr.  Pendergrast.'' 

This  was  the  hearsay  of  Mr.  Pendergrast,  communicated  to  Mr.  Du  Pont, 
and  Mr.  Du  Pont  communicates  the  same  hearsay  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  to  the  distinguished  Senator  from  Delaware,  so  that  it  is  hearsay  evidence 
upon  which  Mr.  Du  Pont  relies  to  show  that  Captain  Smith  was  not  insulted. 
He  gives  his  recollection.  Whether  his  recollection  be  right  or  wrong,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  letter  I  have  read  of  Captain  Smith,  I  will  let  Senators  determine. 
I  am  inclined  strongly  to  believe  that  Du  Font's  memory  was  bad,  even  if  Cap- 
tain Pendergrast  ever  made  the  communication  ;  whether  he  did  or  not  I  do  not 
pretend  to  say.  It  does  not  appear  from  Captain  Smith's  letter  that  their  de- 
duction was  correct  at  all  events. 

I  am  thus  willing  to  leave  the  issue  of  veracity  between  the  distinguished 
Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard]  and  myself  without  any  unkind  feelings. 
He  observed  that  he  thought  I  had  read  extracts  in  a  peculiar  manner,  so  as  to 
give  particular  things  peculiar  force  and  meaning.  In  the  course  of  the  Sena- 
tor's remarks  he  stated  that  he  had  been  the  schoolmate  of  Captain  Du  Pont. 
I  admit  that  I  have  very  little  diplomacy  about  me,  and  very  little  of  that  polish 
and  exquisite  refinement  which  is  acquired  by  intercourse  with  foreign  nations, 
and  results  from  education  and  early  associations  that  are  calculated  to  impress 
a  young  man  with  refined  and  delicate  ideas.  I  admit,  sir,  that  the  Senator  has 
possessed  advantages  in  these  respects.  If  I  had  been  of  another  school — if  in 
early  life  I  had  been  thrown  into  association  with  Captain  Du  Pont,  I  might  now 
come  forward  under  more  imposing  auspices  than  I  am  enabled  to  do  at  this 
time.  Not  having  had  such  advantages,  however,  what  am  I  to  do?  If  I  have 
an  idea  to  convey  that  language  will  not  express,  or  if  I  desire  to  represent  an 
act  that  is  described  in  an  extract  which  I  read,  but  the  meaning  of  which  can 
only  be  conveyed  by  a  similar  act — such  as  a  whistle — I  can  not  avoid  presenting 
it  in  a  natural  way,  so  as  to  present  what  I  mean.  This  is  considered  "  undig- 
nified "  on  my  part !  Be  it  so.  I  can  not  help  it. 

Sir,  I  am  more  the  child  of  nature  than  of  art  and  refinement.  If  I  had  been 
the  companion  and  schoolmate  of  Captain  Du  Pont,  if  I  had  been  conversant 
with  learned  lore,  and  with  abstract  science,  with  all  the  depths  of  learning,  and 
all  the  accomplishments  that  a  proud  and  glorious  lineage  could  give,  as  is  the 
case  with  the  Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Bayard],  I,  too,  might  claim  the  pre- 
eminence that  always  appropriates  itself  to  men  of  high  and  noble  parts.  But, 
sir,  I  have  not  possessed  these  advantages ;  and  if  I  do  not  accord  with  the 
views  of  gentlemen  of  taste  and  of  classic  lore,  it  is  no  fault  of  mine  ;  nor  do  I 
reprehend  myself  for  the  misfortunes  attendant  upon  early  life.  Sir,  I  have 
found  in  life  one  volume  open — it  is  Nature's  volume,  where  every  chapter  is 
nature,  and  every  verse  »s  human  life.  That  volume  is  open  to  the  humblest  as 
well  as  the  proudest.  Education  to  the  common  mind  may  embellish,  but  it  can 
never  implant  what  Nature  has  failed  to  supply.  [Applause  in  the  galleries.] 

The  PRESIDENT.  The  galleries  will  be  cleared  if  the  demonstrations  are  re- 
peated. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Mr.  President,  there  is  one  circumstance  that  really  seemed 
for  a  moment  to  embarrass  me,  from  the  apprehension  that  a  possible  deduction 
might  be  drawn  from  what  was  said  by  others,  that  I  had  attempted  surrep- 
titiously to  impose  on  the  Senate  by  interpolating  the  word  "  sex  "  into  a  docu- 


Lack  of  Chivalry  in  Naval  Officers.  475 

ment  where  it  did  not  exist.  I  thought,  at  the  time,  that  I  could  not  be  mis- 
taken ;  I  had  evidence  satisfactory  to  my  mind ;  but  when  I  called  for  a  copy  of 
the  official  documents  from  the  Department  the  copy  did  not  contain  the  word 
"sex."  I  went  to  the  office,  and  in  the  recorded  copy  I  did  not  find  the  word 
"  sex  "  written,  though  it  was  necessary  to  give  force  and  sense  to  the  language. 
I  learned,  subsequently,  that  the  press  copy  taken  at  the  time  contained  the 
word  "  sex  ";  this  was  not  discovered  until  the  24th  of  March,  1856.  Then,  sir, 
after  all  the  rhetorical  flourishes  and  denunciations  of  the  Senators  from  Dela- 
ware, I  come  forward  prepared,  under  the  official  statement  of  one  of  the  offi- 
cials of  the  Navy  Department,  to  assert  that  the  word  "  sex  "  is  contained  in 
the  letter  of  Secretary  Pauldingof  December  16,  1839.  It  was  intimated  that  I 
introduced  the  word  surreptitiously,  or  that,  if  not  surreptitiously  done,  there 
was  a  second  motive  for  it.  First,  I  was  charged  with  the  crime  of  having 
acted  improperly ;  and  next,  it  was  said  that  it  was  unjust  to  the  individual. 

I  regret  exceedingly  ever  to  have  occasion  to  dwell  on  private  character,  or  to 
advert  to  scenes  of  an  unpleasant  nature  that  are  calculated  to  reflect  on  my 
countrymen,  whether  in  private  or  official  position,  and  to  brand  them  with 
anything  dishonorable,  or  which  is  not  illustrious  and  glorious  to  the  country. 
Sir,  the  man  who  bears  my  country's  flag,  the  man  who  represents  her  in  a 
foreign  country,  the  man  to  whose  discretion  and  integrity  the  honor  of  the 
country  is  confided,  should  be  a  man  of  spotless  character,  of  pure  and  exalted 
chivalry,  of  refined  and  delicate  sensibilities,  particularly  when  he  has  occasion 
to  defer  to  that  sex  to  whom  every  hero,  every  soldier,  and  every  statesman  is 
most  honored  in  rendering  the  homage  of  his  heart.  Sir,  for  the  man  who  has 
a  mother,  or  a  sister,  or  a  daughter,  and  does  not  feel  that  woman  is  to  be 
shielded  and  protected  by  his  generous  arm,  there  is  no  epithet  too — I  will  use 
no  phrase  to  designate  his  character.  No,  no ;  I  can  not  do  it;  I  will  not ;  out 
of  respect  to  the  Senate  I  will  not. 

Well,  sir,  how  does  the  letter  read  now,  when  we  have  the  correction  ?  I  will 
show.  I  have  been  charged  with  foisting  this  matter  on  the  notice  of  the  Senate, 
as  if  it  had  not  all  been  taken  back  and  the  subject  concluded  forever,  as 
the  venerable  Senator  frorr^Delaware  [Mr.  Clayton]  said — forever  !  Well,  sir,  I 
have  before  read  this  letter  to  show  the  facts  which  were  charged  specifically, 
and  to  see  whether  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  could  expunge,  or  obliterate,  or 
take  them  back,  at  any  subsequent  period,  under  an  undue  influence,  either 
political  or  personal,  or  through  misrepresentation.  The  letter  in  which  the  word 
occurs  is  a  reprimand  which  was  sent  to  Commodore  Hull  to  read  to  these  gen- 
tlemen in  the  Mediterranean.  The  records  will  show  that  they  began  a  cabal 
and  insubordination  before  they  left  the  port  of  New  York,  and  violated  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  the  navy.  They  ought  unceremoniously  to  have  been  stricken 
from  the  rolls.  This  transaction  was  not  in  the  days  of  Jackson,  which  have 
been  referred  to  by  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware,  or  these  gentlemen 
would  have  been  dismissed,  because  the  man  who  showed  the  least  defection  in 
chivalry,  in  honor,  or  in  deference  to  the  female  sex,  was  then  compelled  to  walk 
the  plank,  no  matter  how  deep  the  plunge.  Here  is  what  is  said  in  the  letter  of 
the  Secretary  of  the'  Navy  : 

"  Yet  it  is  with  great  regret  the  Department  is  obliged  to  state,  that  no  sooner 
had  they  set  foot  on  board  this  noble  ship  than  the  officers  of  the  ward-room, 
who  ought  to  have  set  an  example  of  respect  and  subordination  to  their  juniors, 


47  ft  Houston's  Liter  a/ry  Remains. 

entered  into  combinations  and  cabals  calculated  to  defeat  every  object  for  which 
she  had  been  fitted  out.  They  clamored  against  the  arrangements  that  had  been 
made  by  the  navy  commissioners  for  their  accommodation,  as  if  a  ship  of 
war  were  intended  for  that  purpose  alone.  They  lost  sight  of  the  respect 
and  consideration  due  to  that  sex  which  every  gentleman,  and  most  especially 
every  officer,  should  feel  it  his  pride  to  cherish  on  all  occasions ;  appealed  to  the 
public  in  communications  disrespectful  to  their  superiors,  and  violated  the  long 
established  rules  of  the  service  by  publishing  an  official  correspondence  without 
the  consent  of  the  Department." 

The  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  put  these  gentlemen  on  their  trial  orig- 
inally, and  raised  an  issue  about  their  infallibility.  Here  is  corroborative  testi- 
mony of  what  I  said  before,  in  the  same  dispatch  of  Secretary  Paulding : 

"  The  letter  of  Lieutenant  Du  Pont  is  not  such  a  one  as  I  had  expected 
from  an  officer  who  had  heretofore  sustained  so  high  a  character  in  the  navy." 

That  is  the  same  construction  which  the  Secretary  put  upon  it ;  the  same 
which  Captain  Smith  put  upon  it,  and  the  same  construction  which  Commodore 
Hull  put  upon  it.  I  give  the  same  construction  to  the  letter.  And  yet,  Mr. 
Pendergrast  told  Lieutenant  Du  Pont  that  Captain  Smith  had  said  so  and 
so,  and  that  he  did  not  put  the  same  construction  on  it.  But  I  will  read  further 
from  the  same  dispatch  : 

"  The  letter  of  Lieutenant  Du  Pont  is  not  such  a  one  as  I  had  expected  from 
an  officer  who  had  heretofore  sustained  so  high  a  character  in  the  navy.  It 
is  not  couched  in  language  becoming  an  inferior  addressing  his  command- 
ing officer ;  and  his  refusal  to  accept  the  concession  of  which  his  brother 
officers  availed  themselves  savors  more  of  pettishness  than  dignity,  or  of 
manliness." 

That  is  the  opinion  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  it  is  what  the  Secretary 
pledges  to  Commodore  Hull  before  he  sent  the  revocation  of  the  reprimand. 
Read  it,  and  you  will  see  where  the  defect  is  in  the  organization,  and  perpetua- 
tion, and  improvement  of  our  navy.  You  will  see,  when  you  come  to  contrast 
the  reprimand,  which  was  evoked  by  the  conduct  of  the  individuals,  and  the 
Secretary's  retraction,  that  duty  had  been  one  time  performed,  but  it  was 
retracted  under  an  influence — whether  political,  personal,  or  official,  I  care  not. 
Such  things  are  deleterious  to  the  navy,  to  its  discipline,  and  to  the  interests  of 
the  country  at  large.  As  I  will  show,  from  the  remonstrance  of  Commodore 
Hull,  the  venerable  Senator  was  mistaken  when  he  said  that  that  retraction 
concluded  the  subject  forever.  In  the  same  letter  of  December  16,  1839,  the 
Secretary  says  to  Commodore  Hull : 

"  For  yourself,  Commodore,  I  have  only  to  say,  you  are  commander-in-chief  of 
the  Mediterranean  squadron.  The  laws  and  regulations  of  the  service  give  you 
ample  power  to  protect  yourself  from  disrespect,  and  to  enforce  subordina- 
tion. Exert  that  power  to  the  utmost ;  and  so  long  as  you  do  not  go  be 
yond  your  lawful  authority  you  may  rely  on  my  co-operation  and  support." 

This  is  what  Mr.  Paulding  says.  I  think  there  was  good  sense  in  all  that, 
and  it  is  just  what  he  ought  to  have  said ;  but  I  wish  now  to  refer  to  an- 
other letter.  Commodore  Hull,  in  writing  to  Mr.  Paulding,  on  March  21,  1840, 
after  the  receipt  of  the  retraxit  of  the  reprimand,  says : 


Disrespect  for  Age  in  the  Naval  Service.        477 

"  Subordinate  officers,  nowadays,  set  aside  the  decisions  of  their  captains, 
and  appear  prepared  and  determined  to  resist  the  acts  of  the  Navy  Department 
by  appeals  through  newspapers,  and  by  referring  their  imaginary  grievances  to 
their  Senators  and  Representatives  ;  and,  in  the  case  of  the  letter  of  Lieutenant 
Du  Pont,  it  would  seem  that  his  determination  to  appeal  to  the  Senators 
and  Representatives  in  Congress  from  his  State  is  intended  to  convey  an 
implied  threat." 

This  was  the  condition  of  things.  He  was  threatened  impliedly  that  an 
appeal  would  be  made  to  the  Senators  if  he  did  not  immediately  make  satis- 
faction for  a  row  that  was  kicked  up  here  by  the  officers,  when,  if  they  had  been 
on  board  ship,  or  had  been  careful  on  shore,  they  would  not  have  been  involved 
in  that  dilemma. 

Sir,  I  am  willing  to  go  on,  and  show  how  far  these  gentlemen  were  really  ex- 
culpated by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  I  wish  to  refer  to  a  letter  written  by 
Commodore  Hull  after  he  received  the  exculpatory  dispatch.  I  believe  it 
was  written  afterward,  judging  from  the  dates  given  in  the  printed  docu- 
ments, though  they  are  very  much  confused.  After  they  came  to  the  Senate 
they  were  referred  to  the  Committee*  on  Naval  Affairs,  and  they  went  to  the 
printers  in  a  miserable  condition  ;  and  the  dates  and  letters  are  so  completely 
reversed  and  mixed  up  that  it  causes  utter  confusion  in  attempting  to  get 
at  them.  How  it  happened  I  do  not  know.  I  saw  them  in  proper  order  at  the 
desk,  and  where  they  received  this  overhauling  I  do  not  know. 

Commodore  Hull,  after  the  difficulty  had  arisen,  in  March,  1840,  when  the  in- 
subordination of  these  gentlemen  was  at  its  height,  was  driven  to  great  straits. 
He  understood  that  we  were  on  the  eve  of  a  war.  Jiewas  in  the  Mediterranean. 
He  had  the  finest  ship  in  the  service  ;  he  had  officers  who  had  been  detailed  to 
give  character  and  credit  to  his  command.  After  the  reading  of  the  first  repri- 
mand, he  addressed  these  officers — Messrs.  Du  Pont,  Pendergrast,  and  Godon 
— in  this  language  : 

"  There  are  three  remedies  which  strike  me  for  this  state  of  things.  One  is, 
to  lay  this  ship  up  in  a  Spanish  port — this  noble  ship,  the  pride  of  our  country, 
with  her  beautiful  flag,  of  which  we  were  once  ready  to  boas.t,  with  its  stars  and 
stripes,  hoisted  at  half-mast — until  lieutenants  can  be  sent  from  the  United 
States  to  restore  it  to  its  proud  and  honorable  bearing.  Another  is,  to  take  you 
to  sea  with  all  your  discontent,  disaffection,  and  disrespect  for  your  command- 
ing officers,  and  trust  to  time  to  bring  about  a  better  state  of  feeling.  And  the 
third  is,  to  make  such  changes  among  you  as  my  means  will  admit  of.  I  have 
not  yet  determined  which  to  adopt ;  but  I  will  now  state  to  you  that  I  am 
responsible  for  this  ship.  I  shall  go  to  sea  when  I  please ;  I  shall  go  where 

please  ;  and  stay  as  long  as  I  please." 

They  thought  that  Commodore  Hull  was  an  elderly  gentleman.     These  men 
ve  a  great  antipathy,  as   they  have    shown    on   the  naval  board,  to    aged 
Age  fares  badly  with  them.     The  feeling  germinated  there,  and  it  has 
wn  rapidly  since. 

I  have  now  presented  some  of  the  evidences  on  which  I  rely  to  show  that 
these  men  were  not  the  most  subordinate  in  the  world.  It  is  necessary  for  me 
also  to  advert  to  another  circumstance  which  was  referred  to  by  the  Senators 
from  Delaware — I  mean  the  private  letter  which  they  allege  I  read,  that  was  ad- 


478  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

dressed  to  Mr.  Thorburn,  an  officer  in  the  navy,  by  Captain  Du  Pont.  That  is 
where  the  unfortunate  whistle  originated.  Mr.  Thorburn  had  the  letter.  It  re- 
ferred to  one  written  to  Colonel  Burton,  I  think,  a  brother  soldier,  who  had 
received  laudation.  Mr.  Du  Font's  letter  to  Lieutenant  Thorburn  suggested 
that  the  same  opportunity  was  afforded  to  the  officers  of  the  navy  to  have  some 
laudation,  and,  forsooth,  because  it  had  not  been  obtained,  there  was  disaffec- 
tion !  How  was  that  a  private  letter  ?  It  was  in  reference  to  a  public  matter. 
It  was  not  a  private  letter.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that,  according  to  the 
venerable  Senator  from  Delaware,  Captain  Du  Pont  was  the  leading  man  on  all 
occasions,  not  only  as  to  rank,  but  as  to  age ;  for,  whether  it  is  with  young 
or  old,  Du  Pont  never  follows,  but  always  leads.  That  was  the  substance  of 
the  expression  of  the  Senator  in  regard  to  him.  Such  a  man  wished  to  have 
a  whistle  from  Thorburn — a  name  connected  with  that  of  Warrington,  who 
never  disgraced  the  honor  of  his  country,  but  bore  it  up  triumphantly  and 
victoriously.  Thorburn,  as  honorable  and  as  good  a  man  as  any  that  walks 
in  the  Senate,  is  aspersed  here  as  most  unworthy,  if  he  permitted  this  letter, 
which  referred  to  public  matters,  to  be  used  here  ;  and  it  is  intimated  to 
the  Senator  from  Texas,  very  directly, 'that  he  was  culpable  for  it !  Oh  !  it 
is  unfortunate  to  have  a  two-edged  weapon. 

The  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  said,  that  if  the  Senate  could  only  know 
and  see  the  letter  written  by  Thorburn  to  Du  Pont,  it  would  be  seen  that  he  felt 
contrition,  or  something  to  that  effect.  That  Senator  wanted  to  bring  it  here, 
and  read  it ;  but  as  it  was  a  private  letter  Du  Pont  would  not  allow  him  to  do  so. 
That  Senator  [Mr.  Clayton]  is  perfectly  willing  to  bring  it  here  and  read  it.  His 
colleague  [Mr.  Bayard]  denounced  it  as  a  dishonorable  thing  ;  yet  his  colleague 
was  willing  to  do  that  dishonorable  thing  whfch  he  condemned  in  another. 
Thorburn  has  as  clean  a  record  as  any  man  for  efficiency.  He  has'  met  the 
enemy  ;  he  has  been  under  fire  when  there  was  danger.  Except  that  important 
battle  which  I  dwelt  on  the  other  day,  near  San  Jose,  I  believe  Captain  Du  Pont 
never  has  been  in  action  ;  and  then  there  was  great  contrariety  in  the  reports  as 
to  the  mortality  incident  to  that  great  engagement.  [Laughter.]  But  I  will 
say  this — No  man  is  more  honorable  than  Thorburn  ;  no  man  is  more  respected  ; 
no  man  in  the  navy  is  more  efficient ;  and  no  man  has  served  his  country  with 
more  fidelity  ;  and  there  is  no  official  that  sat  on  the  board  who  has  a  higher 
and  juster  claim  to  retain  position  on  the  active  list ;  yet  he  was  stricken  down. 
For  what  ?  Because  he  did  not  belong  to  the  clique  that  some  think  is  nec- 
essarily established  for  the  government  of  the  navy. 

I  believe  I  have  explained  the  principal  charges  that  were  made  affecting 
my  veracity ;  but  I  shall  have  much  to  say — more,  indeed,  than  I  desire  to 
say,  if  it  were  possible  to  avoid  it,  for  I  am  not  in  the  best  condition  for 
speaking  ;  but  I  feel  bound  to  go  on. 

The  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  [Mr.  Mallory]  talked  about 
"  drag-nets."  Sir,  there  are  so  many  technical  nautical  phrases  that  grow  up  on 
the  seaboard,  and  its  bays  and  estuaries,  and  places  where  ships  run,  that  I  am 
not  posted  up  in  them.  My  situation  has  always  been  in  the  interior.  I  have 
been  precluded  from  the  advantages  and  facilities  which  result  from  familiarity 
with  matters  of  navigation.  As  to  drag-nets,  I  should  like  to  see  that  word  de- 
fined. Does  it  mean  something  which  is  to  rake  the  bottom  ?  I  ask  the  honor- 
able chairman  of  the  committee  if  that  is  its  meaning  ?  If  it  means  to  drag  on 


Personal  Pique  Demoralizing  in  the  Navy.      479 

the  bottom,  I  think  I  have  been  robbed  of  the  use  of  my  drag-net  ;  I  think  the 
distinguished  Senators  have  got  it.  They  have  been  applying  it  to  Lieutenant 
Maury ;  and  I  think  there  was  some  drag-netting  done  in  relation  to  the  facts 
which  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  presented  here.  I  do  not  know 
where  he  got  them,  but  I  know  that  he  had  them.  It  reminds  me  of  an  inci- 
dent that  occurred  with  a  mill  boy.  He  went  to  the  mill  by  a  new  direction  to 
which  he  had  not  been  accustomed.  There  were  some  insinuations  that  the 
miller  was  not  the  most  honest  man  in  taking  toll.  The  boy,  of  course,  used  all 
his  vigilance  whilst  there.  He  was  standing  about  the  mill,  and  observing  every- 
thing to  which  his  curiosity  attracted  attention.  The  miller  thought  he  would 
get  into  an  interesting  conversation  ;  so  he  went  to  the  boy  and  asked  him  what 
his  father's  name  was.  The  boy  said  he  did  not  know.  "  Well,"  said  the 
miller,  "  where  is  he  from  ?  "  "I  do  not  know,"  answered  the  boy.  "  Why," 
said  the  miller,  "  you  know  nothing."  "  Yes,"  said  the  boy,  "  some  things  1 
know,  and  some  things  I  do  not  know."  "  Well,  what  is  it  that  you  do  know?  " 
The  boy  answered,  "  I  do  know  that  the  miller's  hogs  are  very  fat."  "  Well, 
what  is  it  that  you  do  not  know?  "  "  I  do  not  know  whose  corn  fattens  them." 
[Laughter.]  So  I  know  that  the  Senator  from  Delaware  had  this  information, 
but  I  do  not  know  who  gave  it  to  him.  The  natural  inference  is  that  it  was  no 
enemy. 

I  come  now,  sir,  to  speak  more  particularly  of  the  action  of  the  naval  retiring 
board,  and  the  law  by  which  it  was  created.  I  believe  that  law  is  universally 
condemned.'  It  is  possible  that  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Af- 
fairs, and  both  the  Senators  from  Louisiana,  think  it  not  only  constitutional,  but 
very  proper.  For  my  part,  however,  as  I  said  before  in  speaking  of  this  sub- 
ject, I  regard  it  as  a  most  odious  law,  and  it  has  been  most  odiously  executed. 

What' was  involved  in  that  measure  ?  The  efficiency  of  the  Navy — our  whole 
national  marine.  The  safety  and  glory  of  our  country  were  involved  in  that 
measure.  Was  it  ever  considered  as  such  a  measure  ought  to  have  been ;  or 
was  it  skillful  engineering  that  drove  it  through  the  Senate,  that  carried  it 
through  the  other  House,  and  that  is  now  endeavoring  to  sustain  it  by  an  over- 
whelming influence  ?  I  shall  not  omit  to  state  what  that  influence  is.  But  I 
ask  you,  what  obligation  rested  on  the  officers  constituting  this  board  ?  Did 
the  obligation  of  an  oath  rest  upon  them  ?  Were  they  sworn  to  discharge 
their  duty,  and  the  trust  confided  to  them,  impartially  ?  Or  were  they 
invited  by  sinister  considerations  to  violate  the  trust,  and  fail  to  discharge  the 
obligations  which  duty  imposed  on  them  ?  Had  they  not  most  seductive  influ- 
ences held  out  to  them  ?  What  were  they  ?  Promotion  ;  to  take  the  place  of 
others,  or  to  keep  them  out.  Sir,  this  was  the  situation  in  which  they  were 
placed.  They  had  every  motive  to  disregard  the  rights  of  others,  and  consult 
their  own  interest;  and  they  had  no  obligation  but  selfishness  to  constrain 
them  to  the  discharge  of  their  duties,  or  restrain  them  from  the  disregard  of 
their  duties. 

Sir,  we  are  told — and  it  is  the  voice  of  wisdom  speaking  to  us — "  that  no  man 
can  serve  two  masters.  Either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other,  or  he 
will  hold  to  the  one  and  despise  the  other  ;  ye  can  not  serve  God  and  mammon." 
These  men  could  not  on  this  occasion  serve  their  country  and  serve  themselve?. 
They  could  not  serve  those  whom  they  had  regarded  as  friends  heretofore  ;  be- 
cause, if  they  retained  them  in  their  situations,  it  gave  themselves  no  promotion 


480  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

These  men  had  to  sacrifice  and  strike  them  down.  They  did  not  take  the  three 
senior  commodores  to  revise  and  prune  the  navy,  who  could  have  had  no  incen- 
tive but  impartiality,  and  whose  honor  might  have  been  relied  upon.  Commo- 
dore Stewart  said  that  even  they  were  not  sufficiently  informed  to  judge  dis- 
creetly ;  yet  these  men  took  the  responsibility  of  making  places  for  themselves 
under  circumstances  the  most  unfortunate. 

If  you  will  permit  me  again,  I  will  give  you  a  quotation  that  is  one  of  solemn 
import :  "  Have  no  fellowship  with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  but  rather 
reprove  them  ;  for  it  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  those  things  which  are  done  of 
them  in  secret."  It  was  a  secret  tribunal — an  inquisition  that  struck  down  all 
alike.  You  may  seek  to  compare  it  with  the  regulation  of  the  army  of  the 
United  States  in  1815,  and  at  other  times;  but  there  is  no  analogy  between 
them.  There  the  senior  officers  were  selected.  Why  were  they  selected? 
Because  they  had  no  incentive  to  disregard  the  rights  of  subordinates,  and  ac- 
cording to  their  information  they  could  retain  or  they  could  strike  down  or  re- 
move. There  was  no  indelicacy,  no  injustice  in  that.  The  object  of  that  was 
to  retain  efficiency ;  but  it  was  not  a  measure  like  this.  They  could  remove  no 
superior.  The  law  did  not  give  them  that  power,  but  they  could  recommend 
for  retention  by  the  President  of  the  United  States  such  officers  of  the  army, 
subordinate  to  themselves,  as  they  thought  proper  or  right.  They  might  have 
had  personal  likings  or  dislikes,  but  these  could  not  amount  to  much. 

How  different  was  the  case  here  !  Fifteen  men  were  selected  with  power  to 
gratify  all  their  dislikes,  to  embody  and  band  together  all  their  antipathies,  their 
aversions,  their  private  slanders,  their  defamation  if  they  chose,  and  with  power 
to  resort  to  the  cumulative  records  of  the  Navy  Department,  running  back  for 
not  less  than  thirty  years.  I  was  charged  by  the  venerable  Senator  from  Dela- 
ware with  having  gone  back  as  far  as  1838  and  1840  to  call  for  information  in 
relation  to  these  gentlemen.  I  did  not  think  there  was  anything  very  wrong  in 
that ;  but  here  I  find  that  Commodore  Shubrick  says  they  made  "  free  use  "  ot 
the  records  of  the  department ;  and  what  kind  of  criteria  are  they  ?  They  have 
been  accumulating  for  years.  Every  slander  which  was  sent  there  in  relation  to 
an  officer  was  filed.  These  men  themselves  might  have  been  preparing  for  this 
occasion  ;  for  more  than  five  years  ago  it  was  designed  to  consummate  this 
work,  and  bring  about  this  "  reform  "  in  the  navy.  We  may  go  back,  in  my 
opinion,  to  the  period  when  this  occurrence  took  place  on  board  the  Ohio,  and 
such  was  Commodore  Hull's  opinion,  as  I  think  you  will  deduce  from  what  I 
have  read. 

What  kind  of  impartiality  was  exercised  by  the  board  ?  Could  men  act  im- 
partially under  such  circumstances?  Did  they  know  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty the  character  of  half  the  officers  upon  whom  they  acted  ?  But  what  have 
they  done?  Mark  you,  they  had  prepared  a  register  a  year  before.  They  had 
been  figuring  and  engineering  on  this  subject.  Some  of  these  gentlemen  the 
year  before  had  drawn  deductions,  relying  confidently  on  the  consummation  of 
this  work,  and  I  have  no  doubt  a  work  of  most  iniquitous  character.  It  was 
stated  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Florida  that  there  was  no  harm  in  these 
gentlemen  dotting  the  register,  and  that  there  was  no  harm  in  the  congress  that 
was  held  in  Commodore  Skinner's  office,  which  I  narrated  in  my  former  speech. 
It  was  before-  they  were  appointed  members  of  the  board,  but  not  before  they 
knew  that  they  would  be  appointed  and  indorsed  ;  and  because  they  were  un- 


Just  Sympathy  for  Worthy  Officers  Displaced.      481 

approachable  they  were  placed  above  all  responsibility  and  all  law  !  The  selec- 
tion of  one  of  them  was  a  guarantee  to  any  act  which  they  might  indorse  ! 
They  were  appointed  by  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  their 
conduct  is  not  to  be  questioned  ! 

What  does  the  honorable  Senator  himself  say,  who  is  the  chairman  of  the 
committee  ?  He  says  he  has  no  doubt  that  it  was  perfectly  just  and  right  that 
they  should  do — what?  That  they  should  retire,  furlough,  and  drop,  just  as 
they  did.  From  what  do  you  suppose  he  deduces  that  fact?  Why,  he  says  that 
the  year  before  he  made  a  calculation  himself — not  being  an  officer  of  the  navy, 
not  being  personally  acquainted  with  the  navy,  living  at  Pensacola,  where  a  few 
ships  touched  annually — and  that  out  of  one  hundred  whom  he  marked,  ninety- 
nine  were  dropped  or  retired.  Do  you  think  there  had  never  been  any  conclave 
sitting  here,  ordaining  who  should  be  dropped  or  retained,  long  before  the  bill 
was  passed — dropping  men,  not  because  they  were  inefficient,  but  because  theii 
places  were  supposed  to  be  necessary  either  to  members  of  the  board,  or  to 
friends  and  relatives  who  were  to  be  promoted  by  the  removal,  retiring,  'or 
dropping  of  these  gentlemen  ?  Is  it  fair  that  men  should  thus  be  stricken  down 
with  every  evidence  of  interest  on  the  part  of  those  who  did  the  act  ?  Should 
the  country  be  thus  essentially  injured  without  redress  ?  Is  there  to  be  no  jus- 
tice, no  sympathy,  nothing  but  taunts  and  insolence  to  the  unfortunate,  and 
those  who  are  stricken  down  without  demerit  ? 

Sir,  the  honorable  Senator,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  spoke  of  officers 
who  were  dropped,  and  officers  who  were  disrated,  occupying  a  place  in  the 
gallery — audiences  by  prearrangement — when  I  spoke.  I  believe  it  was  re- 
peated by  .the  Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Clayton],  though  it  is  not  to  be 
found  in  his  speech,  that  the  ladies  of  those  officers  were  here.  What  a  high 
crime  on  the  part  of  men  who  have  been  stricken  down  and  dishonored  ! 

Mr.  MALLORY.  The  Senator  does  not  mean  to  misrepresent  me,  I  know,  but 
I  desire  to  call  his  attention  to  the  fact  that  I  made  no  such  remark.  Although 
I  have  never  seen  the  notes  of  what  I  did  say  on  the  occasion  to  which  he 
alludes,  and  never  read  the  report,  I  am  confident  that  he  will  not  find  that  I 
alluded  to  any  officers  furloughed,  retired,  or  dropped,  being  in  the  galleries.  I 
did  say  that  when  I  saw  the  galleries,  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  I  knew  what 
was  to  come.  That  was  my  remark.  I  did  not  refer  to  any  officers  being  there. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  suppose  the  honorable  chairman  of  the  Naval  Committee 
means  that  the  whistle  was  to  come.  I  did  not  intend  that  at  the  time  myself, 
so  that  he  knew  more  than  I  did.  I  perceive  that  was  a  misfortune  for  me.  I 
wish  I  had  never  learned  to  whistle  [laughter],  but  I  might  have  learned  to  blow 
a  trumpet.  Trumpeting  and  whistling  were  coupled  together  in  the  letter  to 
Thorburn,  and  I  might  have  illustrated  it  very  well  without  whistling,  by  blow- 
ing a  trumpet.  [Laughter.] 

If  the  distinguished  Senator  did  not  refer  to  that,  the  Senator  from  Delaware 
did.  Have  men  no  right  to  entertain  anxiety  for  their  sullied  honor,  for  their 
blighted  prospects,  for  their  dishonored  name?  May  not  the  partners  of  their 
woes  and  joys — the  mothers  of  their  children — the  companions  of  their  cares — 
who  feel  interested  in  their  honor,  be  permitted  to  sympathize  with  their  sor- 
rows ?  To  forbid  this  would  be  worse  than  the  worst  despotism.  It  is  a  tyr- 
anny that  chains  the  mind,  and  renders  the  freedom  of  limbs  a  reproach  to  the 
possessor.  What  woman  would  not  feel  for  a  husband — she  whose  anxious 
31 


482  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

care,  whose  deep  solicitude,  has  pursued  him  when  tossed  on  the  billows  of  the 
ocean,  when  borne  before  the  fury  of  the  storm,  when  struggling  in  the  battle 
breeze  ?  Is  she  not  to  be  permitted  to  feel  for  that  husband  ?  I  pity  the  Gov- 
ernment that  can  forbid  such  feelings,  and  its  Senators  who  forget  their  duty  to 
themselves. 

I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  seeing  in  his  seat  at  this  moment  my  friend,  the 
Senator  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Butler],  but  we  have  had,  on  several  occa- 
sions, little  spats  on  the  floor,  always  awakening  some  new  and  pleasant  emo- 
tion in  my  heart  toward  him.  Sometimes  he  is  a  little  sharp  and  razorish  in 
his  remarks  ;  but  still  I  like  him.  That  Senator  and  myself,  I  am  proud  to  say, 
on  this  occasion  concur  in  opinion.  I  have  always  admired  the  gallant  State  of 
South  Carolina.  If  there  is  pure  and  unadulterated  chivalry  in  the  world,  you 
will  find  a  portion  of  it  in  South  Carolina,  in  the  descendants  of  the  Huguenots. 
Sir,  a  noble  son  of  South  Carolina  has  recently  been  tried  in  every  station.  He 
has  performed  feats  of  valor  that  neither  corsair,  nor  commander,  nor  sailor, 
has  rivaled  in  the  last  five  centuries.  I  allude  to  Rolando.  His  generosity  is 
only  equaled  by  his  sterling  and  indomitable  courage.  His  bearing  is  that  of  a 
gentleman,  and  his  courage  the  flint — it  always  reflects  the  fire  when  brought 
in  contact  with  steel.  When  the  poor,  miserable  Chinese  were  perishing,  and 
when  all  the  ship's  crew  dared  not  offer  assistance,  Rolando  volunteered,  and 
saved  five  hundred  and  thirty  out  of  six  hundred.  In  a  few  moments  more  they 
would  have  perished.  He  rescued  them  ;  and  in  two  successive  fights  with  the 
pirates  he  performed  feats  of  courage  the  most  daring  and  unexampled  in  mod- 
ern warfare.  He  was  stricken  down  ;  and,  as  an  apology  for  that,  whaHs  pre- 
sented? An  insinuation  is  brought  against  him  by  the  venerable  Senator  from 
Delaware.  I  wish  he  were  here.  What  did  he  say  ?  That  the  reports  of  his 
shipmates,  or  the  officers  of  the  ships,  would  justify  the  finding  of  the  board. 
They  were  all  retained,  and  my  inference  would  be  that  it  was  a  mistake  in  the 
board  to  retain  any  of  them,  if  they  condemned  Rolando.  Formerly,  if  un- 
equivocal charges  of  delinquency  and  crime  were  furnished,  men  were  stricken 
from  the  rolls,  and  the  act  was  never  called  in  question.  It  is  different  now. 
Ah  !  sir,  he  had  excited  the  envy  of  these  men.  None  would  be  willing  now  to 
put  their  chivalry  or  valor  in  competition  with  his.  I  hope  it  will  never  be 
done.  I  want  reason ;  I  want  legislation ;  I  want  national  justice  to  restore 
these  officers  to  their  proper  places ;  but  I  wish  no  bloodshed ;  I  would  dis- 
courage it ;  but  if  it  rested  on  that  test  I  should  feel  assured  of  the  capacity  of 
those  who  have  been  stricken  down. 

But  now  an  insinuation  is  made  against  Rolando.  When  I  called  upon  the 
Senator  from  Delaware,  and  asked  him  to  state  the  facts,  he  said,  "  Call  on  his 
brother  officers — call  on  his  captain  ;  he  will  sustain  what  I  say  of  him."  Still 
further,  he  said  it  was  all  I  would  get ;  but  it  would  justify  the  board  in  their 
finding.  That  is  what  I  call  branding  a  man  with  an  innuendo.  The  venerable 
Senator  was  not  willing  to  exhibit  the  arrow,  but  he  was  willing  that  the  poison 
should  be  infused  into  the  wounds  of  Rolando's  insulted  feelings — he  was  will- 
ing to  attack  his  honor  and  reputation.  He  would  not  name  the  facts  ;  but  he 
referred  us  to  officers  at  Norfolk,  as  if  a  Senator  could  rise  on  this  floor  and  go 
on  the  wings  of  the  wind  to  Norfolk  and  get  the  hearsay  of  officers  who  had 
been  with  Rolando,  and  who  had  filed,  in  compliment  to  the  Department  or  the 
officers  of  the  board,  some  censures  on  him.  In  the  Senator's  innuendo  there  is 


Lieut.  Mauris  Eminent  Service  Dishonored.      483 

not  one  word  of  truth.  If  I  catch  a  man  in  one  mean  thing  I  am  willing  to  ex^ 
tend  my  suspicion  to  everything  that  he  does.  The  course  of  the  Senator  on 
this  point  reminds  me  of  a  story  which  I  heard  of  a  manufacturer  of  Bologna 
sausages.  An  individual  had  a  habit  of  loafing  about  his  premises  and  eating 
his  sausages  until  he  became  very  troublesome,  and  the  manufacturer  thought 
it  proper  to  give  him  a  gentle  intimation  that  he  was  rather  too  familiar,  and 
that  his  services  could  be  dispensed  with.  He  went  off,  and  immediately  slan- 
dered the  establishment.  The  manufacturer  being  informed  of  it,  called  upon 
him  and  told  him  that  he  had  heard  he  was  telling  stories  about  his  "sassen- 
ger"  establishment.  [Laughter.]  He  said,  "  I  understand  you  have  reported 
that  my  Bologna  '  sassengers '  are  made  of  dog's  meat."  [Laughter.]  He  re- 
plied, "  I  never  reported  any  such  thing."  "  Well,"  said  the  man,  "  I  am  exceed- 
ingly glad  of  it,  because  I  heard  that  you  had  done  so  ;  but  if  you  say  that  you 
have  not,  it  is  sufficient."  He  saicj,  "  I  did  not  say  it,  but  I  will  tell  you  what  it 
was  that  I  did  say.  I  said  that  where  Bologna  sassengers  were  plenty  dogs 
were  scarce."  [Laughter.] 

Now,  Mr.  President,  how  was  it  with  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  ? 
He  would  not  say  directly  that  Rolando  was  intemperate,  but  he  insinuated  that 
he  was,  because  that  was  the  charge  against  him.  He  was  willing  on  that  in- 
sinuation to  ruin  his  prospects.  I  have  the  pleasure  of  an  acquaintance  with 
that  gentleman,  and  I  know  no  more  gallant  man.  I  have  seen  him  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  I  consider  him  to  possess  all  the  efficiency  requisite  for  a  sailor 
of  the  highest  order ;  but  he  has  been  stricken  down. 

But,  sir,  the  venerable  Senator  went  further,  and  alluded  to  the  case  of  Lieuten- 
ant Maury.  I  received  a  letter  this  morning,  to  which  I  beg  leave  to  refer,  as  it 
is  usual  in  the  Senate  to  allude  to  letters  which  members  receive.  A  gentleman 
who  had  seen  some  of  the  speeches  in  the  Senate  on  this  subject — perhaps 
those  of  the  Senators  from  Georgia — said,  in  writing  to  me,  that  he  had  perused 
those  speeches  with  great  pleasure :  and  remarked,  further: 

"  I  see  that  they  have  adverted  to  Lieutenant  Maury,  and  that  he  has  been 
one  of  the  victims  of  this  board  who  has  been  struck  down.  I  have  never  seen 
him  ;  but  I  have  considered  his  fame  as  coextensive  with  the  world  ;  and  I  have 
looked  upon  him  as  the  first  officer  of  the  American  navy,  and  my  friends  all 
around  me  think  so  too." 

That  was  his  opinion  ;  and  I  venture  to  say  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  country  at 
large ;  but  this  board  of  fifteen,  in  their  small  dimensions,  did  not  think  so.  Of 
course  they  could  not  envy  Lieutenant  Maury ;  for  we  are  told  by  the  venera- 
ble Senator  from  Delaware  that  they  retained  gentlemen  of  superior  science  to 
Lieutenant  Maury !  Of  two  of  the  scientific  gentlemen  who  have  been  re- 
tained, to  whom  he  alluded,  I  take  great  pleasure  in  speaking,  because  I  have 
respect  for  them  ;  and  I  will  give  my  reason  for  not  mentioning  the  others. 

I  have  respect  for  Gibbon  and  Herndon.  They  have  contributed  to  science 
and  to  the  honor  and  usefulness  of  their  country.  I  have  no  objection  to  inter- 
pose to  the  assertion  as  to  the  retention  of  scientific  men,  so  far  as  regards  those 
two  cases ;  but  I  can  not  consent  to  include  others  who  have  been  receiving 
official  preference  and  favor,  and  who  have  been  promoted  by  the  action  of  this 
board,  or  had  a  hand  in  it.  It  is  immortality  enough  for  them  that  they  were 
indorsed  by  the  "immortal  fifteen."  They  have  passed  the  ordeal  of  the 


484  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

slaughter-house  of  reputation.  Let  that  be  their  indorsement.  What  I  say, 
humble  as  I  am,  is  to  become  history,  and  I  will  not  give  them  immortality  by 
stating  their  names.  They  do  not  deserve  it,  and  I  will  not  do  it.  They  may 
look  for  fame  to  What  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  said  of  them  ; 
though  I  believe  he  has  no  indorser  ;  but  as  it  was  his  "sincere  testimony/'  I 
suppose  it  will  pass  current.  [Laughter.]  They  are  the  men  who  happen  to  be 
retained. 

I  am  perfectly  aware  of  what  has  produced  this  excitement.  I  have  not  had 
persons  contributing  to  my  means  of  information  who  had  access  to  the  Navy 
Department.  I  have  not  had  such  persons  to  run  to  the  department  for  me  and 
obtain  every  musty  document  that  would  assail  the  reputation  of  any  man. 
But,  Mr.  President,  when  you  compare  the  documents  which  I  have  read  and 
the  evidence  on  which  I  relied,  with  that  introduced  by  the  venerable  Senator 
from  Delaware,  I  think  the  inference  must  fairly  be  drawn  that  I  am  less  ob- 
noxious to  the  charge  of  having  used  a  drag-net  than  that  Senator  himself. 
How  has  he  assailed  Maury  ?  He  has  gone  back  for  fifteen  years.  I  can  very 
well  understand  the  object  of  the  venerable  Senator  in  that.  He  did  not  intend 
to  insult  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Bell],  who  had  taken  an  interest  in 
Maury's  case.  He  read  from  a  speech  which  I  had  made,  where  I  said  that  I 
had  been  Maury's  patron,  and  was  proud  of  it.  Sir,  I  am,  I  was,  I  will  be, 
proud  of  him  !  I  feel  that  he  has  been  wronged ;  and  I  hope  that  he  will  be 
redressed,  and  that  the  country  will  be  benefited  by  honoring  him  with  what  he 
deserves. 

But  what  has  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  done  ?  Was  it  necessary 
for  the  examination  of  any  matters  connected  with  the  action  of  the  board  that 
he  should  present  what  he  did  present  in  regard  to  Lieutenant  Maury  ?  I  did 
not  go  into  the  personal  affairs  of  Mr.  Du  Pont  or  other  gentlemen  ;  but  he 
went  into  the  personal  affairs  of  Mr.  Maury.  He  commented  on  the  present 
salary  of  Lieutenant  Maury  as  if  he  were  not  entitled  to  it  by  law.  He  spoke  of 
the  vegetable  garden,  the  kitchen,  and  the  cart-horse  allowed  him.  The  Senator 
traveled  over  every  intermediate  step,  beginning  at  the  pedestal  of  his  fame,  and 
going  down  to  the  very  mud  of  his  garden.  That  was  to  assail  and  mortify  the 
feelings  of  that  man  who  honors  his  country.  As  Franklin  contemplated  and 
grasped  the  philosophy  of  the  clouds  and  tamed  the  fierce  lightning  of  heaven, 
so  Maury  has  fathomed  the  ocean,  and  controlled  by  his  calculations  the  fury 
of  the  storm  and  the  violence  of  the  tempest ;  he  has  mastered  the  waves  of  the 
ocean,  and  played  familiar  with  her  name.  Can  the  Senator  tarnish  his  name  ? 
Never,  never ;  the  attempt  to  do  it  will  only  make  the  country  suffer. 

Sir,  the  name  of  Maury  is  endeared  to  every  American  heart.  It  is  a  name 
that  will  live  as  long  as  the  odium  which  attaches  to  the  inquisitorial  action  of 
the  retiring  board  shall  be  remembered  ;  and  that  will  be  forever.  If  the  ven- 
erable Senator  from  Delaware  had  only  confined  himself  to  the  use  of  a  drag-net 
on  these  officers,  and  had  not  employed  official  scavengers  and  pimps  to  minis- 
ter to' his  appetite,  and  enable  him  to  assail  Maury  as  he  has  done,  it  would 
have  been  well  for  him. 

But,  sir,  what  is  the  tremendous  influence  that  is  brought  to  sustain  this 
board  ?  Look  at  it.  There  is  the  Executive  of  the  nation.  What  has  he  done  ? 
Has  he  not  indicated  the  strongest  disposition  possible  to  sustain  the  board  ? 
What  has  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  done  ?  Has  he  not  imitated  the  example  ? 


Jefferson's  Act  as  to  Navy  Misconstrued.        485 

• 

Are  there  not  many  things  contingent  on  the  confirmation  of  the  nominations 
here  made  ?  I  suppose,  when  some  individuals  were  taken  off,  it  was  said  to 
them,  "  My  dear  fellows,  be  contented  ;  do  not  be  anxious  ;  do  not  be  like  these 
rude  men,  these  noisy  fellows  around  here  ;  we  will  take  care  of  you ;  you  will 
be  provided  for."  If  a  midshipman  is  wanted,  they  say  they  can  not  do  any- 
thing until  we  confirm  the  nominations  sent  to  the  Senate.  On  that  hangs 
everything.  There  is  an  influence  which  is  now  suspended  ovej-  the  Senate,  and 
over  the  destiny  of  this  nation.  Is  it  not  tremendous  ?  With  the  patronage  of 
the  Government  this  is  a  Herculean  influence — one  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of 
the  country.  All  these  appliances  are  to  be  brought  to  bear  upon  us.  Sir,  I 
shall  resist  them,  and  I  indorse  the  expression  of  my  friend  from  Georgia  [Mr. 
Iverson],  who  said  that  he  would  rot  in  his  seat  before  he  would  ever  vote  for 
the  confirmation  of  one  of  these  nominations,  until  justice  shall  be  awarded  to 
the  officers  who  have  been  wronged. 

It  is  very  strange  that  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  should  have  re- 
ferred to  Jefferson's  action  in  the  reduction  of  the  navy  about  1801,  when  it  was 
determined  that  he  should  retain  but  nine  captains.  I  do  not  recollect  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  case,  but  he  was  to  retain  a  certain  number.  Mr.  Jefferson  re- 
tained two  more.  It  is  said,  however,  that  he  reduced  the  navy  at  his  own 
option.  True  ;  but  Congress  had  passed  a  law  for  that  purpose,  and  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son did  nothing  selfish  in  the  matter ;  he  acted  for  the  good  of  the  country. 
He  used  a  large  discretion,  because  he  retained  two  more  officers  than  were 
provided  for  in  the  law.  There  is  a  discrepancy  between  the  record  and  the 
law,  but  the  inference  is  that  Mr.  Jefferson  deemed  it  indispensable  to  the  serv- 
ice, and  exercised  a  discretion  which  had  been  through  courtesy  awarded  to 
him. 

I  come  now  to  the  case- of  Captain  Stribling.  I  have  no  disposition  to  assail 
any  gentleman  ;  but  he  has  obtruded  himself  here.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
board,  and  I  hold  him  accountable,  as  I  do  its  other  members,  for  its  action  ; 
but  let  us  see  whether  his  conduct  comes  up  to  the  standard  necessary  to  deter- 
mine the  merits  of  others.  When  I  last  spoke  on  this  subject  I  charged  him 
with  one  fact,  on  the  evidence  furnished  me  by  an  official  record — the  report  of 
the  inspecting  officers  at  New  York.  I  only  read  a  report,  and  fairly  commented 
on  it.  He  rendered  an  excuse,  which  I  also  read.  What  did  it  amount  to  ? 
Nothing— less  than. nothing.  It  was  no  apology  ;  and  yet  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  was  perfectly  willing  to  receive  it — in  the  way  in  which  it  was  intended — 
as  a  blind.  If  any  man  of  common-sense — any  sailor  will  compare  the  facts  re- 
ported there  with  the  duties  of  an  officer,  he  will  be  satisfied  that  Captain  Strib- 
ling did  not  discharge  his  duty  as  an  officer  ought  to  have  done ;  and  that  his 
ship  was  neither  in  an  efficient  condition  nor  in  proper  order  to  sustain  the 
honor  of  the  country's  flag,  if  it  had  been  assailed.  The  ship  might  have  been 
sunk  before  he  could  discharge  a  gun. 

How  is  it  with  Captain  Pendergrast  ?  I  was  struck  with  the  analogy  between 
what  both  Captain  Pendergrast  and  Captain  Stribling  alleged  as  reasons  for  the 
condition  of  their  ships.  I  will  show  here — and  any  person  will  find  it  who 
chooses  to  examine  the  explanation  given  by  Captain  Pendergrast  when  he  was 
in  charge  of  the  Saranac  in  the  West  Indies — that  he  does  not  deny  one  solitary 
fact.  He  breaks  out  in  expressions  implicating  Lieutenant  May,  but  does  not 
answer  a  solitary  charge  which  is  brought  against  him ;  nor  does  he  explain  his 


486  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

conduct.  He  merely  says  that  he  did  not  (Jo  what  he  ought  to  have  done,  be- 
cause he  thought  so  and  so.  He  did  not  drill  his  men  for  fire,  nor  train  them  for 
anything  but  passing  powder.  They  all  passed  powder  well.  But  what  is  pow- 
der without  ball  and  without  the  other  facilities  which  give  efficiency  to  its  use  ? 
I  will  read  what  Lieutenant  May  said  in  regard  to  Captain  Pendergrast.  On 
these  charges  he  was  never  arraigned — never  tried.  This  is  a  key  to  open  the 
mysteries  of  the  Navy  Department,  and  it  will  show  why  reform  has  been  neces- 
sary, and  where  the  default  was,  and  where  the  error  originated  and  now  exists. 
Lieutenant  May,  as  far  back  as  the  I3th  February,  1852,  says: 

"  I  have  to  charge  Commander  Pendergrast  with  neglecting  and  failing  to 
put  this  ship,  the  Saranac,  under  his  command,  in  fighting  order ;  and  also,  in 
the  important  arrangement  against  fire,  neglecting  to  muster  the  crew  at  sta- 
tions. From  June  10,  1851,  the  day  Commander  Pendergrast  took  command  of 
this  ship,  till  the  24th  day  of  December,  the  crews  of  the  guns  were  exercised 
but  once  (as  the  log-book  will  show),  and  that  only  time  was  on  the  ist  day  of 
September,  a  few  days  out  from  Norfolk,  on  the  passage  to  the  Havana.  Thus 
it  will  be  seen  that  in  the  period  of  longer  than  six  months,  or  one  hundred  and 
ninety-six  days,  the  guns'  crews  were  drilled  at  great  gun  exercise  but  once,  and 
from  the  roth  day  of  June  until  January  19,  1852,  the  ship's  company  were  not 
once  mustered  at  fire  stations,  and  on  that  day,  the  I9th,  were  mustered  for  the 
first  time,  from  the  fact,  it  may  be  presumed,  that  on  the  previous  evening  the 
alarm  of  fire  had  been  raised  on  board  the  ship.  These  startling  facts  speak  for 
themselves  ;  the  log-book  of  the  ship,  and  the  testimony  of  the  officers,  will  bear 
me  out  in  them  ;  and  if  anything  could  make  more  culpable  such  unprecedented 
neglect,  such  apathetic  indifference  to  the  condition  and  efficiency  of  the  ship,  it 
is  the  fact  that  at  this  very  time  we  were  engaged  in  a  delicate  and  responsible 
charge  growing  out  of  the  Cuban  difficulties,  at  any  moment  liable  to  have  in- 
volved us  in  difficulty  or  collision ;  and,  of  later  date,  in  the  same  unprepared 
state,  we  sailed  from  Pensacola  for  San  Juan  de  Nicaragua  to  investigate  the 
Prometheus  difficulty,  which,  happily  for  the  credit  of  this  ship,  was  peaceably 
settled." 

He  never  was  called  to  account  on  these  charges.  Whether  true  or  false,  it 
was  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  bring  him  to  trial.  They  were 
substantiated  by  a  respectable  officer,  whom  for  some  reason  the  board  retained 
on  the  active  list ;  so  that  he  has  an  indorsement  by  them  ;  and  yet  these  charges 
still  remain  in  the  Navy  Department. 

Mr.  HOUSTON  here  gave  way  to  a  motion  to  adjourn. 

TUESDAY,  April  24,  1856. 

Mr.  HOUSTON  said :  Mr.  President,  when  the  Senate  adjourned  yesterday  upon 
the  motion  of  my  friend  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Bell],  I  was  engaged  in  making 
some  remarks  in  reference  to  certain  charges  preferred  against  Captain  Pender- 
grast by  Lieutenant  May,  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Those  charges  were  of  a 
most  grave  and  imposing  character.  They  remained  in  the  Department,  and  are 
yet  there  upon  file ;  they  were  never  withdrawn.  No  action  was  ever  taken 
upon  them.  They  should  have  been  adjudicated.  They  were  preferred  by  an 
officer  of  high  character  and  reputation  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States.  It 
can  not  be  charged  that  he  is  one  of  those  disaffected  toward  the  board  ;  it  can 
not  be  said  that  chagrin  and  mortification  have  influenced  him ;  for  he  has  been 


Secret  Proceedings  of  one  Naval  Board.         487 

retained  on  the  active  list  of  the  naTvy,  and  is  now  in  commission  in  active  serv- 
ice. These  charges  were  of  a  most  grave  and  important  character.  Captain 
Pendergrast  was  charged  with  being  deficient  in  every  point  of  his  duty.  He 
had  failed  in  the  exercise  of  his  crew.  He  had  failed  in  every  part  of  his  duty 
tha-t  was  calculated  to  give  efficiency  to  his  command  and  efficiency  to  the  navy 
of  the  United  States.  With  all  these  charges  staring  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
in  the  face,  he  selected  him  as  one  of  the  members  of  this  retiring  board.  He 
was  one  of  the  individuals  who  was  to  determine  on  the  merits  and  demerits  of 
his  fellow-officers,  not  merely  those  who  were  subordinate  to  him  in  position  and 
rank,  but  he  was  to  pass  upon  those  who  stood  before  him  on  the  list  of  thp 
navy.  He  was  placed  above  all  responsibility ;  he  was  not  accountable  for  his 
action  to  any  one  ;  nor  was  he  acting  under  the  obligations  of  an  oath  to  dis- 
charge his  duty  upon  that  board  according  to  law  or  according  to  conscience. 
He  was  not  restricted  to  any  other  rule  than  that  of  caprice,  or  whim,  or  preju- 
dice. 

We  find  that,  notwithstanding  all  these  charges  were  before  the  Secretary,  he 
indorsed  Mr.  Pendergrast  as  a  gentleman  of  high  honor,  and  placed  him  in  this 
high  position,  irresponsible  to  the  law  or  to  the  Constitution.  Sir,  it  was  not 
considered  necessary  that  he  should  arraign  the  individuals  upon  whom  he  passed 
judgment.  They  were  to  have  no  hearing.  There  was  no  investigation  of  their 
case,  except  that  which  took  place  in  this  secret  tribunal — this  secret  inquisition. 

Mr.  President,  if  there  were  no  other  reasons  for  condemning  the  action  of 
this  board,  and  subjecting  it  to  repeal  or  revision  by  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  the  very  character  of  it,  its  secrecy,  the  irresponsibility  of  its  members, 
and  all  the  attendant  circumstances,  make  an  appeal  to  the  justice  and  judgment 
of  the  Senate  and  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Though  they  have  received 
the  indorsement  and  approval  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  the  President, 
they  stand  before  this  body  subject  to  its  investigation,  consideration,  and  ac- 
tion. If  a  charge  was  made  against  a  pirate  the  most  abandoned,  whose 
hands  had  been  a  thousand  times  washed  in  the  blood  of  innocence,  who  had 
violated  every  law,  human  and  divine,  who  had  set  himself  up  as  the  avowed 
and  common  enemy  of  mankind— if  he  had  lived  and  acted,  and  perpetrated 
crimes  under  the  black  flag  and  the  human  bones  painted  red  to  display  the  pro- 
fession which  he  followed,  he  would  have  been  entitled  to  an  examination,  he 
would  have  been  favored  with  a  trial,  he  would  have  been  arraigned  and  brought 
before  a  tribunal  where  he  could  confront  the  witnesses  against  him,  and  where 
counsel  would  be  accorded  to  him. 

One  of  the  officers  who  received  a  blow  from  this  tribunal  had  twice  triumphed 
over  pirates ;  he  had  rescued  commerce  from  their  depredations,  and  human  be- 
ings from  butchery  by  their  barbarous  hands.  I  alluded  to  him,  yesterday,  as 
one  who  had  performed  most  gallant  feats.  He  was  struck  down  by  this  board, 
dishonored  in  the  early  prime  of  manhood  and  efficiency,  without  a  hearing,  a 
trial,  or  arraignment ;  when  the  very'  miscreants  from  whom  he  redeemed  so- 
ciety were  permitted  a  privilege  which  was  denied  to  him.  Can  you  impose  on 
the  common  mind  of  mankind  the  belief  that  the  proceedings  of  this  board 
were  in  accordance  with  the  genius  of  our  Government,  or  with  justice  and 
truth  ?  It  can  not  be  done,  sir.  The  officers  who  were  passed  upon  by  the. 
board  were  not  permitted  to  be  heard  in  their  defense,  and  no  examination 
whatever  took  place.  What  was  the  rule  by  which  their  cases  were  determined  ? 


488  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Documents  that  were  filed  in  the  Navy  Department — and  of  which  the  chair- 
man of  that  board  assures  us  "  free  use  "  was  made,  running  back  for  a  long 
lapse  of  years,  in  some  cases  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years — were  brought  before 
the  board.  The  archives  of  the  Department  were  ransacked,  and  charges  that 
had  lain  in  the  musty  pigeon-boxes  of  the  Department  were  raked  up,  and  offi- 
cers were  adjudged  on  such  evidence. 

Sir,  who  was  here  to  examine  into  the  charges  preferred  against  Captain  Pen- 
dergrast?  Who  was  there  on  that  board  to  examine  the  charges  filed  against 
various  members  of  it,  and  upon  which  they  had  never  been  arraigned  ?  If  they 
arraigned  officers  on  actions  of  the  past,  it  was  an  ex  post  facto  proceeding,  vio- 
lative  of  the  Constitution  and  the  chartered  rights  of  every  American  citizen, 
whether  in  public  or  in  private  station.  The  law  could  have  no  operation  upon 
such  events.  Why  ?  Because  they  had  transpired  before  the  enactment  of  the 
law.  But,  sir,  were  officers  adjudged  by  such  considerations  ?  Yes ;  and  by 
rumors  that  had  long  gone  by.  They  were  not  arraigned  01^  facts  in  reference 
to  their  present  condition  in  the  navy.  The  charges  against  them  were  not  of 
recent  date,  for  the  board  went  back  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  with  the 
address  of  scavengers  imputations  were  brought  up  by  them  against  the  charac- 
ter of  their  brother  officers.  They  were  not  heard  on  the  subject ;  no  intimation 
or  suggestion  was  given  to  them  that  they  were  to  be  tried  on  these  matters 
susceptible  of  explanation ;  but  they  were  condemned  by  men  against  whom 
flagrant  offenses  and  delinquencies  had  been  charged,  and  those  charges  still 
stood  on  the  files  of  the  Navy  Department.  Sir,  can  you  call  these  proceedings 
just?  Was  it  in  the  contemplation  of  the  officers  of  the  navy,  when  they  en- 
tered the  service,  that  these  were  to  be  the  criteria  by  which  the  character  and 
claims  of  gentlemen  and  officers  and  their  places  in  the  navy  of  the  United 
States  should  be  determined  ?  I  think  not. 

Under  these  circumstances,  is  it  possible  that  the  Senate  can  sanction  such 
inquisitorial  proceedings  and  such  condemnatory  acts  as  grew  up  under  influ- 
ences of  this  character  ?  They  were  never  contemplated  by  the  law.  It  is  to 
remedy  these  evils  that  we  urge  the  appointment  of  a  special  committee — and  for 
what  purpose  ?  To  ascertain  the  facts.  Will  not  the  members  of  that  commit- 
tee be  doing  what  they  can  to  promote  justice  ?  As  gentlemen,  selected  from 
this  body  for  the  impartial  investigation  of  the  subject,  they  will,  of  course,  do 
all  they  can  to  bring  forth  the  facts.  By  their  examinations,  the  truth  can  be 
elicited ;  the  imputations,  reports,  rumors,  and  hearsay,  on  which  officers  were 
stricken  down,  can  be  compared,  analyzed,  and  dissected  by  the  Senate,  and  a 
just  judgment  deduced  from  the  evidence  which  may  be  brought  forward. 

But,  sir,  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  appointment  of  such  a  special  com- 
mittee will  be  a  reflection  on  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs.  I  do  not  think 
so.  The  gentlemen  of  that  committee  have  already  had  sufficient  employment 
in  the  investigation  of  this  subject.  The  elaborate  report  which  they  have  made, 
and  the  investigations  to  which  they  have  devoted  themselves,  have  already 
consumed  a  sufficiency  of  their  time  and  absorbed  their  minds.  They  have 
made  a  report  to  the  Senate,  and  I  believe  they  are  unanimous  in  their  conclu- 
sions, that  no  specific  redress  ought  to  be  granted  to  individuals,  except  to  a 
partial  extent,  under  the  discretion  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  I  do 
not  intend  to  cast  the  slightest  reflection  on  him,  for  it  is  not  necessary  to  the 
impartial  investigation  of  this  subject;  but  we  are  all  too  well  acquainted  with 


Special  Committee  Needed.  489 

human  nature  not  to  know  what  would  be  the  result  of  leaving-  it  to  his  discre- 
tion. What  would  be  his  situation  ?  He  has  already  indorsed  the  action  of  the 
board.  He  has  played  subservient  to  them.  He  was  their  minister.  He  acted 
in  accordance  with  their  suggestions  and  dictation.  For  the  sake  of  consistency 
he  would  feel  that  he  was  bound  to  carry  out  their  action.  If  he  should  come 
to  that  conclusion,  what  redress  would  be  granted  to  individuals  who  have  re- 
ceived the  malediction  and  brand  of  this  board  ?  What  officer  who  has  been 
disrated  would  be  benefited  by  being  commended  to  the  justice  or  the  charity  of 
the  President  and  Secretary  of  the  Navy  ?  Would  not  the  influence  of  those 
who  concurred  on  the  board  be  united  in  constraining  the  President  to  uphold 
his  former  decision  for  the  sake  of  consistency,  no  matter  who  were  the  sufferers  ? 
The  President  would  feel  a  natural  inclination  to  be  consistent ;  and  he  has 
already  sustained  the  board's  action,  upon  the  suggestion  that  they  were  con- 
strained to  act  as  they  did,  that  they  acted  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge,  that 
they  were  actuated  by  high  and  honorable  feelings,  such  as  should  prompt  gen- 
tlemen under  similar  circumstances.  If  Congress  does  not  render  justice,  no 
truth,  however  glaring  and  potent,  will  be  sufficient  to  reverse  their  irreversible 
decrees.  I  know  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  has  acknowledged  that  injustice 
was  done  to  individuals  ;  but  who  are  to  be  the  beneficiaries  of  this  acknowledg- 
ment ?  Adopt  the  proposition  of  the  Naval  Committee,  and  it  is  matter  of 
favor — it  is  confided  to  executive  discretion.  Think  you,  then,  that  it  would  ex- 
tend to  all  who  have  been  injured  and  who  seek  redress  ?  Men  of  irreproach- 
able and  spotless  character — men  who  were  never  delinquent  for  a  moment  in 
the  discharge  of  their  duties,  and  always  met  every  requisition  made  upon  them, 
have  been  disrated  by  this  board,  and  are  here  asking  for  redress.  I  say  it  is 
your  duty  to  give  it  to  them. 

Well,  sir,  is  it  disrespect  to  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  to  say  that  a 
special  committee  shall  be  created  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  impartial  ex- 
amination into  the  facts  of  the  case  of  each  officer  whose  memorial  has  been 
presented  to  the  Senate  ?  No,  sir ;  it  is  not  disrespectful.  I  should  be  disposed 
to  think  that  the  gentlemen  of  the  Naval  Committee  would  feel  a  delicacy  in 
taking  cognizance  of  any  matters  connected  with  the  subject,  inasmuch  as  they 
have  already  expressed  their  opinions.  They  have  made  an  elaborate  report,  in- 
voking every  possible  aid,  direct  and  collateral,  to  their  support ;  and  they  have 
quoted  a  succession  of  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  from  the  time  of 
Mr.  Bancroft  down  to  the  present  day,  speeches  made  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, former  reports  made  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  opinions 
of  committees,  and  everything  else  calculated  to  sustain  the  position  of  the 
board,  but  nothing  that  would  show  the  injustice  which  has  been  done  to  in- 
dividuals— nothing  giving  any  assurance  that  they  had  impartially  investigated 
the  subject.  My  desire  is,  that  it  shall  be  impartially  looked  into.  Why  ?  Be- 
cause I  have  a  judgment  to  form,  and  I  wish  to  have  that  judgment  enlightened. 
I  wish  to  hear  -the  whole  case.  We  have  heard  the  advocates  of  the  board  ;  let 
us  hear  the  advocates  of  the  memorialists.  Let  us  compare  the  statements  on 
both  sides — those  favorable  to  the  board  and  those  adverse  to  it — with  the  array 
of  facts  that  can  be  presented  on  either  side.  That  is  what  I  desire.  This  can 
be  accomplished  through  a  select  committee. 

For  the  purpose  of  more  perfectly  understanding  this  subject,  and  obtaining 
all  the  information  possible,  I  had  the  honor  of  introducing  into  the  Senate, 


490  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

some  days  ago,  a  resolution  calling  for  the  proceedings  of  a  court-martial  which 
grew  out  of  the  action  of  the  board,  and  in  which  some  ill-feeling  had  been 
manifested.  I  was  anxious  to  have  the  information  brought  before  the  Senate, 
not  because  I  was  acquainted  with  it,  and  believed  it  calculated  to  create  a 
prejudice  against  the  board,  but  because  I  wished  to  be  enlightened  and  to  be 
informed  of  all  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  subject.  A  controversy  had  existed 
between  some  officers  in  relation  to  the  action  of  the  board  ;  one  member  of  the 
board  was  held  responsible  for  its  action  in  one  case,  and  ill-blood  grew  up  be- 
tween one  officer  and  a  member  of  the  board,  which  led  to  a  court-martial.  I 
wished  to  know  whether  blame  properly  attached  to  the  individual  who  was 
arraigned  and  tried  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  or  whether  the  mem- 
ber of  the  board  was  culpable  and  had  proved  recreant  to  his  duty  and  his 
honor.  I  wished  to  judge  of  all  these  things.  But,  sir,  what  was  the  course  of 
the  Senate  ?  Apprehending  that  ill-feelings,  or  a  heated  state  of  excitement, 
might  grow  out  of  the  communication  of  the  information,  they  declined  to 
adopt  the  resolution.  It  reminded  me,  Mr.  President,  of  a  trial  which  took 
place  not  very  far  from  here,  before  a  magistrate  endowed  with  a  good  portion 
of  common-sense  and  considerable  integrity,  but  not  a  highly  educated  man — • 
not  a  metaphysician.  When  the  parties  appeared  before  him,  after  hearing  the 
testimony  on  the  side  of  the  plaintiff,  seeing  a  good  deal  of  excitement  around 
him,  he  ordered  the  court  to  adjourn,  and  went  out  hastily  with  some  bustle. 
"  Oh  !  "  said  the  people,  "  stop,  stop,  Squire,  you  are  not  going  ?  "  "  Yes,"  said 
he,  "I  have  heard  enough."  "But,"  they  said,  "you  have  heard  only  half  the 
case."  "Yes,"  replied  he;  "but  to  hear  both  sides  of  a  case  always  confuses 
me,  and  I  can  not  give  my  decision  ;  I  am  off!  "  [Laughter.]  Judging  from  the 
nature  of  the  opposition  to  the  resolution,  I  fear  the  Senate  imagined  that,  if 
they  were  to  hear  both  sides  of  the  case,  they  could  not  as  readily  decide  on 
its  merits  as  if  they  only  heard  one  side,  and  that  was  the  side  advocated  by  the 
Committee  on  Naval  Affairs. 

I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that,  if  a  special  committee  be  raised,  in  accordance 
with  the  resolutions  of  the  Senator  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Iverson],  we  shall  be  en- 
abled to  elicit  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  whole  subject;  we  can  call  on  the 
gentlemen  of  the  board,  and  ascertain  the  reasons  for  their  action  in  relation  to 
particular  individuals.  Then  we  shall  learn  authoritatively  whether  they 
founded  their  action  on  rumor,  hearsay,  prejudice,  or  common  fame.  What 
would  be  the  fate  of  the  board  if  "  even-handed  "  justice  was  but  rendered  to 
them  ?  According  to  the  treatment  which  they  have  given  to  others,  they  are 
themselves  obnoxious  to  charges  sufficient  to  remove  them  for  inefficiency,  as 
much  so  as  any  officers  whom  they  have  removed. 

Sir,  it  is  the  tlite  of  the  navy  whom  they  have  stricken  down  in  many 
instances,  and  others  have  been  dropped  who  might  well  have  been  retired. 
Some  men  have  been  dropped  who  received  the  thanks  of  Congress,  who  were, 
presented  with  swords  and  medals  for  their  valorous  deeds,  and  who  seven 
times  saw  the  British  lion  cower  beneath  the  wings  of  the  American  eagle. 
They  are  sent  adrift,  in  their  old  age — cut  loose  from  every  hope.  Others,  in  the 
vigor  of  life,  in  the  fullness  of  manhood,  in  the  prime  of  chivalry  and  gallant 
bearing,  have  been  stricken  down.  I  will,  in  one  particular  instance,  call  the 
attention  of  the  S.nate  to  the  language  of  a  gentleman  who  is  entit'ed,  by  his 
associations,  by  his  simplicity,  and  the  laconic  character  of  his  memorial,  to  the 


Case  of  Lieutenant  BrmvneU.  491 

consideration  of  the  special  committee,  where  nothing  can  be  smothered,  but 
where  the  facts,  glaring  as  the  noonday  sun,  can  be  investigated,  and  a  just 
award  made  on  his  merits. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  Will  my  friend  from  Texas  inform  me  to  what  particular 
officer  he  alludes,  as  having  received  the  thanks  of  Congress,  and  having  been 
seven  times  in  victory — as  I  understand  him  to  say — and  who  has  yet  been 
dismissed  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     Lieutenant  Brownell. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  will  ask  the  honorable  Senator  if  he  knows  the  fact  that 
the  officer  to  whom  he  alludes  has  never  seen  an  hour's  sea  service  in  the  navy 
in  his  life?  He  has  held  a  commission,  I  believe,  since  1837,  and  up  to  the  hour 
that  the  board  acted  upon  him  he  had  never  rendered  at  sea,  on  board  of 
any  vessel,  an  hour's  duty,  and  he  was  annually  reported  in  the  Register  as. 
"  Sea  service,  none.  " 

Mr.  TOOMBS.     I  ask  the  Senator  from  Texas  to  allow  me  a  moment. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     With  great  pleasure. 

Mr.  TOOMBS.  I  have  never  in  my  life  heard  a  statement,  though  true  in  it- 
self, which  did  so  great  injustice  to  any  man  as  that  just  made  by  the  chairman 
of  the  Naval  Committee  of  this  House  [Mr.  Mallory].  Lieutenant  Brownell 
entered  the  navy  as  a  master  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  of  1812;  he  was 
in  seven  actions  on  the  Lakes,  and  did  himself  the  most  distinguished 
credit,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  records  of  the  Department.  He  was  there 
throughout  the  entire  war.  After  it  closed  he  resigned,  having  been  wounded 
and  rendered  unfit  for  sea  service,  as  he  admits.  He  re-entered  the  navy 
in  1841  as  a  lieutenant,  when  he  might  have  entered  as  a  captain.  And  a 
Senator  now  rises  in  his  place  and  says  that  he  never  saw  a  day's  sea  serv- 
ice. This  is  said  of  a  man  who  fought  on  the  Lakes  during  the  whole  war, 
who  wras  seven  times  in  action,  and  seven  times  assisted  to  haul  down  the 
British  colors. 

The  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs,  by  his  statement,  would 
have  the  Senate  and  the  country  believe  that  Lieutenant  Brownell  never  did  one 
day's  sea  service.  Coming  out  of  the  war,  wounded  and  unfit  for  service,  he  re- 
tired from  the  navy,  and  drew  a  pension  for  the  wounds  which  he  had  received. 
He  re-entered  the  navy  in  1841  as  a  lieutenant,  with  all  these  facts  known,  when 
he  might  have  entered  as  a  captain.  We  are  simply  given  the  statement  that 
since  that  time  he  has  performed  no  sea  service.  I  am  at  liberty  to  state  that 
before  1849  his  three  years'  service  on  the  Lakes,  during  the  war  with  Great 
Britain,  and  in  the  action  of  Commodore  Perry,  where  he  distinguished  himself, 
were  marked  on  the  Naval  Register,  and  it  has  been  stricken  out  by  the  Navy 
Department  unjustly,  and  without  any  authority.  Those  are  the  facts  of 
the  case. 

Mr.  ALLEN.  Mr.  Brownell  is  a  native  of  Rhode  Island,  and  he  never 
refused  to  go  on  duty  until  within  a  short  time  past,  when  he  was  suffering  from 
the  wounds  which  he  received  in  the  battles  on  Lake  Erie.  He  was  always 
ready,  and  had  never  declined  to  enter  the  service  at  any  time  whenever 
called  upon.  These  statements  I  make  at  his  request;  he  called  on  me 
yesterday,  and  desired  that  I  should  make  them  if  his  name  should  be 
called  in  question. 

Mr.  TOOMBS.     Allow  me  to  state  another  fact.     He  has  for  these   serv- 


492  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

tees    received    the    thanks    of   the   American   Congress,  and    a  sword  was 
voted  to  him. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     And  a  medal  also. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  would  not,  Mr.  President,  designedly  do  an  act  of  injustice 
to  any  man,  particularly  one  who  has  fought  for  his  country,  as  it  is  alleged  Mr. 
Brownell  has  done.  I  am  not  ignorant  of  Mr.  Brownell's  history  in  the  navy, 
and  I  do  him  no  injustice.  So  far  as  concerns  the  facts  stated  by  the  Senator 
from  Georgia,  perhaps  he  is  better  acquainted  with  them  than  I  am.  Mr. 
Brownell  was  an  acting-master  during  the  war.  He  entered  the  navy  as  a 
lieutenant,. if  I  recollect  rightly,  in  1837. 

Mr.  TOOMBS.     In  1841. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  I  should  like  to  know  upon  what  authority  it  is  asserted  that 
he  could  have  entered  the  navy  as  a  captain  ?  The  understanding  of  those 
somewhat  familiar  with  naval  matters  is,  that  it  was  only  after  repeated  effort, 
and  effort  in  very  high  political  circles,  that  he  was  admitted  into  the  navy 
at  all. 

I  stated  that,  since  that  time — since  he  has  held  a  commission  in  the  navy,  he 
has  never  seen  an  hour's  sea  service  in  the  navy.  He  has  received  the  pay  of  a 
lieutenant  from  1837,  I  think,  to  1855,  without  rendering  sea  service,  while  other 
officers  of  his  grade  have  been  performing  it.  In  saying  that,  I  do  him 
no  injustice. 

Mr.  TOOMBS.     Very  great  injustice,  by  not  giving  the  rest  of  his  history. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  He  received  the  thanks  of  Congress — not  specially,  but  as 
every  one  did  who  fought  in  Perry's  victory.  I  have  simply  heard,  as  I  presume 
the  Senator  from  Georgia  has,  that  Brownell  was  wounded  ;  to  what  extent  I 
have  not  heard.  The  intimation  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  Texas  was, 
that  this  man,  while  in  active  service,  was  stricken  down.  Why,  if  I  understand 
the  Senator  from  Georgia  correctly,  Mr.  Brownell  never  considered  himself  fit 
for  sea  service,  but  only  for  shore  duty.  I  have  nothing  to  say  about  his  action 
on  the  Lakes.  All  that  I  say  is,  that  he  did  hold  a  commission  from  1837 
to  1855,  and  during  that  time  you  will  find,  opposite  his  name  on  the  Register, 
"  Sea  service,  none." 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Well,  Mr.  President,  suppose  he  had  only  been  qualified  for 
shore  duty ;  had  he  not,  by  his  sufferings,  by  his  wounds,  by  his  gallantry, 
by  the  estimation  in  which  his  acts  were  held  by  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  entitled  himself  to  a  shore  situation  for  life,  if  necessary,  or  might  he  not 
have  been  placed  on  the  retired  list  ?  Was  he  not  dropped  ? 

Mr.  MALLORY.    Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Instead  of  being  placed  on  the  retired  list  he  was  dropped. 
He  might  have  been  placed  either  on  the  furloughed  or  the  retired  list  ;  but,  no, 
sir ;  these  memorials  of  his  country  s.  gratitude,  the  admiration  and  high  approv- 
al of  Congress,  were  enough  to  excite  the  envy  of  the  men  on  that  board  who 
conspired  to  strike  down  members  of  the  navy,  and  dishonor  men  equal  to  them- 
selves in  position. 

How  is  it  with  the  gentleman  whose  memorial  I  have  now  before  me — Lieu- 
tenant Gibson,  the  first  officer  on  board  the  ship  with  the  gallant  Ingraham, 
when  he  sustained  your  flag  and  your  country's  honor  abroad  in  a  foreign  port, 
by  not  permitting  a  foreign  hand  to  touch  or  defile  the  hem  of  the  garment  of 


Case  of  Lieutenant  Gibson.  493 

even  an  imputed  citizen  of  the  United  States  ?     What  does  Gibson  say  ?     After 
respectfully  presenting  his  case  to  the  consideration  of  Congress,  he  says : 

"  By  the  action  of  the  late  naval  retiring  board,  I  was  placed  on  the  furlough 
list.  When  that  act  was  consummated,  I  had  but  a  short  time  previously 
returned  from  a  long  cruise  in  the  United  States  ship  St.  Louis.  Having  been 
her  executive  officer  during  the  whole  period  of  her  absence  from  the  United 
States,  and  having  obtained  from  her  commander  (Ingraham)  a  letter  testifying 
his  satisfaction  at  my  performance  of  the  executive  duties  of  the  ship,  I  joined 
my  family,  and  was  with  them  enjoying  an  interval  of  rest  after  so  long  an  ab- 
sence from  them,  conscious  that  I  had  performed  my  duty,  with  no  thought  or 
apprehension  of  approaching  evil,  when  the  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  notifying  me  that  I  had  been  put  on  furlough,  came  upon  me  like  a  blast 
of  the  hurricane,  sweeping  before  it  all  peace  of  mind,  all  comfort,  and  almost 
even  hope  itself.  You  may  possibly  imagine,  sir,  the  feelings  of  a  person  thus 
circumstanced,  on  the  receipt  of  such  information,  but  it  is  impossible  for  me  to 
describe  these  feelings.  And  why,  I  ask,  have  I  been  thus  dealt  with?  I  know 
not.  I,  however,  feel  a  perfect  confidence  that  no  charge  can  be  established 
against  me  which  can  affect  my  efficiency.  I  therefore  contend  that  the  board 
have  treated  me  most  cruelly  and  unjustly" 

Has  he  not  a  right  to  say  it  ?     Again  : 

"  I  have  never  skulked  from  my  duty,  but  have  obeyed  with  alacrity  the  orders 
which  I  have  received  for  sea  duty.  This  is  proven  by  the  fact  (as  shown  by 
the  Naval  Register  of  1856)  that  I  have  performed  seventeen  years  and  eight 
months'  sea  service,  which  is  within  two  months  of  as  much  sea  service  as  has 
been  performed  by  the  commodore  who  acted  as  presiding  officer  of  the  naval  re- 
tiring board,  though  that  gentleman  entered  the  navy  exactly  two  years  before  I 
was  born  /and  I  can  also  show,  by  the  same  register,  that  I  have  performed 
more  sea  service  than  twenty-six  of  the  post-captains,  and  seventy-nine  of  the 
commanders,  whose  names  are  there  registered." 

Is  this  an  ordinary  case  ?  No  ;  it  is  an  extraordinary  one.  Here  a  gallant 
man  is  struck  down.  The  eloquence  in  which  he  .describes  his  emotions  can 
receive  no  additions  from  me.  His  language  is  the  expression  of  a  wounded 
heart,  suffering  under  the  pangs  of  wounded  honor  and  lacerated  feelings.  It 
requires  no  embellishment.  It  has"  the  bright  embellishment  of  truth,  prompted 
in  its  utterance  by  wounded  honor.  I  will  ask  the  honorable  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  if  this  is  not  a  case  for  the  interposition  of 
Congress  ?  How  will  you  reach  it  ?  Through  the  action  of  the  President  ?  If 
he  had  an  opportunity  to  restore  him  to  position  and  favor,  would  the  naval 
board  acquiesce  in  it?  No,  sir ;  they  would  not.  It  would  be  a  reflection,  on 
their  judgment  and  on  their  action  ;  it  would  compromise  their  honor,  and  the 
infallibility  of  their  omnipotent  judgment !  He  has  no  chance  but  through  the 
interposition  of  Congress.  Hundreds  are  in  a  similar  situation.  Will  you  per- 
mit them  to  remain  the  degraded  victims,  of  personal  hate,  and  spite,  and  envy, 
and  jealousy — down-trodden,  pointed  at  by  their  companions  in  life  as  disrated 
men  ?  Every  avenue  to  success  is  shut  against  them.  They  have  no  opportu- 
nity of  making  their  way  through  life ;  for,  if  they  are  retired,  or  furloughed,  or 
dropped — no  matter  though  they  were  the  souls  of  honor — no  underwriter  will 
underwrite  for  any  vessel  with  these  gentlemen  on  board  as  officers.  No,  sir ; 


494  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

they  are  shut  out.  The  insurance  companies  have  adopted  a  rule,  as  I  have  been 
assured  by  gentlemen  who  took  the  pains  to  examine,  that  they  will  not  under- 
write a  vessel  on  which  one  of  these  officers  is  employed.  If  they  had  originally 
chosen  to  follow  -their  profession,  and  obtain  employment  in  the  merchant  marine 
of  the  United  States,  they  would  have  found  no  impediment  to  their  future  suc- 
cess ;  but  here  every  barrier  is  interposed  by  the  action  of  this  board — I  will  not 
say  judgment  of  this  board,  for  I  believe  judgment  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
I  believe  it  was  either  caprice,  or  whim,  or  jealousy,  or  prejudice,  or  hatred,  or 
envy  ;  and  that  the  higher  impulses  of  the  human  heart,  and  the  more  generous 
motives  of  the  soul,  which  inspire  men  to  do  justice,  have  never  been  called  in 
requisition  for  one  moment. 

I  am  sorry  that  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware  [Mr.  Clayton]  is  not 
'now  present.  I  desfre  now  to  allude  to  a  circumstance  on  which  he  commented* 
and  which  will  be  recalled  to  the  recollection  of  every  Senator  upon  the  mention 
of  a  name.  That  Senator  spoke  of  the  action  of  the  board  in  the  case  of  Com- 
mander Ringgold,  of  the  navy,  who  was  furloughed.  I  believe  he  spoke  of  it  as 
a  proper  action  of  the  board.  When  asked  if  the  temporary  delirium  which  he 
suffered  had  not  existed  only  in  one  instance,  the  Senator  said  that  he  was  sorry  to 
say  he  had  understood,  or  that  rumor  had  said,  that  it  was  not  the  only  instance, 
but  that  there  were  others.  Now,  to  satisfy  myself,  having  known  the  gentle- 
ma*n  for  thirty  years,  I  went  to  the  Navy  Department,  and  I  found  that,  whilst  at 
the  city  of  Canton,  in  July,  1854,  whither  he  had  proceeded  with  his  squadron 
during  the  revolutionary  disturbances  (at  the  urgent  appeals  of  American  citi- 
zens), in  the  performance  of  the  sacred  and  paramount  duty  of  protecting  their 
lives  and  property,  the  officer,  whose  duty  it  was  to  do  this,  being  absent  from 
the  coast  on  other  important  duty,  he  had  been  suffering  severely  from  chills  and 
fevers,  and  the  surgeon  had  administered  to  him  undue  quantities  of  quinine,  of 
morphine,  and  of  the  elixir  of  opium — quantities  sufficient  to  derange  the  strong- 
est head.  Without  his  knowledge,  a  medical  survey  was  held  on  him  by  three 
surgeons,  two  of  whom  then  saw  him  for  the  first  time,  and  then  only  for  a  few 
minutes,  while  he  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  narcotics  ;  as  we  have  all 
seen  a  hundred  men  grow  delirious  under  paroxysms  of  chills  and  fever,  or  in- 
termittent fever.  The  surgeons  immediately  decided  that  Commander  Ring- 
gold  was  deranged,  that  it  was  a  case  of  mental  aberration,  and  went  off.  When 
he  threw  away  these  poisons,  and  was  recovering,  he  asked  that  a  re-survey 
might  be  granted  to  him,  but  it  was  denied,  and  he  was  sent  home  under  circum- 
stances that  were  sufficient  to  derange  any  man.  The  physician  who  came 
home  with  him,  as  will  be  found  by  reference  to  the  records  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment, said  he  was  perfectly  sane,  intellectually  and  mentally.  Another  survey 
was  called  for  last  June,  and  again  it  was  reported  that  Commander  Ringgold 
was  perfectly  restored ;  that  his  health  and  intellect  were  as  perfect  as  they  had 
ever  been,  or  as  any  man's  could  be. 

Was  this  the  excuse  which  the  board  had  for  its  action  in  his  case  ?  Was  it 
because,  from  indisposition,  Ringgold  had,  on  a  survey,  been  ordered  home 
under  peculiar  circumstances,  which  I  will  not  here  detail  ?  In  the  examination 
of  the  records  I  found  Commander  Ringgold's  application  for  the  command  ot 
the  expedition,  to  the  North  China  Seas.  In  that  application  to  Secretary  Ken- 
nedy he  desired  the  command,  if  it  should  not  be  called  for  by  any  officer  ot 
higher  claims  than  himself  or  his  senior  in  the  navy.  No  other  officer  called  for 


Case  of  Commander  Ring  gold.  495 

it.  Commander  Ringgold  was  appointed,  and  his  constituted  one  of  the  hand- 
somest expeditions  which  has  ever  sailed  from  an  American  port. 

But  if  this  was  the  ground  for  the  removal  of  Ringgold,  is  he  the  only  one 
upon  whom  a  survey  took  place  ?  No,  sir ;  I  found  in  the  course  of  my  exam- 
ination that  Captain  Du  Pont  had  at  Rio  Janeiro  a  survey  upon  his  health,  when 
he  started  for  the  East  Indies,  and  arrived  at  that  point  in  command  of  a  beau- 
tiful vessel — a  little  ticklish,  it  is  true,  in  managing,  but  one  of  the  neatest  craft 
in  our  navy.  He  found  it  necessary  to  request  a  survey.  It  took  place,  and  he 
was  condemned  as  laboring  under  a  chronic  disease,  in  which  he  had  taken  a 
relapse,  and  his  life  was  in  danger  if  he  prosecuted  the  journey.  He  came 
home.  Since  then,  I  believe,  he  has  got  along  very^well.  I  have  heard  of  no 
relapse.  As  it  was  a  "  chronic  disease  "  then,  I  suppose  it  must  have  remained 
so  forever,  and  has  never  left  him.  Here  the  very  same  man  passed  judgment 
on  Ringgold,  who  had  himself  labored  under  a  survey  and  condemnation. 
These  are  the  facts.  It  will  be  found  that  from  the  very  first  moment  when  Ring- 
gold  called  for  the  survey  under  which  he  was  condemned,  up  to  the  day  when 
he  sailed  home,  his  correspondence  with  the  commodore  of  the  squadron  con- 
tains as  sane  and  pertinent  letters  as  I  have  ever  read  from  any  gentleman  in 
my  life.  Yet  he  was  condemned,  deprived  of  his  command,  and  sent  home  a 
prisoner.  These  are  the  facts.  From  what  I  know  of  that  gentleman,  personally, 
if  I  had  to  sail  on  board  a  ship,  there  is  no  one  in  the  service  with  whom  I  would 
sooner  risk  my  life  and  personal  security  than  with  Ringgold.  As  to  his  habits, 
they  are  irreproachable  ;  as  to  his  chivalry,  it  is  unquestioned.  His  family  have 
given  evidences  of  it.  He  is  the  brother  of  the  gallant  Major  Ringgold.  whose 
blood  was  drunk  by  the  thirsty  soil  of  Palo  Alto,  and  who  fell  a  victim  for  his 
country's  honor.  But  that  was  no  plea  in  his  behalf.  He  was  too  elegant  a 
gentleman  to  escape  the  condemnation  of  this  board. 

Lieutenant  Bartlett,  who  was  handed  over  by  the  venerable  Senator  from 
Delaware  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  Slidell],  is 
another  officer  who  is  a  striking  example  of  the  influence  of  prejudice  against 
men  of  merit  and  capacity.  There  is  something  peculiar  in  his  case,  and  the 
Senator  from  Louisiana  has  arrayed  the  facts  and  given  us  the  secret.  He  told 
us  that,  being  a  connection  of  Commodore  Perry,  and  seeing  a  certain  corre- 
spondence, he  felt  an  interest  in  the  matter  ;  and  what  is  the  whole  of  it  ?  Most 
strange,  indeed,  that  he  should  have  felt  that  Commodore  Perry's  honor  was 
about  to  suffer,  when  I  think  that  one  of  the  most  honorable  acts  which  any 
gentleman  could  have  done  is  the  one  that  was  imputed  to  him  by  Lieutenant 
Bartlett.  It  will  be  recollected  that  on  one  occasion  Lieutenant  Bartlett  met 
Mr.  Parker,  and  being  shown  a  letter  written  to  Mr.  Parker  that  seemed  to  in- 
dicate a  disposition  entertained  by  Commodore  Perry,  favorable  to  the  disrated 
officers,  it  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind.  He  sought  an  interview  with 
Commodore  Perry ;  and  what  was  the  consequence  ?  It  resulted  in  a  very  un- 
restrained communication  on  the  part  of  Commodore  Perry  to  Mr.  Bartlett, 
which  was  transmitted  by  Mr.  Bartlett  to  a  friend,  to  whom  he  wished  to  ad- 
minister consolation — not  with  a  view  to  have  it  published.  That  friend  incon- 
siderately sent  it  off,  and  it  was  published.  Thus  it  made  its  appearance  in  the 
newspapers.  A  mind  heated,  encouraged  by  the  denunciations  of  Commodore 
Perry  of  the  action  of  that  board,  would  naturally  recur  to  the  most  striking  por- 
tions of  that  conversation,  and  identify  them  with  any  circumstance  that  held 


496  Houston 's  Literary  Remains. 

out  a  hope  of  redress  to  the  injured  parties.     He  says  that  Commodore  Perry 
in  the  conversation,  stated  this : 

"  I  hope  the  day  will  soon  come  when  the  monstrous  injustice  which  has  been 
done  to  you  and  others  will  be  corrected." 

Those  are  the  words — "  monstrous  injustice,"  and  that  he  should  have  re- 
peated them  in  connection  with  this  letter  is  one  of  the  most  natural  things  in 
the  world.  He  had  not  seen  the  letter  for  weeks ;  but  recurring  to  his  conver- 
sation with  Commodore  Perry  in  detail,  in  order  to  corroborate  that,  he  adverts 
to  the  letter  to  Mr.  Parker.  Can  any  one  believe  for  a  moment  that  Mr.  Bart- 
lett  intended  to  pervert  the  truth  or  to  distort  the  facts  ?  Did  he  not  suppose 
that  the  letter  to  Mr.  Parker  was  what  he  stated  ?  But  hurried,  excited  upon 
the  subject,  his  mind  recurring  to  the  strong  expressions  of  Commodore  Perry, 
he  merely  stated  them  as  if  they  had  been  used  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Parker. 
Could  he  have  any  bad  motive  in  misrepresenting  the  letter  ?  Did  he  riot  know 
that  if  he  had  misrepresented  it  he  was  liable  to  detection  and  correction  at  any 
time? 

The  Senator  from  Louisiana  indulged  in  very  harsh,  and,  as  I  thought,  un- 
necessary remarks  in  regard  to  Lieutenant  Bartlett.  The  peroration  of  the 
venerable  Senator  from  Delaware,  who  deprecated  the  application  of  epithets  to 
individuals  who  could  not  be  heard  to  vindicate  themselves  on  this  floor,  would 
have  applied  very  forcibly  to  the  remarks  of  the  Senator  from  Louisiana.  Lieu- 
tenant Bartlett  had  been  distinguished.  He  had  been  in  France  three  years  on 
special  service,  and  he  had  discharged  all  his  duties  there  in  a  most  enlightened 
and  able  manner.  He  came  home  lauded  by  our  minister  in  France,  as  having 
with  ability  and  capacity  discharged  his  trust.  He  arrived  here  and  adjusted 
his  accounts ;  and  there  is  no  record  of  one  iota  against  him  in  the  Department, 
but  everything  is  smooth  and  clear.  To  be  sure,  they  did  not  pay  him  what  he 
was  promised.  They  were  to  give  him  a  certain  percentage  on  the  money  ex- 
pended, but  they  did  not  do  it  because  .he  had  drawn,  and  the  money  did  not 
pass  through  his  hands ;  but  the  responsibility  on  his  part  was  the  same.  In- 
stead of  allowing  him  this  percentage  they  withheld  some  thousand  dollars. 
But  what  of  that  ?  Is  there  any  officer  in  the  army  or  navy  who  has  had  money 
to  expend,  that  has  not  been  called  in  question  in  his  pecuniary  adjustments  ? 
Accounts  are  checked  with  great  particularity,  and  it  is  no  reflection  on  an 
officer  to  have  disputes  with  officials  here  in  reference  to  his  accounts. 

But,  sir,  Lieutenant  Bartlett  was  detailed  on  active  service  at  the  time  when 
he  was  dropped.  Why  was  he  dropped  ?  Because  it  was  rumored  that  he  had 
done  something  improper  on  the  western  coast  of  the  United  States,  when  he 
was  in  command  of  the  cutter  Eiving.  It  was  rumored  ;  but  no  fact  was  estab- 
lished, nor  has  it  been  to  this  hour,  nor  can  it  be ;  but  that  was  the  alleged 
ground  on  which  he  was  dismissed.  The  true  ground  was,  that  he  was  an  effi- 
cient officer  ;  that  he  was  in  favor  of  real  reform  of  the  navy ;  that  he  was  not  a 
friend  of  flogging ;  and  was  an  advocate  of  temperance.  Some  people  have  an 
appetite  for  seeing  others  whipped,  so  that  they  escape  the  lash  themselves. 
Lieutenant  Bartlett  was  at  sea  at  the  time  when  he  was  stricken  down  ;  and 
why  ?  Another  gentleman  who  has  been  here,  I  think,  for  three  years,  had 
been  ordered  to  sea.  He  was  inefficient,  and  unable  to  go  to  sea ;  he  obtained 
leave  of  absence,  and  was  withdrawn.  Lieutenant  Bartlett  was  detailed  to  sup- 


Case  of  Lieutenant  Bartlett.  497 

ply  his  place ;  and  in  thirty-six  hours  afterward,  I  believe,  he  was  on  board  the 
ship.  He  performed  the  cruise  with  perfect  satisfaction  to  the  officer  who  com- 
manded ;  and  the  gentleman  whose  place  he  supplied  has  remained,  I  am  told, 
up  to  this  time  in  Washington  city,  most  comfortably  quartered ;  and,  though 
inefficient,  he  has  been  retained  on  the  active  list,  but  he  has  not  been  pro- 
moted. Bartlett  was  one  of  the  men  who  was  willing  and  able  to  perform  at 
sea  an  undue  portion  of  service,  because  others  had  from  disinclination  refused 
to  meet  the  detail  made  of  them. 

As  Mr.  Bartlett  has  been  handed  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Senator 
from  Louisiana,  I  will  hand  over  to  Mr.  Bartlett's  tender  mercies  Mr.  Missroon 
and  Mr.  Jenkins,  witnesses  who  appeared  against  him  before  the  Committee  on 
Naval  Affairs.  I  think,  by  the  time  the  Senator  gets  through  with  all  of  them, 
he  will  find  that  it  is  a  troublesome  business  to  nurse  them  all.  To  the  tender 
mercies  of  Bartlett  I  commend  the3e  gentlemen.  He  was  singled  out  of  all  the 
memorialists  before  the  Naval  Committee  for  the  purpose  of  examination  ;  and 
when  he  presented  himself  before  that  committee  he  asked  to  have  the  privilege 
of  having  counsel.  Counsel  were  denied  him  ;  witnesses  were  brought  forward 
and  examined — I  do  not  know  whether  they  were  sworn  or  not,  but  they  were 
examined  as  to  his  general  character,  his  character  for  veracity — all  pointing  to 
this  publication  in  the  newspaper  which  has  been  indorsed,  and  which  I  con- 
sider of  perfect  validity,  because  Commodore  Perry  in  two  months  has  never 
controverted  or  denied  a  single  word  of  it.  I  consider  it  indorsed  by  his  silence, 
and  deriving  all  the  verity  which  it  could  have  received  from  his  absolute  affirma- 
tive sanction. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.    Will  the  Senator  permit  me  to  say  a  word  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.     With  great  pleasure. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  My  colleague  is  absent,  and  I  am  not  aware,  of  course,  of 
those  circumstances  of  detail  which  he  obtained  from  Commodore  Perry,  and 
which  are  involved  in  the  investigation  of  this  quarrel — almost  triangular  I  may 
call  it.  But  so  far  as  the  Senator  from  Texas  can  draw  any  advantage  from  the 
supposed  ratification  of  this  statement  by  Commodore  Perry,  I  beg  leave  to 
recall  to  his  memory  the  fact  that  the  last  time  when  this  subject  was  under 
consideration  in  the  Senate  my  colleague  distinctly  stated  that  the  extract  from 
the  letter  which  had  been  published  in  the  New  York  Herald  had  remained 
unnoticed  until  some  person  would  make  himself  responsible  for  it ;  that 
he  himself,  after  correspondence  with  Commodore  Perry,  had  in  his  hands 
the  means  of  rebutting  this  pretended  statement  of  Commodore  Perry's  as  er- 
roneous, to  say  the  least — I  believe  my  colleague  used  a  harsher  word,  which  I 
do  not  choose  to  repeat.  He  stated  that  it  had  remained  unanswered  only  be- 
cause there  was  no  responsible  person  to  father  it ;  and  as  soon  as  the  Senator — I 
think  it  was  the  Senator  from  Texas — informed  my  colleague  that  Mr.  Bartlett 
was  responsible  for  this  statement,  my  colleague  arose,  and,  on  behalf  of  Com- 
modore Perry,  denied  it  the  very  first  moment  that  an  opportunity  was  offered 
'him. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  would  suggest  to  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  that  it  was 
the  Senator  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Iverson]  who  made  the  statement  to  which  he 
has  just  referred. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.     It  was  the  Senator  from  Georgia ;  I  was  not  quite  certain 
in  my  memory. 
32 


498  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  It  was  the  Senator  from  Georgia  with  whom  the  Senatoi 
from  Louisiana  had  the  colloquy  to  which  reference  is  made.  I  understood  that 
the  statement  which  the  absent  Senator  from  Louisiana  had  from  Commodore 
Perry  merely  referred  to  the  expression  contained  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Parker, 
and  not  to  the  general  substance  of  the  publication.  It  was  particularly  aimed 
at  the  quotation  "  monstrous  injustice" 

Mr.  IVERSON.  In  the  conversation  which  occurred  between  the  Senator  from 
Louisiana  [Mr.  Slidell]  and  myself  on  the  occasion  referred  to  by  the  other 
Senator  from  Louisiana  to-day,  I  gave  the  authority  of  Mr.  Bartlett  for  the 
statement  which  purported  to  have  been  contained  in  the  letter  from  Commo- 
dore Perry  to  Mr.  Parker.  The  Senator  from  Louisiana  contradicted  it — not  by 
stating  anything,  or  quoting  anything  from  Commodore  Perry,  but  by  submit- 
ting the  original  letter  which  had  been  transmitted  to  him,  not  by  Commodore 
Perry,  but  by  Mr.  Parker ;  so  that  really  Commodore  Perry  has  never  said,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  whether  the  fact  be  true  or  not. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  So  far  as  that  matter  is  concerned,  I  should  like  to  put  it 
right  now.  It  is  a  very  unfortunate  circumstance  that  this  controversy  should 
arise  during  the  absence  of  my  colleague ;  but  the  Senate  will  remember  dis- 
tinctly that  my  colleague  rose  and  stated  that  he  had  been  waiting  for  some  one 
who  would  take  the  responsibility  of  the  statement  which  had  been  communi- 
cated anonymously  to  the  Herald.  It  is  true  that  my  colleague  did  not  read  to 
the  Senate  any  direct  communication  from  Commodore  Perry ;  but  he  gave  the 
Senate  and  the  country  fully  to  understand  that  in  everything  that  he  said  he 
was  justified  and  authorized  by  private  communications  from  Commodore 
Perry.  He  did  not  use  any  statement  from  Commodore  Perry  for  the  purpose 
of  meeting  this  anonymous  communication  ;  but  he  said  that  he  knew  Commo- 
dore Perry's  views  and  feelings  upon  the  subject ;  that  this  communication  had 
been  sent  to  him  from  Lieutenant  Parker ;  that  he  had  retained  it  in  his  posses- 
sion, with  the  full  knowledge  of  Commodore  Perry's  views  on  the  subject ;  and 
had  waited  until  some  person  should  back  this  anonymous  communication  be- 
fore he  gave  it  the  contradiction  which  he  thought  it  merited,  and  in  terms 
which  he  considered  justifiable  under  the  circumstances.  I  make  no  commen- 
tary upon  those  terms.  It  is  not  my  desire  to  enter  into  the  discussion  upon 
these  grounds ;  but  I  certainly  think  that  during  the  absence  of  my  colleague  it 
is  my  duty,  at  all  events,  to  recall  the  true  state  of  facts  to  the  Senate,  so  that 
injurious  impressions  may  not  go  abroad,  either  as  to  the  conduct  of  Commo- 
dore Perry,  or  as  to  the  action  of  my  colleague,  who  is  now  absent  from  his 
seat. 

Mr.  IVERSON.  So  far  as  regards  the  quotation  from  the  letter  of  Commodore 
Perry  to  Mr.  Parker,  which  was  made  by  Mr.  Bartlett  in  the  communication 
which  I  read  to  the  Senate  on  that  occasion,  Mr.  Bartlett  himself  has  corrected 
it,  and  admitted  the  fact  that  he  used  too  strong  language  in  the  alleged  quo- 
tation. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.     I  understand  that  to  be  so. 

Mr.  IVERSON.  There  is  no  controversy,  therefore,  on  that  point ;  but  it  has 
been  stated  by  Mr.  Bartlett,  and  it  was  stated  yesterday  on  the  floor  of  the  Sen- 
ate by  the  Senator  from  Tennessee  [Mr.  Jones],  on  the  authority  of  a  Senator 
of  this  body  not  now  in  his  seat,  and  upon  the  authority  of  Lieutenant  Gibson — 
and  I  presume  the  statement  will  not  be  controverted — that  Commodore  Perry 


Commodore  Perry's  Opinions.  499 

has,  time  after  time,  in  the  most  public  manner,  without  any  concealment,  and 
without  giving  any  confidential  character  to  his  communications,  condemned  in 
the  most  unequivocal  and  decided  terms  the  action  of  the  naval  board.  That 
Commodore  Perry  has  never  denied,  and  no  one,  I  presume,  will  ever  deny  it  for 
him. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  I  wish  to  say  but  one  word  more,  if  the  Senator  from  Texas 
will  pardon  me.  I  do  not  pretend  to  know  what  Commodore  Perry  has  said  on 
the  subject.  The  Senator  from  Georgia  says  that  it  will  not  be  denied  that — as 
was  asserted  yesterday — Commodore  Perry  made  use  of  expressions  condemna- 
tory of  the  course  of  the  naval  board.  I  know  nothing  whatever  on  that  mat- 
ter; but  I  do  protest  against  any  inference  being  drawn  as  to  Commodore 
Perry's  concession  in  regard  to  the  truth  or  accuracy  of  these  representations  of 
his  conversations,  until  my  colleague,  who  is  closely  related  to  him,  and  who  is 
in  possession  of  his  confidence  on  the  subject,  shall  be  in  his  seat,  and  shall 
have  heard  a  statement  of  the  conversations  that  are  imputed  to  him.  For 
myself,  I  do  not  pretend  to  deny — as  the  Senator  from  Georgia  says  that  he  pre- 
sumes no  one  will  deny — these  imputed  conversations  ;  but  I  will  say  that  until 
they  come  from  some  other  source  than  Lieutenant  Bartlett  I  refuse  my  credence 
to  them. 

Mr.  MALLORY.  If  my  friend  from  Texas  will  allow  me,  I  wish  to  put  him  right 
as  to  one  question.  All  this  controversy  in  relation  to  personal  matters  I  can 
not  enter  into,  because  this  great  naval  reform  does  not  depend  on  any  such 
questions  which  may  be  put  in  issue  here.  Therefore  I  have  not  responded  to 
the  remarks  which  the  honorable  Senator  from  Tennessee  made  yesterday  in 
referring  to  Mr.  Bartlett ;  I  have  not  responded  to  anything  which  fell  from  the 
honorable  Senator  from  Texas  in  relation  to  Mr.  Bartlett,  because  the  case  was 
committed  to  the  honorable  member  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  Slidell],  who  will  give 
proper  responses  to  the  ideas  thrown  out  here  in  regard  to  Mr.  Bartlett,  which 
I  have  no  doubt  will  be  satisfactory  to  the  Senate. 

But  the  Senator  from  Texas  undertakes  to  comment  on  a  matter  which  this 
body  has  committed  to  one  of  its  standing  committees — a  memorial  on  which 
there  is  to  be  a  report.  That  matter  is  before  the  committee,  and  is  undergoing 
its  investigation  at  this  moment.  What  report  the  committee  may  make  upon 
that  subject  is  yet  entirely  uncertain.  The  Senator  from  Texas,  however,  un- 
dertakes to  comment  upon  the  conduct  of  the  committee  in  that  case.  If  he 
chooses  to  do  that,  I  submit  it  as  a  matter  of  taste  and  propriety ;  but  I  wish  to 
correct  him  as  to  a  point  of  fact  in  which  he  is  mistaken.  I  presume  that  he 
has  been  misinformed  upon  the  subject,  because  I  am  confident  that  he  could 
not  have  derived  his  information  from  any  member  of  the  committee.  The 
statement  to  which  I  allude  is  as  to  the  investigation  which  is  going  on  as  to 
the  veracity  of  Mr.  Bartlett. 

The  Senator  said  that  the  investigation  pointed  to  the  letter  in  the  Herald,  as 
if  the  veracity  of  Mr.  Bartlett  was  to  be  dependent  entirely  on  the  issue  of  the 
controversy  between  Commodore  Perry  and  himself.  Now,  I  beg  to  inform  my 
friend  from  Texas  that  such  is  not  the  fact.  I  have  never  asked  a  question,  to 
my  knowledge,  in  relation  to  that  letter,  the  answer  to  which  would  affect  the 
veracity  of  Mr.  Bartlett  in  any  degree  whatever.  The  examination  before  the 
committee  is  entirely  outside  of  that.  It  may  come  in,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
though  I  should  never  ask  a  question  about  it.  I  merely  wish  to  put  my  friend 


500  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

from  Texas  right,  and  to  state  that  the  acts  of  the  committee  are  yet  incomplete  ; 
they  are  going  on  in  their  investigation,  and  will  endeavor  to  acquit  themselves 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Senate. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  really  thought  that  I  was  out  of  this  triangular  contro- 
versy ;  but  the  remarks  of  the  gentleman  who  has  just  spoken  appear  to  impli- 
cate me  a  little.  I  did  not  charge  the  gentleman  with  what  he  imagines  ;  but  I 
said  that,  judging  from  the  circumstances  and  from  the  declarations  of  the  Sen- 
ator from  Louisiana,  it  was  clear  to  me  that  this  publication  in  regard  to  Com- 
modore Perry  had  stimulated  the  member  from  Louisiana  in  the  course  which 
he  pursued  in  the  arraignment  of  Mr.  Bartlett  before  the  committee.  I  said' 
that  the  questions  which  were  put  to  the  witnesses  who  were  introduced  were 
designed  or  calculated  to  invalidate  his  general  credit  and  veracity.  Am  I 
right  ? 

Mr.  MALLORY.  No,  sir ;  I  do  not  think  the  Senator  recollects  precisely  the 
point  which  he  made.  It  was  that  the  investigation  as  to  the  veracity  of  Mr. 
Bartlett  was  all  directed  to  this  letter  in  relation  to  Commodore  Perry.  That 
was  the  Senator's  remark.  I  wish  to  say  that  he  is  misinformed  as  to  that  fact 
entirely. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  At  all  events,  his  veracity  and  his  general  character  were 
attacked  by  the  witnesses — Mr.  Missroon  and  others.  I  do  not  say  that  I  un- 
derstand the  information  before  the  committee  as  well  as  the  venerable  Senator 
from  Delaware.  He  said  that,  though  he  knew  the  proceedings  of  the  com- 
mittee well  enough,  he  would  not  state  them.  He  was  perfectly  posted  in  rela- 
tion to  the  whole  matter.  I  have  no  doubt,  and  I  believe  every  word  that  he 
said  as  to  his  information.  I  have  not  alluded  to  this  matter  for  the  purpose  of 
imputing  anything  dishonorable  to  Commodore  Perry.  I  have  respect  for  that 
gentleman  ;  I  would  not  hurt  a  hair  of  his  head ;  nor  would  I  soil  the  hem  ot 
his  mantle.  I  have  respect  for  him  ;  and  I  have  more  respect  than  I  before  en- 
tertained for  him  since  I  have  seen  this  publication,  because  it  shows  that  he 
has  a  heart.  If  he  had  yielded  to  the  importunities  of  the  head  of  the  depart- 
ment, and  given  his  time  and  attention  to  a  board  that  was  odious  to  him  as  a 
system  of  proscription,  he  is  excusable;  but  he  is  now  fully  awakened  to  a  sense 
of  the  injustice  done  to  gallant  men/and  entertains  an  ardent  hope  that  repara- 
tion will  be  made,  commensurate  with  the  wrongs  inflicted. 

This  was  the  amount  of  the  conversation.  I  wish  it  known  everywhere,  be- 
cause I  believe  it  veritable,  and  because  'Commodore  Perry  has  never  opposed 
one  contradiction  to  it  that  I  have  heard  of;  nor  did  the  Senator  from  Louisi- 
ana impute  to  Mr.  Bartlett  a  want  of  accuracy  or  truth  in  any  part  of  the  state- 
ment which  he  made,  except  in  the  quotation  of  the  letter,  and  that  I  have  al- 
ready explained,  where  the  words  "  monstrous  injustice  "  were  substituted,  from 
the  deep  impression  which  the  conversation  had  made  on  him.  He  had  merely 
seen  the  letter.  His  statement  of  it  was  written  as  a  private  communication, 
and  not  with  a  view  of  having  publicity  given  to  it ;  but  that  was  inconsiderately 
done  by  the  friend  to  whom  it  was  sent.  Mr.  Bartlett,  in  writing  to  a  friend, 
says : 

"  I  have  spoken  to  you  of  a  conversation  held  in  New  York,  since  my  return 
from  the  coast  of  Africa,  with  Commodore  Perry,  the  subject  being  the  action 
of  the  late  naval  board,  of  which  he  was  a  member.  I  had  also  seen  a  letter  in 
Commodore  Perry's  handwriting  to  Mr.  Parker,  son  of  Commodore  Parker,  late 


Publication  in  the  "New  York  Herald."         501 

a  lieutenant,  in  which  Commodore  Perry  compliments  Parker,  and  then  adds  : 
'  I  hope  the  day  will  soon  come  when  the  monstrous  injustice  which  has  been 
done  to  you  and  others  will  be  corrected.'  In  visiting  Commodore  Perry  I  did 
not  suppose  he  would  be  very  communicative  ;  but  he  received  me  with  so  much 
warmth  of  feeling  and  courtesy  that  I  determined  to  express  myself  very  freely 
upon  the  whole  matter,  and  did  so.  The  Commodore  then  said  that  he  could 
not  talk  to  me  of  my  own  case,  being  under  implied  obligations  of  secrecy  to  the 
board,  but  he  would  say  that  he  abominated  the  action  of  the  board  ;  that  he 
had  protested  against  its  secret  sessions ;  that  he  had  presented  a  resolution 
(which  he  had  preserved)  to  have  open  meetings,  or  to  that  effect,  which  was 
voted  down  ;  that  he  had  been  dishonored  and  disgraced  by  the  action  of  the 
board,  he  being  a  member  of  it ;  that  he  hoped  he  should  soon  be  called  upon 
to  disclose  his  views  of  all  that  had  been  done  there,  and  that,  when  called  upon 
to  disclose  his  views  of  all  that  had  been  done  there,  or  taken  place  at  the 
board,  either  before  Congress  or  a  court  of  justice,  he  would  tell  the  whole 
truth;  that  he  had  protested  before  the  President  and  Secretary  against  such 
Star  Chamber  proceedings  ;  that  he  considered  it  monstrous  in  every  way  ;  that 
it  was  a  packed  conspiracy  against  the  honor  of  the  navy ;  that  it  had  ruined 
his  reputation,  and  he  knew  it ;  and  he  also  now  knew  that  he  had  done  wrong 
there  as  little  as  he  had  done,  and  he  was  sorry  for  it ;  that  it  was  the  first  time 
in  his  life  that  he  .had  been  called  upon  to  do  that  which  had  caused  him  to  lose 
his  self-respect,  but  that  the  action  of  a  majority  of  that  board  had  done  it. 

"  The  Commodore  also  said,  '  that  he  hoped  not  one  of  the  new  commissions 
would  be  confirmed  by  the  Senate  till  a  full  investigation  could  be  had,  and  the 
shameful  conduct  of  these  conspirators  exposed.'  He  said  he  did  not  make  any 
secrecy  of  his  opinions  about  this  matter ;  that  the  board  had  disgraced  and  dis- 
honored him,  and  he  knew  it.  The  name  of  Perry  was  in  every  way  identified 
with  the  navy,  and  he  had  lost  all  interest  in  the  navy,  and  would  resign  in- 
stanter  if  he  had  the  means  of  living.  He  regretted  that  he  had  not  given  up 
his  commission,  if  necessary,  or  placed  it  on  the  issue,  rather  than  act  ;  and  not 
to  have  done  so  he  now  sees  was  to  set  aside  his  ordinary  sagacity ;  regrets  that 
he  did  not  refuse  to  be  even  a  conservative  member  of  the  board.  The  Com- 
modore also  said  :  '  Sir,  the  board  never  imagined  for  one  moment  that  all  the 
list  as  the  action  of  the  board  would  be  approved  by  the  Secretary  and  the 
President,'  but  supposed  it  would  be  sent  back  for  revision,  and  then,  he  said, 
'the  conservative  members  of  the  board' would  have  had  some  power,  and  could 
have  compelled  the  conspirators,  or  these  men,  to  do  justice  where  so  much  in- 
justice had  been  done.' 

"  Here  is  a  confession  from  a  penitent  and  suffering  member,  which  his  whole 
manner  and  action  showed  to  be  real. 

"  The  Commodore  also  said  :  '  Sir,  if  I  was  ordered  to  the  command  of  a  dan- 
gerous and  important  expedition  to-morrow,  I  would  tell  the  Department  and  the 
world  that  I  would  prefer  to  select  my  officers  from  those  who  have  been  dis- 
carded rather  than  those  who  are  left.  There  is  nothing  but  a  bundle  of  sticks 
left :  men  who  never  did  anything,  and  never  will ;  who  never  made  a  mistake 
because  they  never  attempted  anything.'  " 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  Will  the  Senator  from  Texas  be  so  good  as  to  inform  me 
from  what  authority  he  reads  that  ?  Where  was  it  published  ? 


502  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  This  is  the  publication  which  has  made  so  much  fuss,  and 
in  it  occurs  the  quotation  which  has  been  commented  on  in  the  Senate. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.    Is  it  signed  by  Lieutenant  Bartlett  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.    Not  at  all. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.     It  is  anonymous,  then  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  It  was  recognized  by  gentlemen  here.  It  was  stated  by 
the  Senator  from  Georgia  and  recognized  by 

Mr.  IVERSON.  The  Senator  from  Texas  will  allow  me  to  say  that  he  is 
under  some  mistake  about  that.  I  did  not  make  any  allusion  to  anything 
from  Mr.  Bartlett  except  the  quotation  of  the  letter  of  Commodore  Perry 
to  Mr.  Parker. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  That  is  what  I  say.  It  is  a  quotation  used  in  this  publi- 
cation— it  is  all  the  same  publication. 

Mr.  IVERSON.  The  Senator  should  not  give  me  as  authority  for  the  resi- 
due of  the  statement  which  he  has  read. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  This  is  a  question  which  I  can  not  allow  to  pass  in  any 
confusion.  I  do  not  understand — and  my  recollection  is  not — that  my  col- 
league heard  that  letter  read,  and  failed  to  deny  that  that  conversation  was 
had  between  Commodore  Perry  and  Mr.  Bartlett.  On  the  contrary,  my  dis- 
tinct recollection  is  that  my  colleague  repelled,  as  a  charge  which  would 
dishonor  the  character  of  Commodore  Perry,  the  fact  that  he  had  made 
any  such  statement  as  that  which  was  contained  in  the  pretended  extract 
from  a  letter,  which  extract  was  afterward  admitted  to  be  false 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  It  was  not  admitted  to  be  false.  I  hope  the  Senator  will 
use  an  expression  becoming  the  Senate. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  Did  I  not  understand  the  Senator  from  Georgia  and  the 
Senator  from  Tennessee  to  admit  it  ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  They  admitted  that  it  was  erroneous ;  that  it  was  a 
mistake. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  If  it  is  not  true,  I  beg  the  Senator's  pardon.  But  what 
is  the  case  ?  That  which  purported  to  be  the  copy  of  a  letter  written  by 
Commodore  Perry  was,  according  to  the  statement  of  the  Senator  from 
Tennessee  yesterday,  merely  something  that  rested  in  the  brain  of  Lieuten- 
ant Bartlett  from  a  conversation  ;  the  letter  was  an  entirely  different  thing. 
Now,  sir,  the  Senator  from  Texas  says  that  my  colleague,  having  heard  that 
letter  read,  or  these  statements  of  Lieutenant  Bartlett  about  a  conversation, 
which  he  repeated,  did  not  deny  them.  I  say  that,  according  to  the  best  of 
my  recollection — I  am  very  sorry  that  I  have  not  the  Globe  here  before  me 
in  which  my  colleague's  statements  are  contained 

Mr.  IVERSON.  If  the  Senator  will  allow  me,  I  will  say  that  I  may  remem- 
ber them,  as  I  was  particeps  criminis  in  the  transaction  at  the  time.  The 
Senator  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  Slidell]  did  not  deny  that  Commodore  Perry 
ever  wrote  such  a  letter,  and,  as  evidence  of  the  fact,  he  produced  the  orig- 
inal letter. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  I  am  now  referring,  not  to  the  letter,  but  to  the  pretended 
statements  by  Mr.  Bartlett  of  a  verbal  conversation.  The  Senator  from 
Texas  says  that  this  conversation  between  Lieutenant  Bartlett  and  Commo- 
dore Perry  was  repeated  in  the  Senate  in  the  presence  of  my  colleague,  and 
not  denied  by  him. 


Author  of  the  Anonymous  Communication.       503 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  hope  the  gentleman  will  not  become  too  much  excited. 
I  will  correct  him. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  I  am  not  excited ;  but  I  do  not  intend  that  my  colleague's 
position  shall  be  misrepresented,  through  error  on  the  part  of  the  Senator 
from  Texas. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  said  that  the  remarks  of  the  Senator's  colleague  grew 
out  of  a  reference  to  the  quotation  from  a  letter  of  Commodore  Perry  to 
Mr.  Parker.  I  do  not  say  that  the  statement  which  I  have  just  presented 
has  ever  been  read  in  the  Senate  before  ;  and  because  I  believe  it  had  not 
been  read,  I  proposed  to  read  it  on  this  occasion  that  it  should  go  out  on 
the  authority  of  a  Senator. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  The  Senator  from  Texas,  then,  does  not  pretend  this 
statement  has  ever  been  read  in  the  presence  of  my  colleague  without  con- 
tradiction ? 

Mr.  HOUSTON.    I  never  did  pretend  it. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.    I  am  satisfied,  sir. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  But  I  pretend,  and  I  assert,  that  it  has  been  published  in 
the  newspapers  for  weeks  and  months,  and  that  it  has  never  met  a  contra- 
diction, that  I  have  discovered,  from  Commodore  Perry. 

Mr.  BENJAMIN.  It  was  published  unsigned — an  anonymous  communi- 
cation. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Ah  !  that  has  very  little  to  do  with  the  contradiction  of  a 
falsehood  ;  I  apprehend  the  Senator  would  not  be  prevented  from  contra- 
dicting a  falsehood  by  any  nice  considerations  as  to  whether  it  was  signed, 
or  sealed,  or  delivered,  if  it  was  generally  circulated.  I  have  never  seen  it 
contradicted,  and  I  have  seen  the  statement  corroborated  by  Mr.  Gibson's 
letter  which  was  read  here  yesterday.  That  embodies,  substantially,  a  con- 
versation of  the  same  import,  but  it  did  not  go  into  the  same  details  that 
appear  here.  It  has  remained  uncontradicted  by  Commodore  Perry.  I 
mean  no  reflection  or  disparagement  on  Commodore  Perry.  I  read  this 
statement  without  intending  to  implicate  him  in  any  way ;  because  I  believe 
he  told  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  when  he  called 
the  board  a  set  of  "packed  conspirators."  That  is  just  what  I  believe 
about  them. 

I  will  inform  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  Benjamin]  that  it  was  en- 
tirely in  relation  to  the  quotation  used  by  Lieutenant  Bartlett,  in  this  com- 
munication to  a  friend,  that  the  discussion  arose  between  the  Senator  from 
Georgia  [Mr.  Iverson]  and  the  Senator  from  Louisiana  [Mr.  Slidell],  in  which 
the  latter  denounced,  in  the  most  unmeasured  terms,  Mr.  Bartlett,  as  hav- 
ing stated  a  falsehood,  and  perhaps  said  he  was  degraded,  or  something  of 
that  sort.  It  is  very  easy  to  say  such  things  ;  but  I  do  not  recollect  that  he 
ever  opposed  a  contradiction  to  the  detailed  conversation  given  by,  or  im- 
puted to,  Lieutenant  Bartlett  in  this  paper.  It  was  only  to  the  use  of  the 
words  "monstrous  injustice"  that  he  objected.  I  believe  it  was  with  refer- 
ence to  that  very  expression  used  in  the  conversation  with  Lieutenant  Bart- 
lett, that  he  placed  his  quotation  to  the  letter  to  Mr.  Parker ;  but  his  verac- 
ity is  equal  to  that  of  any  gentleman.  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that  his 
services  and  standing  in  the  navy,  his  spotless  reputation,  his  intelligence, 
and  chivalry,  are  as  irreproachable  as  those  of  any  gentleman  who  sat  on 


504  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

the  retiring  board.     I  except  none  for  useful  and  efficient  service — he  is 
certainly  equal  to  any. 

Mr.  President,  a  controversy  arose  in  relation  to  a  book  which  the  vener- 
able Senator  from  Delaware  imputed  to  Mr.  Du  Pont.  I  have  informed 
myself  in  relation  to  it.  It  was  a  book  written  on  the  defenses  of  the  coun- 
try, and  for  which  Sir  General  Somebody  Douglas  complimented  Lieuten- 
ant Du  Pont.  I  believe  it  amounted  to  a  pamphlet,  or  something  about 
that  size,  and  was  circulated  broadcast.  Some  one  wrote  him  a  letter  about 
it.  I  do  not  know  for  what  purpose  it  was  written  ;  perhaps  it  was  the  same 
kind  of  a  letter  as  that  written  to  Mr.  Thorburn.  The  venerable  Senator 
from  Delaware  was  somewhat  discourteous,  and  used  harsh  contradictions 
in  relation  to  my  misapprehension  of  this  book,  and  imputed  rather  a  want 
of  intelligence  or  a  want  of  veracity  to  me.  I  do  not  know  which  he  in- 
tended should  be  the  inference.  From  his  first  remarks  I  supposed  that  he 
referred  to  a  book  which  Mr.  Du  Pont  had  a  hand  in  writing  — "  Regulations 
for  the  Navy  of  the  United  States."  Being  informed  on  that  subject,  I  had, 
in  reply  to  the  Senator's  "  executive  session "  speech,  in  which  he  inaugu- 
rated Mr.  Du  Font's  fame  into  the  Senate,  alluded  to  the  book,  supposing 
that  he  had  the  credit  of  writing  but  one  book ;  but  I  am  willing  now  to 
ascribe  to  him  the  credit  of  writing  two  books,  or  as  many  as  you  please. 
Certainly,  according  to  the  Senator  from  Delaware,  Mr.  Du  Pont  is  respon- 
sible for  the  book  to  which  I  referred  ;  for  he  said  that  Du  Pont  never  fol- 
lows, whether  old  or  young,  but  he  leads  wherever  his  country's  interest  or 
honor  requires  him.  I  presume  he  would  not  participate  in  anything  not 
involving  the  country's  interest  or  honor ;  and  therefore,  as  the  book  to 
which  I  alluded  was  prepared  by  a  board,  composed  of  Commodore  Morris, 
Commodore  Shubrick,  Commodore  Skinner,  and  Commander  Du  Pont,  1 
suppose  that  he  should  be  held  accountable  for  it. 

There  is  a  singular  coincidence  between  the  principles  laid  down  in  his 
book  of  regulations  and  the  principles  upon  which  the  retiring  board  acted. 
This  book  was  prepared  by  a  committee  of  officers.  It  comprised  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pages — quite  a  respectable-sized  book.  They  had  it  printed 
without  the  order  of  Congress,  and  had  it  sanctioned  by  the  then  President 
of  the  United  States.  As  it  was  done  under  a  former  Administration,  and 
as  there  were  some  things  rather  alarming  in  it,  overturning  the  principles 
of  judicial  procedure,  and  as  there  had  been  no  legal  enactment  in  regard 
to  the  compilation,  it  was  thought  proper  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to 
refer  it  to  the  Attorney-General  for  his  opinion.  I  have  here  his  opinion 
on  some  of  the  regulations,  and  I  must  say  that  they  are  of  the  rarest  char- 
acter that  I  have  ever  seen.  I  have  taken  extracts  from  these  regulations 
and  the  Attorney-General's  opinion.  I  could  not  bring  the  whole  book 
here.  I  am  aware  that  some  gentlemen  except  to  my  reading  extracts  not 
sufficiently  copious,  but  I  really  think  they  are.  This  is  at  least  very  de- 
monstrative and  suggestive  in  its  character. 

The  Attorney-General  says  : 

"  So  in  the  thirty-fifth  chapter  articles  occur  on  the  subjects  of  courts- 
martial  which  are  in  part  materza  with  provisions  of  the  act  of  Congress, 
and  are  in  effect  abrogatory  or  emendatory  of  the  same,  as  plainly  as  a  new 
act  of  Congress  could  be. 


Book  of  "Orders"  for  the  Navy  Unauthorized.      505 

"  Again,  one  of  the  articles  in  the  same  chapter  changes  the  whole  theory 
of  judicial  procedure  by  forbidding  the  court  to  receive  evidence  of  the  pre- 
vious good  character  and  former  services  of  the  accused  in  mitigation  of  the 
punishment  to  be  awarded.  This  provision,  which  is  the  more  observable 
when  compared  with  another  article  which  allows  evidence  to  be  introduced 
of  previous  bad  character,  may,  or  may  not,  be  wise  ;  it  is,  at  any  rate,  a  very 
positive  act. of  legislation." 

That  is  a  novelty ;  but  it  is  the  principle  on  which  the  retiring  board 
acted.  They  only  sought  accusations  against  officers ;  but  we  have  heard 
of  no  extenuating  circumstances,  and  of  nothing  received  by  them  in  miti- 
gation. The  Attorney-General  says  further  of  this  book  : 

"  Numerous  other  examples  might  be  given  of  specific  provisions  of  the 
'system  of  orders,'  which  are,  in  every  essential  quality,  acts  of  general 
legislation  as  clearly  and  emphatically  as  any  part  of  the  subsisting  laws 
enacted  by  Congress  for  the  government  either  of  the  navy  or  the  army. 

"  I  am  of  opinion,  therefore,  that  the  '  system  of  orders  and  instructions ' 
under  examination,  being  a  code  of  laws  and  an  act  of  legislation,  was  in 
derogation,  as  such,  of  the  constitutional  powers  of  Congress,  and,  as  the 
mere  act  of  the  President  in  a  matter  not  within  his  executive  jurisdiction, 
is  destitute  of  legal  validity  or  effect." 

"  Hence,  the  '  system  of  orders  and  instructions '  for  the  navy,  issued  by 
President  Fillmore,  as  Executive  of  the  United  States,  'February  15,  1853, 
is  without  legal  validity,  and  in  derogation  of  the  powers  of  Congress.' " 

This  was  the  emanation  of  the  gentleman  who  compiled  and  prepared  these 
regulations  for  the  conduct  of  the  navy ;  and  for  which,  according  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  Senator  from  Delaware,  Mr.  Du  Pont  must  be  in  great 
part  responsible,  he  never  being  second  on  any  occasion  to  old  or  young. 

It  is  said,  Mr.  President,  by  the  venerable  Senator  from  Delaware,  that 
Commodore  Parker  would  be  obliged  to  no  one  for  having  introduced  his 
name.  The  allusion  was  to  a  document  sent  here  in  answer  to  a  resolution 
offered  by*  my  self,  calling  for  some  information.  When  the  document  came, 
it  included  a  letter  which  the  Senator  thought  would  prejudice  Commodore 
Parker.  That  letter  is  placed  in  the  very  first  part  of  the  communication 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  though  it  was  of  a  date  subsequent  to  many 
letters  contained  in  the  same  document,  which  are  put  out  of  place.  I  have 
not  the  pleasure  of  knowing  Commodore  Parker ;  but  to  show  that  he  was 
entitled  to  the  highest  credit  and  commendation,  I  will  refer  to  the  follow 
ing  letter  of  Captain  Pendergrast : 

"WASHINGTON   ClTY,   July  31,  1852. 

"  SIR  : — In  compliance  with  your  request  of  yesterday  I  have  the  honor  to 
submit  the  following  statement : 

"  I  commanded  the  Saranac  steamer  for  thirteen  months,  under  Commo- 
dore Parker,  and  during  that  time  was  a  messmate  of  his.  This  association 
led  to  the  most  cordial  and  affectionate  regard  for  him  personally,  and  im- 
pressed me  with  the  highest  respect  for  him  as  an  able  and  efficient  com- 
mander of  a  squadron.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  have  never 
known  a  squadron  better  managed  than  the  Home  squadron  has  been  by 


506  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Commodore  Parker ;  nor  have  I  known  any  one  who  has  acquitted  himself 
better,  or  who  has  made  a  more  favorable  impression  on  foreigners. 

"  Commodore  Parker  had  confided  to  him,  during  his  command  in  the 
West  Indies,  many  delicate  and  important  trusts,  and  in  the  discharge  of 
his  duties  on  those  occasions  he  displayed  great  judgment  and  ability,  and 
I  have  reason  to  believe  his  conduct  was  most  cordially  approved  of  by  our 
Government. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  G.  J.  PENDERGRAST,  Commander. 
"  Hon.  JOHN  P.  KENNEDY, 

"  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Washington  City." 

This  is  the  opinion  of  Captain  Pendergrast,  approving  and  certifying  to 
the  conduct  of  Commodore  Parker.  If  Commodore  Parker  was  delinquent, 
Captain  Pendergrast  has  either  failed  to  state  the  truth,  or  he  has  done 
what  is  equivalent  to  it — he  has  concealed  the  truth.  If  the  Commodore 
was  culpable,  he  has  not  told  it.  What  does  it  amount  to  ?  We  find  that 
individuals  have  had  charges  against  them  smothered  ;  that  they  have  not 
been  exposed  to  reprehension,  investigation,  or  condemnation,  but  that  they 
have  escaped  through  the  favoritism  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  have 
not  been  held  accountable. 

Since  the  time  when  Mr.  Bancroft  was  in  the  Department,  we  find  that 
there  has  been  a  systematic  attempt  to  conceal  charges  against  officers,  and 
not  to  bring  them  to  trial  when  they  have  been  repeatedly  accused  of  im- 
proper conduct.  Successive  secretaries,  instead  of  investigating  such 
charges,  have  permitted  them  to  be  suppressed,  or  compromised,  or  with- 
drawn, when  it  was  their  bounden  duty  to  see  that  they  were  held  amenable. 

But,  Mr.  President,  my  friend  from  South  Carolina  [Mr.  Butler]  made 
some  explanations  in  regard  to  a  few  matters  to  which  I  alluded  on  a  former 
occasion.  I  referred  to  some  circumstances  that  took  place  on  the  Brazilian 
squadron  at  Rio  Janeiro.  To  my  statement  my  friend  from  South  Carolina 
took  exception.  Commodore  Shubrick,  in  his  letter  of  October  28,  1846,  to 
Commodore  Rousseau,  inclosing  the  survey  that  had  taken  place  on  the 
vessel  Saratoga,  remarks  that  "  the  Saratoga  having  been  found,  on  exami- 
nation, unfit  to  continue  her  cruise  around  Cape  Horn  in  her  present  condi- 
tion, he  has  ordered  Commodore  Shubrick  to  report  to  him  (Rousseau)  that 
after  having  repaired  the  injuries  sustained  by  the  vessel,  he  may  exercise 
the  discretion  given  him  in  the  letter  of  the  Department  of  2Oth  July  last." 
Commodore  Shubrick  says  further  that  in  the  course  of  her  repairs  she  may 
be  found  even  in  a  worse  state  than  represented — if  so,  taking  into  consid- 
eration the  length  of  time  which  has  elapsed  since  she  was  ordered  to  the 
Pacific,  he  should  think  she  could  be  of  little  or  no  service  in  that  squadron. 

Commodore  Rousseau  taking  this  as  an  intimation,  tantamount  to  an  or- 
der, coming  from  a  superior  for  the  inspection,  ordered  the  Saratoga  back 
to  Norfolk ;  so  that  she  never  joined  the  squadron  as  authorized  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  but  repaired  to  Norfolk,  and  her  service  was  with- 
held from  that  squadron  during  the  whole  time. 

I  understood  my  friend  from  South  Carolina  to  say,  that  Commodore 
Shubrick  had  taken  Mazatlan  and  Guayamas.  Guayamas  was  taken,  I  think, 


Cases  of  the  "Saratoga "  and  "Independence"       507 

by  Captain  Lavalette,  not  by  order  of  Commodore  Shubrick.  He  was  sent 
out  to  Cape  St.  Lucas,  and  whilst  there,  the  weather  becoming  unfavorable, 
he  was  impatient  to  return,  and  he  went  and  took  Guayamas  himself  with- 
out orders  from  the  Commodore.  My  friend  also  stated  that  Mazatlan  "was 
taken  in  the  face  of  a  superior  force  "  by  Commodore  Shubrick,  and  that 
he  had  achieved  everything  that  was  achieved  on  the  Pacific.  It  appears 
that  Mazatlan  was  taken  without  a  solitary  man  resisting.  The  American 
flag  was  run  up  by  Lieutenant  Halleck,  of  the  army,  with  two  men ;  and 
Commodore  Shubrick  was  informed  by  the  municipal  authorities  or  coun- 
cil, on  November  n,  1847,  that — 

"  The  undersigned  make  known  to  the  senior  commodore  that  this  port 
was  evacuated  since  last  night  by  the  military  force,  and  that,  from  the  out- 
post to  within  the  city,  there  is  no  other  force  than  a  small  number  of  per- 
sons composing  the  police  for  the  maintenance  of  good  order."  [Delivered 
by  the  President  of  the  Junta.] 

This  is  the  achievement  of  which  my  friend  spoke,  and  which  was  set 
forth  with  such  flourishes  in  the  newspapers.  That  is  the  history  of  the 
taking  of  Mazatlan.  It  appears  further  that  at  Mazatlan,  the  day  after  this 
occurrence,  I  think,  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  march  ninety  men,  under 
the  command  of  Lieutenant  Selden,  they  met  the  enemy,  who  were  fired 
upon  from  the  Independence,  the  Commodore's  ship,  then  at  anchor  off  the 
cape  at  Mazatlan.  All  the  Commodore's  men  ran  at  the  first  fire  of  the 
enemy,  except  one,  who  was  killed.  Stanly  was  in  command  of  a  six- 
pounder.  Fifteen  out  of  the  seventeen  men  under  his  command  were  shot 
down  and  Lieutenant  Selden  was  wounded.  They  maintained  their  ground 
for  some  time,  until  the  force  from  the  Independence  rallied  and  came  back. 

I  was  also  called  in  question  the  other  day  by  the  venerable  Senator  from 
Delaware,  in  relation  to  the  statement  which  I  made  of  the  achievement  at 
San  Jose,  out  of  which,  unfortunately,  the  "  whistle  "  grew.  He  said  that  I 
had  reflected  on  the  officers  accompanying  Captain  Du  Pont.  I  did  no  such 
thing.  I  never  disparaged  their  conduct.  I  hold  him  responsible  for  his 
report,  and  not  for  the  conduct  of  the  men.  It  appears  that  Lieutenant 
Heywood  sallied  forth  from  his  fortress  to  rescue  Captain  Du  Pont,  and  re- 
lieve him.  I  did  not  cast  any  reflection  on  Heywood ;  but  any  military 
man  can  perceive  the  policy  of  leaving  Lieutenant  Heywood  with  eighteen 
or  twenty  men  in  all,  in  the  heart  of  Southern  California,  without  any  suc- 
cor within  one  hundred  miles  of  him  !  Did  it  argue  generalship  to  put  him 
ashore  under  these  circumstances  ?  I  leave  it  for  military  men  to  deter- 
mine. I  will  not  criticise  it ;  but  I  will  say  that  it  is  a  miracle  that  they 
were  not  every  one  sacrificed.  It  was  a  strange  thing,  indeed,  to  leave  them 
under  such  circumstances,  when  there  were  hundreds  of  men  on  board  the 
vessels  who  could  have  strengthened  the  post.  At  least  fifty  men  were  nec- 
essary to  live  in  the  midst  of  three  hundred  enemies ;  but  eighteen  or  twenty 
men,  it  is  said,  were  left,  without  succor  within  one  hundred  miles.  But 
for  some  whaling-vessels  that  went  there,  the  captains  of  which  supplied 
them  with  provisions,  their  fate  would  inevitably  have  been  destruction. 
Heywood 's  valor  and  chivalry,  and  that  of  his  gallant  companions,  did 
everything  that  was  done.  His  gallant  comrade,  Stevens,  who  was  after- 


608  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

ward  so  highly  lauded  for  his  conduct  on  that  occasion,  has  been  dropped 
and  stricken  down.  It  is  disgraceful. 

I  come  again,  in  conclusion,  to  the  action  of  Commodore  Hull  in  the 
Ohio.  It  was  stated  by  the  Senators  from  Delaware,  that  the  letter  of  Sec- 
retary Paulding,  retracting  his  reprimand  of  the  four  ward-room  officers  of 
the  Ohio,  should  forever  have  closed  that  transaction.  It  is  a  singular  co- 
incidence that  those  officers  should  have  been  then  implicated  together  in  dis- 
order and  insurrectionary  or  mutinous  conduct,  for  it  amounted  to  that. 
They  were  subsequently  designated  in  the  navy  as  the  "  four  mutineers." 
It  is  singular  that  these  men  should  have  been  selected  subsequently  to  act 
together  on  the  naval  board.  I  propose  to  show,  however,  that  the  letter 
of  Secretary  Paulding,  pretending  to  cancel  these  charges,  did  not  close  the 
transaction  forever.  I  will  read  Commodore  Hull's  replies,  and  let  the  Sen- 
ate judge  from  them  whether  or  not  Commodore  Hull  felt  that  he  had  in- 
jured these  individuals,  or  whether  he  himself  had  been  deeply  wounded. 
After  he  had  received  the  first  letter  from  the  Department,  authorizing  him 
to  reprimand  these  gentlemen,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  them  in  which  he 
said: 

"  I  have  been  put  aside  by  some  of  you  ;  disrespect  and  almost  contempt 
have  been  evinced  for  me ;  and  the  time  has  arrived  when  it  must  and  shall 
cease.  There  are  three  remedies  which  strike  me  for  this  state  of  things. 
One  is,  to  lay  this  ship  up  in  a  Spanish  port — this  noble  ship,  the  pride  of 
our  country,  with  her  beautiful  flag,  of  which  we  were  once  ready  to  boast, 
with  its  stars  and  stripes,  hoisted  at  half-mast — until  lieutenants  can  be  sent 
from  the  United  States  to  restore  it  to  its  proud  and  honorable  bearing. 
Another  is,  to  take  you  to  sea  with  all  your  discontent,  disaffection,  and 
disrespect  for  your  commanding  officers,  and  trust  co  time  to  bring  about  a 
better  state  of  feeling.  And  the  third  is,  to  make  such  changes  among  you 
as  my  means  will  admit  of.  I  have  not  yet  determined  which  to  adopt ;  but 
I  will  now  state  to  you  that  I  am  responsible  for  this  ship.  I  shall  go  to  sea 
when  I  please  ;  I  shall  go  where  I  please ;  and  stay  as  long  as  I  please. 

"  Gentlemen,  our  country  is  on  the  eve  of  war  with  a  mighty  and  power- 
ful nation,  and  what  is  the  situation  in  which  you  have  placed  me?  Who 
can  go  into  battle  with  confidence,  surrounded  by  disaffected  officers  ?  And, 
I  may  well  ask,  Who  of  those  originally  ordered  to  this  ship  as  her  sea- 
lieutenants  can  I  confide  in  ?  " 

This  shows  the  feelings  of  Hull  when  he  received  and  read  to  them  the 
reprimand  administered  by  the  Department.  I  propose,  however,  to  advert 
more  particularly  to  what  he  said  of  Lieutenant  Du  Font's  conduct  on  that 
occasion.  In  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  dated  March  21,  1841, 
Commodore  Hull  says  : 

"  I  have  long  since  been  convinced  that  Lieutenant  Du  Pont  is  the  leader 
in  all  the  disaffection  which  has  so  unhappily  reigned  in  the  Ohio,  and  I  am 
fully  persuaded  that  the  pernicious  influence  he  has  exercised  over  others 
has  effected  more  injury  to  the  service  than  he  will  ever  be  able  to  repair." 

That  was  his  opinion  of  Lieutenant  Du  Pont;  I  leave  gentlemen  to  draw 
their  own  conclusions  from  it.  I  have  no  disposition  to  go  beyond  the 
records,  and  I  have  not  done  so.  I  have  a  right  to  advert  to  public  records, 


Commodore  Hull  on  Degeneracy  of  the  Navy.      509 

and  they  sustain  me  in  what  I  say.  It  is  evident  that  Commodore  Hull  felt 
deeply  mortified  by  the  action  of  the  Department  in  withdrawing  the  rep- 
rimand first  administered  to  these  officers.  This  is  shown  by  the  correspon- 
dence of  Commodore  Hull.  I  read  from  his  letter  to  the  Department  of 
December  5,  1840:  • 

"  Having  thus  fully  and  strictly  complied  with  all  the  directions  embraced 
in  your  letter  of  'June  24,  1840,'  and  having  bowed  with  all  due  submission 
to  your  will  and  decision,  I  now  claim  the  attention  of  the  Department  to 
the  position  its  decision  has  left  me  in,  viz.,  that  of  an  officer  in  command 
of  a  foreign  squadron,  under  the  ban  of  his  Government. 

"  In  reversing  my  acts,  which  were  based,  as  is  admitted,  on  the  promised 
'  co-operation  and  support '  of  the  head  of  the  Navy  Department,  it  must  be 
evident  that,  without  some  exposition  of  the  circumstances  under  which  I 
acted,  without  some  declaration  of  facts  in  the  case  by  the  Department,  a 
large  portion  of  reproach  will  be  thrown  upon  me,  and  my  command  and 
authority  may  be  ridiculed ;  but  should  this  not  be  the  case,  the  ground 
which  will  be  assumed,  both  in  and  out  of  the  navy,  will  be  this :  Commo- 
dore Hull  had  a  difficulty  with  some  of  the  lieutenants  of  the  Ohio,  a  por- 
tion of  whom  he  sent  to  the  United  States,  with  orders  to  report  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who  disapproved  of  Commodore  Hull's  course,  and 
sent  the  lieutenants  back  again ;  thus  sustaining  the  lieutenants,  and  cen* 
suring  Commodore  Hull. 

"  I  do  not  know  that  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  say  anything  more  to  the 
Department  in  justification  of  the  course  I  pursued  toward  those  officers ; 
but  it  may  not  be  improper  in  me  to  refer  to  certain  extracts  of  your  letters, 
and  to  ask  an  application,  in  my  case,  of  that  justice  which  has  been  so 
promptly  yielded  by  the  Department  to  others. 

"  In  a  letter  written  by  the  Department  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  cruise  of  the  Ohio,  viz.,  so  early  as  '  December  27,  1838,'  the  follow* 
ing  sentiments,  opinions,  and  views  are  expressed : 

" '  The  Department  expects  that,  actuated  as  well  by  a  due  regard  to  your 
own  honor  as  to  the  permanent  interests  of  the  navy,  you  will  retain  your 
command  until,  by  a  firm  and  steady  assertion  of  authority,  in  which  you 
may  rely  on  it  for  support,  you  have  suppressed  that  spirit  of  discontent 
which,  if  permitted  to  triumph,  will,  it  is  feared,  be  fatal  to  the  future  char- 
acter and  discipline  of  the  service.'  '  From  the  first,  a  spirit  of  discontent, 
approaching  to  insubordination,  has  prevailed  among  a  portion  of  the  offi- 
cers, which  manifested  itself  in  disrespect  to  their  commander,  in  appeals 
to  the  public,  as  void  of  foundation  as  they  were  destitute  of  all  manly  con- 
sideration.' ....  'And  in  violation  of  the  regulations  of  the  service  by 
publishing  an  official  correspondence  without  permission  of  the  Depart- 
ment.' " 

Now,  Mr.  President,  can  any  one  doubt  that  this  is  satisfactory  evidence 
that  Commodore  Hull  was  not  sustained  by  the  Department,  and  was  left 
in  the  awkward  dilemma  of  being  overruled,  and  having  a  triumph  awarded 
to  those  who  were  generally  designated  in  the  navy  as  mutineers  ?  And 
those  four  mutineers  composed  almost  one-third  of  the  naval  retiring  board. 
I  will  read  further  from  the  same  letter  of  Commodore  Hull : 


510  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

"  And  here  I  beg  leave  to  ask  of  the  Department  if  these  extracts  do  not 
contain  a  repetition  of  '  specific  acts,'  '  definite  charges,'  and  '  official  mis- 
conduct/ alleged  against  '  a  portion  of  the  officers  of  your  (my)  ship  ?  '  And 
does  not  the  Department  carry  out,  in  part,  its  previous  judgment  by 
detaching  Dr.  Ticknor  from  the  Ohio?  Surely  I  could  not  have  erred  in 
believing  that,  in  the  promise  of  'co-operation  and  support  '  by  the  head  of 
the  Navy  Department,  further  action  was  left  to  my  discretion.  Permit  me 
to  refer  to  the  case  of  Lieutenant  Du  Pont,  and  to  ask  why  the  Department 
left  me  to  judge  of  the  sufficiency  of  an  apology  which  he  was  to  make  to 
me,  as  one  of  the  grounds  on  which  his  application  to  return  to  the  United 
States  was  to  be  granted,  and  thereby  leaving  to  my  discretion  an  act  of 
'  humanity '  ?  With  such  a  guide,  calling  on  me  in  terms  precise  and  al- 
most imperative,  to  exert  the  power  to  the  utmost  which  the  laws  and  reg- 
ulations of  the  service  give  me  to  protect  myself  from  disrespect  and  to  en- 
force subordination,  with  a  promise  of  co-operation  and  support  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  my  lawful  authority,  and  the  example  set  me  in  detaching  Dr. 
Ticknor,  the  inference  was  as  direct  and  positive,  to  my  mind,  as  a  peremp- 
tory order  would  have  been ;  and  I  acted  in  good  faith,  and  with  a  single 
eye  to  the  good  of  the  naval  service. " 

Now,  I  will  read  the  last  extract  which  I  propose  to  present  from  Com- 
modore Hull's  letter,  to  show  that  to  his  last  hour  he  felt  it  as  a  fatal  blow  to 
his  influence,  fatal  to  his  honor,  and  dangerous  to  the  well-being  of  the  navy 
of  the  United  States.  He  says : 

"  I  dare  not  question  the  propriety  of  the  decision  reversing  my  acts ;  but 
I  trust  I  may  say  that,  in  my  humble  conception,  the  Department  has  not 
fully  assumed  or  taken  upon  itself  the  responsibility  of  the  course  pursued 
by  me  ;  and,  as  a  consequence,  I  feel  that  I  am  placed  before  the  navy  and 
the  country  as  resting  under  the  disapprobation  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  which  will  be  to  me  a  severe  injury,  unless  averted  by  the 
head  of  the  Navy  Department. 

"  That  any  immediate  evil  will  ensue  to  the  navy  generally,  or  to  my  im- 
mediate command,  remains  to  be  seen ;  but  I  must  say,  I  much  fear  that 
my  reputation  and  authority,  as  a  commander  of  a  foreign  squadron,  have 
received  a  shock  from  which  they  will  not  speedily  recover. 

"  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  this  station — the  Mediterranean — was 
the  scene  of  my  early  services  in  our  then  infant  navy.  I  witnessed  its  rise, 
its  progress,  and  its  advancement ;  bound  myself  to  it,  and  hoped  its  course 
would  ever  be  onward ;  and  that  now  it  is  the  scene  of  my  last  service,  and 
I  am  here,  I  fear,  to  be  a  witness  of  its  fall,  retrogradation,  and  ruin ;  but 
my  hopes  and  wishes  are,  to  live  long  enough  to  see  harmony  and  union, 
discipline  and  subordination,  restored  among  its  officers." 

Mr.  President,  I  have  read  these  communications  because  they  are  im- 
portant, and  they  contain  a  clear  refutation  of  what  was  suggested  by  the 
venerable  Senator  from  Delaware,  when  he  said  that  the  whole  transaction 
was  closed  by  the  retraction  by  the  Department  of  the  first  reprimand. 

The  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  inform  us  that  they  have  thoroughly  in- 
vestigated this  subject,  and  they  have  reported  the  results  of  their  examina- 
tion, and  I  understand  it  is  a  unanimous  report.  They  have  suggested 


The  Naval  Board  a  Planned  Conspiracy.       511 

remedies  for  the  reform  of  all  the  errors  which  they  think  exist,  and  they 
appear  now  determined  still  to  retain  cognizance  and  jurisdiction  over  the 
subject.  I  am  opposed  to  committing  the  investigation  which  I  think  is 
necessary  to  that  committee,  because  it  is  impossible  that  an  impartial  in- 
vestigation can  take  place  before  them.  They  have  expressed  their  opinion. 
If  we  were  selecting  jurors  to  try  a  culprit,  or  to  determine  a  civil  cause 
between  individuals  resting  on  merely  pecuniary  considerations,  impartial 
men  would  be  chosen,  who  had  expressed  no  opinion  in  relation  to  the  facts 
or  justice  of  the  controversy.  In  any  case  affecting  life  or  property,  meri 
would  not  be  selected  to  adjudicate  it  who  had  already  expressed  their 
opinion  upon  it ;  but  those  would  be  chosen  who  were  impartial,  and  free 
from  bias  of  every  kind.  I  desire  to  have  a  committee  appointed  who  can, 
without  being  tied  down  by  former  biases  or  committal,  determine  whether 
or  not  injustice  has  been  done  by  this  board. 

I  have  not  said  that  the  officers  of  the  navy  were  rascals ;  I  have  not  im- 
pugned their  honor ;  I  have  not  doubted  their  chivalry  and  gallantry ;  but 
I  admit  that  I  have  not  entertained  a  favorable  opinion  toward  the  board 
and  their  action.  For  that  I  am  responsible  to  my  own  judgment.  I  have 
a  right,  to  express  my  opinion  on  their  conduct  so  long  as  I  keep  within  the 
pale  of  the  public  records  of  the  country.  If  I  have  transcended  the  priv- 
ilege accorded  to  me — if  I  have  violated  the  franchises  of  the  Constitution, 
I  am  free  to  attack  an  arraignment.  If  I  travel  out  of  the  record — if  I 
slander  or  traduce  private  individuals,  let  it  be  shown,  and  I  shall  always 
be  ready  to  defend  myself,  on  notice  being  given  of  the  attack  against  me. 
My  person  is  free  to  arraignment.  I  am  responsible  for  my  course.  The 
views  which  I  have  taken  on  this  subject  have  been  fully  sustained  by  the 
documents ;  and  I  could,  from  them,  deduce  facts  going  much  beyond  what 
I  have  presented.  What  would  honorable  gentlemen  think  of  me  if  I  were 
to  make  a  statement  like  this  :  A  certain  member  of  the  board,  while  the 
bill  of  the  last  session  was  pending,  used  his  efforts  to  procure  its  passage. 
A  certain  gentleman  was  opposing  it.  The  officer  came  to  him  and  said, 
"  What  are  you  doing  here  opposing  this  bill?"  "Why,"  said  he,  "  I  do 
not  wish  it  to  pass  the  Senate."  The  officer  said  to  him,  "  I  know  very  well 
why  you  are  opposing  it ;  you  are  afraid  that  such  a  man,  your  friend,  Cap- 
tain so-and-so,  will  be  prejudiced  by  the  bill,  and  that  is  the  reason  why  you 
oppose  it.  Now,"  said,  he — this  was  before  the  law  was  passed — "never 
mind  ;  I  will  be  a  member  of  the  board,  and  not  one  hair  of  Captain  H.'s 
head  shall  be  hurt."  If  any  Senator  asks  me  whether  I  can  prove  this  state- 
ment, or  desires  to  know  the  author,  I  tell  him,  grant  a  special  committee 
that  will  go  heartily  into  the  investigation,  and  I  will  bring  the  witnesses 
who  will  substantiate  the  statement. 

I  think  this  circumstance  shows  that  all  the  talk  that  we  have  heard  oi 
the  disinterestedness  of  the  board  amounts  to  nothing.  These  men  were 
interested  in  the  result  of  their  own  action.  The  whole  thing  had  been  con- 
cocting for  years  under  successive  Secretaries  of  the  Navy,  until  its  consum- 
mation took  place  in  the  year  1855,  with  all  the  management  and  contrivances 
possible.  This  "  packed  conspiracy,"  as  Commodore  Perry  designated  it, 
was  concocted  for  years.  You  may  trace  back  four  of  its  members,  who  co- 
operated consistently  since  1838,  1839,  and  1840,  when  a  conspiracy  was 


512  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

formed  against  Commodore  Hull  while  he  was  in  command  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean squadron.  I  desire  my  fellow-citizens,  the  officers  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  be  rescued  from  such  persecution.  I  shall  not  arraign  the  board. 
I  do  not  say  they  are  not  honest — I  shall  cast  no  reflection  on  the  chivalry 
of  the  navy.  My  feelings  in  regard  to  the  board  perhaps  may  be  illustrated 
by  a  transaction  which  occurred  in  Augusta  County,  Virginia,  before  Judge 
Coulter,  a  gentleman  of  distinction,  and  a  remarkable  Democrat. 

A  Dutchman  was  sued  before  the  judge.  The  Dutchman  was  very  much 
opposed  to  the  Democracy,  and  had  used  harsh  and  derogatory  epithets 
concerning  them.  He  did  not  know  how  far  the  denunciations  which  he 
had  used  against  the  Democrats  might  influence  the  judge  in  his  particular 
case ;  he  therefore  called  upon  Judge  Coulter,  and  said  to  him :  "  Judge,  I 
want  to  talk  to  you ;  you  know  I  have  always  been  a  strong  Federalist,  and 
you  have  been  a  strong  Democrat,  and  we  have  always  voted  against  one 
another."  "  Yes,"  said  the  judge ;  "  we  have — what  of  it  ?  "  "  Oh,"  replied 
the  Dutchman,  "they  tell  bad  tales  on  me,  and  it  is  reported  that  I  said 
that  all  the  Democrats  were  grand  rascals ;  now,  judge,  I  never  said  that." 
"  Well,"  replied  the  judge,  "  I  am  glad  that  you  did  not  say  it."  "  No,  I 
never  said  it,  but  I  will  tell  you  what  I  did  say,  and  I  will  stand  to  it  as  long 
as  I  live — I  did  say  that  all  the  rascals  were  Democrats."  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  President,  I  certainly  say  that,  according  to  my  apprehension,  there 
has  been  a  great  deal  of  bad  conduct  in  this  matter ;  and  it  has  been  prompted, 
perhaps,  by  a  want  of  knowledge  as  to  the  merits  of  various  officers.  I 
must  confess  that  I  have  never  been  so  much  excited  in  my  life,  in  relation 
to  the  condition  of  my  country,  as  at  the  present  time.  I  have  never  be- 
fore felt  that  a  blow  so  fearful,  so  fatal,  so  terrific,  has  been  aimed  at  its  se- 
curity and  efficiency  as  this  reduction,  or  rather  annihilation,  of  the  navy. 
Sir,  it  has  been  the  right  arm  of  our  strength,  of  which  every  American  has 
been  proud.  It  was  approved  by  Jackson,  a  man  of  noble  and  chivalrous 
bearing.  He  suggested  no  amendment  to  it,  except  such  as  necessity  re- 
quired. Successive  Presidents  found  no  fault  with  it,  until  bureaus  began 
to  multiply  and  accumulate  about  the  capital.  Then  the  suggestion  was 
made  that  the  navy  was  inefficient,  and  should  be  reformed.  This  cry  has 
been  altogether  since  1840 — since  the  Mediterranean  cruise  under  Commo- 
dore Hull — since  bureaus  were  located  in  this  city. 

It  is  important  that  we  should  inquire  into  this  matter  now.  It  is  im- 
portant that  we  should  sustain  this  right  arm  of  the  nation.  You  may  com- 
pare the  militia  and  volunteers  of  the  country  to  the  body,  the  defensible 
part  of  the  nation  ;  the  army  to  its  left  arm,  and  the  navy  to  its  right  arm. 
The  navy  is  not  confined  in  its  action  to  our  own  shores,  but  it  goes  abroad, 
sustaining  the  honor  of  our  flag  upon  every  sea.  That  right  arm  has  been 
crushed,  and  lies  palsied  at  the  side  of  the  body-politic.  It  must  be  reno- 
vated by  the  repeal  of  this  odious  action.  The  law  under  which  it  has  been 
disgraced  is,  in  my  opinion,  unconstitutional,  and  even  its  provisions  have 
not  been  executed  according  to  their  spirit. 

I  ask  for  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  subject,  and  I  desire  to  have  a 
special  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose,  so  that  we  may  arrest  this 
evil,  and  if  possible  arrest  the  downward  course  of  the  country.  Sir,  I  feel 
that  our  situation  is  an  important  one.  The  nation's  heart  has  been  wounded 


Sec.  Dobbin  doubtful  as  to  the  Board.  513 

by  this  action ;  and  the  life-blood  of  the  country  will  ooze  out  from  the  ar- 
teries if  they  are  not  now  bound  up  by  the  strength  and  energy  of  Congress, 
and  our  system  renovated  and  made  perfect  in  all  its  parts.  I  say  there  was 
no  necessity  for  this  action,  and  it  was  not  in  contemplation  even  in  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  at  so  late  a  day  as  1854. 

I  desire  to  refer  to  that  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  which  he 
says  emphatically  that  such  a  law  was  not  necessary,  for  he  recommends  the 
extremest  measure  which  he  thought  was  required,  and  he  does  not  go  to 
this  extent ;  but  it  was  engineered  through  Congress.  Everything  in  regard 
to  it  was  kept  secret.  It  was  done  by  the  co-operation  of  the  committee 
and  the  silence  and  apathy  of  members,  who,  from  their  peculiar  condition, 
not  being  connected  particularly  with  the  navy,  were  prevented  from  en- 
tering into  an  investigation  of  the  principles  of  the  law.  In  the  report  to 
which  I  have  just  alluded,  Mr.  Dobbin  says  : 

"  Is  the  particular  plan  of  having  the  aid  of  a  board  of  officers  in  ascer- 
taining the  incompetent  and  unworthy  objected  to  ?  I  am  not  wedded  to 
that  or  any  other  scheme,  provided  the  main  object  can  be  attained.  I 
should  be  content  to  have  the  Secretary  from  time  to  time  officially  report 
to  the  President  such  names  as  he  wishes  should  be  retired  or  dropped ; 
that  the  President  should  transmit,  if  he  thinks  proper,  their  names  to  the 
Senate,  with  a  recommendation  suited  to  each  case.  Thus  the  President 
and  the  Senate,  the  appointing  power,  will  be  the  removing  power;  and  the 
apprehension  of  Star  Chamber  persecution  and  being  victimized  by  secret 
inquisition,  now  felt  by  some  worthy  officers,  would  be  quieted." 

Sir,  if  this  course  had  been  adopted  the  navy  would  have  been  purged,  if 
it  needed  purging  ;  it  would  have  been  purified,  invigorated,  and  sustained  : 
but  how  is  it  now  ?  I  will  take  any  number  of  men  who  have  been  removed 
and  disrated,  and  you  may  pick  out  at  hap-hazard  an  equal  number  among 
those  retained,  and  you  will  find  them  as  defective  in  capacity  as  those  who 
have  been  dismissed. 

Mr.  President,  I  earnestly  trust  that  the  Senate  will  adopt  these  resolu- 
tions, appoint  the  special  committee  forthwith  to  proceed  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  cases  of  those  officers  who  have  presented  memorials  to  us,  so 
that  they  will  have  it  in  their  power  at  an  early  day  to  report  upon  the 
subject.  I  have  much  to  deplore  in  the  condition  of  the  country,  and  much 
to  reprehend;  but  this  is  the  most  fatal  blow  which  I  have  yet  seen  aimed 
at  the  nation — one  that  has  inflicted  a  deeper  wound  on  its  honor  and  effi- 
ciency than  all  that  have  been  accumulating  from  the  days  of  my  boyhood 
to  the  present  moment,  and  the  consequences  of  which  will  be  most  disas- 
trous if  not  arrested. 

I  can  not  consent  to  sustain  the  bill  reported  by  the  Committee  on  Naval 
Affairs,  which  proposes  to  increase  temporarily  the  whole  number  of  officers 
in  the  navy,  when  we  have  already  so  many  officers  for  the  ships,  that  now 
only  once  in  every  fifteen  years  can  a  captain  perform  his  cruise,  a  command- 
er once  in  fifteen  years,  and  the  lieutenants  once  in  five  years.  Under  such 
circumstances,  are  you  to  make  provision  for  an  additional  number  to  sup- 
ply the  places  of  those  who  have  been  improperly  dropped  or  removed  ? 
No,  sir.  I  will  replace  them  where  they  stood  at  the  adoption  of  this  un- 
33 


514  Houston^ s  Literary  Remains. 

constitutional  measure.  I  say  it  was  a  nullity  from  the  commencement, 
because  it  was  unconstitutional,  and  because  the  law,  even  such  as  it  was, 
has  not  been  properly  executed. 

I  ask  the  Senate  to  restore  these  men  to  the  places  which  they  formerly 
occupied.  Let  this  be  done,  and  our  country  will  feel  and  know  that  there 
is  a  conservative  principle  in  the  legislation  of  this  Union  which  can  arrest 
all  the  cabals,  all  the  machinations,  and  all  the  packed  conspiracies  that 
may  be  concocted  against  the  well-being  of  the  country,  or  against  any  par- 
ticular arm  of  its  service,  which  are  prompted  by  sinister  motives,  and  de- 
signed to  strike  down  worthy  men  for  hatred,  envy,  or  ambition.  It  will 
show  the  people  that  there  is  an  influence  which  can  put  down  those  who 
seek,  by  grasping  at  power,  to  promote  themselves  at  the  nation's  expense, 
and  do  injustice  to  worthy  and  honorable  men. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  no  more  to  say  on  this  occasion ;  but  before 
taking  my  seat  I  beg  leave  to  return  my  thanks  to  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Tennessee  for  the  courtesy  which  he  has  shown  me  by  allowing  me  to 
proceed  to-day. 


SPEECHES   ON  THE    PACIFIC    RAILROAD   BILL,   AND   IN   RE- 
PLY TO   HON.  A.  IVERSON,  OF  GEORGIA. 

Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  January  iith  and  i^th,  1859. 

The  Senate  having  under  consideration  the  Pacific  Railroad  bill— Mr. 
HOUSTON  said  : 

Mr.  President,  it  was  not  originally  my  intention  to  address  to  the  Senate 
any  remarks  on  this  subject,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  proposition  now 
submitted  to  us  is  one  of  great  importance.  If  I  have  correctly  apprehended 
the  design  of  the  Pacific  railroad,  it  is  for  the  national  advantage,  for  the 
general  benefit,  and  it  ought  not  to  be  confined  to  any  particular  section  or 
interest  in  the  United  States.  If  so,  I  can  not  perceive  the  propriety  of  re- 
stricting the  engineers  in  their  reconnoissances  to  any  particular  locality, 
but  we  should  leave  the  wide  field  open  for  the  selection  of  that  line  which 
will  best  promote  our  great  national  purposes.  This  amendment,  however, 
proposes  to  limit  the  selection  to  a  point  north  of  the  thirty-seventh  paral- 
lel. It  seems  to  me  that  if  nature  has  designed  a  communication  between 
the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Pacific  Ocean,  the  least  expensive,  the  most 
direct,  the  most  facile  means  of  communication,  is  to  be  found  in  a  route 
commencing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River.  By  commencing  there,  all  the 
streams  which  would  be  encountered,  if  you  commence  at  Memphis,  or  any 
point  further  north,  will  be  avoided,  and  there  is  but  one  stream  of  impor- 
tance between  that  and  the  Rio  Grande.  It  is  a  natural  trough,  if  you  will 
permit  the  expression,  extending  from  that  point,  with  but  very  little  inter- 
ruption, to  El  Paso.  That  country  has  been  described  by  Captain  'Marcy, 
and  others,  who  have  taken  reconnoissances  of  it,  and  it  is  manifest  that  a 
road  can  be  constructed  there  with  less  expense  than  on  any  other  route 
which  has  been  designated  or  thought  of. 

We  have  heard  of  sandy  deserts  there  interposing  insuperable  obstacles. 
Is  there  any  route  suggested  that  interposes  no  obstacles  to  the  accomplish- 


Surveys  for  Pacific  Hail/road  on  Southern  Route.  515 

ment  of  the  work  ?  None  that  I  have  heard  of.  It  is  remarkably  singular 
that  the  obstacle  which  is  regarded  as  insuperable,  this  dreary,  sandy  desert, 
this  Arabian  waste,  as  it  has  been  termed,  in  which  steam-cars  and  caravans 
are  to  be  overwhelmed,  is  not  actually  known  on  that  route  at  all.  We  have 
now  a  regular  mail  communication  between  El  Paso  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
If  there  were  no  facilities  for  a  railroad  on  that  route,  how  is  it  possible 
that  mail-coaches  could  run  regularly  over  without  impediment  ?  That 
fact  affords  a  practical  refutation  of  this  assumption,  which  is  unfounded 
in  fact. 

Why  need  this  interpose  an  objection  so  as  to  rule  out  from  the  general 
provisions  of  this  bill  a  section  of  country  that  possesses  equal,  if  not  greater 
advantages  than  any  other  for  this  work  ?  By  the  route  which  I  have  sug- 
gested you  are  afforded  through  the  Mississippi  River,  from  the  point  where 
the  Red  River  empties  into  it,  egress  to  the  Atlantic  and  the  Gulf.  From 
that  point,  too,  you  can  communicate  with  the  South  when  you  can  not 
from  St.  Louis,  because  the  ice-bound  condition  of  the  Mississippi  at  that 
point  precludes  navigation,  and  you  are  totally  dependent  on  transportation 
by  cars  from  St.  Louis.  The  mouth  of  the  Red  River  is  never  obstructed 
by  ice,  nor  does  it  ever  offer  any  obstruction  at  any  point  on  the  Mississippi 
below  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  River.  From  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  you  can 
communicate  with  the  North  and  East ;  and  from  Memphis  and  Vicksburg 
with  the  whole  South.  At  the  terminus  of  this  route,  you  have  all  the 
facilities  of  water  transportation  which,  in  point  of  cheapness,  very  far  sur- 
passes railroad  transportation.  But,  sir,  if  you  terminate  the  road  at  St. 
Louis,  where  the  river  is  ice-bound  at  this  season  of  the  year,  and  where 
commerce  must  of  necessity  be  arrested,  how  will  the  people  of  the  Gulf  or 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  Mississippi  have  communication  with  it  ?  Must 
you  transport  articles  to  some  point  south  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  thence 
radiate  through  the  whole  southern  country  ?  Is  that  the  way  ?  Sir,  you 
have  the  opportunity  of  accommodating  all  by  locating  the  terminus  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Red  River,  and  there  the  whole  commercial  world  is  open  to 
you  ;  all  the  facilities  that  arise  from  railroad  and  water  transportation  are 
afforded  to  every  section  of  the  country  north  of  it ;  but  if  you  bring  the 
road  to  St.  Louis,  you  must  be  solely  dependent  upon  railroad  transporta- 
tion, and  you  can  not  have'  it  by  water,  because  the  Mississippi  is  ice-bound 
as  well  as  the  Missouri,  and  you  are  arrested  there.  All  the  cheapness,  all 
the  conveniences,  and  everything  that  would  result  from  the  other  terminus 
is  there  converted  into  a  coast  and  an  impediment  to  transportation. 

I  think  that  to  restrict  the  southern  limit  to  the  thirty-seventh,  or  even 
to  the  thirty-fourth  parallel,  is  ruling  out  one  of  the  most  important  routes, 
the  advantages  of  which  to  the  South  will  be  incalculably  greater  than  any 
other.  By  leaving  a  margin  for  including  that  route,  do  we  cut  off  the 
North  from  any  portion  of  the  advantages  which  it  has  a  right  to  claim  ? 
None  at  all.  The  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  are  open  to  Cairo ;  and  at 
Cairo,  at  Memphis,  and  at  Vicksburg,  the  line  of  which  I  have  spoken  will 
connect  with  the  whole  eastern  portion  of  the  country.  The  entire  line 
north  will  be  reached  from  Cairo  ;  from  Memphis  this  line  will  communi- 
cate with  Charleston,  with  Richmond,  and  with  all  the  southern  portion  of 
the  Union.  Either  from  Vicksburg  or  from  Memphis,  you  can  convey  to 


516  Houston ]s  Literary  Hemains. 

New  Orleans,  by  ship  or  steamboat  transportation,  all  the  materials  that 
will  arrive  from  the  Pacific  coast.  If  you  have  anything  to  transport  there, 
you  have  all  the  advantages  of  embarking  them  at  a  point  more  accessible 
than  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  for  the  people  of  the  North.  They  have  no 
streams  to  ascend  ;  but  the  people  of  the  South  have  the  broad  and  secure 
Mississippi,  with  no  impediments,  no  sawyers,  no  obstructions,  to  prevent 
their  reaching  the  terminus  with  perfect  convenience  and  security.  You 
can  not  have  access  to  the  North  from  any  other  point  with  the  same  facil- 
ities that  you  can  from  this  terminus  on  the  Mississippi. 

Why  rule  out  this  route  ?  Is  it  not  entitled  to  consideration  ?  Why  not 
give  entire  latitude  to  those  who  are  to  construct  the  road,  to  make  their 
selection  ?  If  it  is  not  eligible  to  make  the  terminus  I  have  suggested, 
very  well ;  let  them  so  decide  ;  but  I  implore  you  not  to  disfranchise  those 
who  have  a  right  to  your  consideration  as  a  part  of  this  Union.  If  this  is 
to  be  a  great  national  work,  give  it  a  national  character,  and  treat  it  as  a 
national  measure  for  the  defense  of  the  Pacific  coast.  I  have  always  been 
its.  advocate.  I  have  seen  no  constitutional  impediment  to  it.  There  is 
none  ;  or  else  it  is  unconstitutional  to  give  national  defense.  The  Federal 
Government  is  bound  to  defend  the  several  States,  and  to  give  security  to 
them.  If  they  owe  it  allegiance  and  loyalty,  the  Federal  Government  owes 
them  protection.  Can  you  give  protection  to  California  without  a  direct 
communication  with  the  Pacific  Ocean  ?  You  can  not.  Can  you  bind 
them  in  interest  ?  Can  you  make  them  identical  with  us  ?  Can  you  bind 
them  in  cordiality,  in  sympathy,  and  in  loyalty,  unless  you  create  a  bond  of 
this  kind  ?  You  can  not.  I  wish  no  portion  of  this  country  to  be  alien  to 
the  Union,  and  I  wish  to  do  justice  to  all.  I  never  could  conceive  that 
there  was  a  constitutional  impediment  in  the  way  of  this  work.  Are  we 
authorized  to  build  forts  and  fortifications  ?  If  we  are,  are  we  not  equally 
bound  to  afford  other  means  of  defense  ?  Is  not  the  communication  with 
San  Francisco  and  with  the  Pacific  as  important  as  it  is  to  erect  forts  here 
upon  our  borders,  on  the  Atlantic  ?  Equally  important.  They  are  neces- 
sary to  the  protection  of  our  Atlantic  coast,  and  a  railroad  is  indispensable 
to  th£  protection  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

I  have  always  been  a  stickler  for  strict  construction,  and  I  am  yet ;  but 
I  believe  whatever  is  necessary  for  the  salvation  of  the  country  is  constitu- 
tional. There  has  been  no  constitutional  provision  to  bring  these  vast  Ter- 
ritories into  the  United  States,  and  to  incorporate  them  into  our  Union. 
The  Constitution  can  not  be  stretched  ;  it  is  not  a  piece  of  India-rubber ; 
it  is  a  compacted  whole,  and  not  to  be  distended  ;  but  whenever  you  step 
beyond  the  Constitution  to  acquire  a  dominion,  it  becomes  expedient  that 
you  should  do  something  with  that  dominion  ;  and  then  it  becomes  a  mat- 
ter of  legislative  discretion.  That  is  my  opinion  about  the  Constitution 
and  its  application  to  those  Territories  that  have  been  acquired  without  its 
pale  and  without  its  provisions.  I  insist  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  glaring 
injustice  to  this  section  of  the  country,  possessing  the  vast  and  illimitable 
advantages  which  it  does  as  a  terminus  of  a  road,  to  exclude  it  from  the 
common  benefits  that  are  extended  to  other  sections  of  the  Union. 

Mr.  President,  as  I  remarked  in  the  outset,  it  was  not  my  intention  to 
have  uttered  one  syllable  upon  this  occasion.  I  have  always  entertained 


Invidious  Distinction  of  North  and  South.       517 

my  private  views  and  opinions.  I  did  not  know  that  they  were  more  ortho- 
dox than  those  of  other  gentlemen,  nor  did  I  wish  to  bring  them  in  opposi- 
tion to  their  views.  It  is  possible  that  I  might  be  reconciled  to  the  views 
which  they  have  advanced ;  but  they  have  not  yet  convinced  me,  and  I  have 
a  right  to  give  my  opinion. 

I  have  regretted,  Mr.  President,  that  in  the  course  of  this  discussion  it 
has  been  deemed  necessary  to  draw  any  invidious  distinctions  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  That  to  me  for  the  last  twelve  or  fourteen  years  has 
been  a  subject  of  deep  and  inexpressible  regret.  I  have  never  heard  that 
chord  struck  but  its  vibration  was  painful  to  me ;  and  the  other  day,  when 
gentlemen  thought  proper  to  advert  to  it,  and  when  there  was  crimination 
and  recrimination,  I  was  deeply  wounded.  I  had  hoped  that  that  subject 
was  deeply  buried,  that  it  never  would  be  resurrected  again,  at  least  within 
my  hearing  for  the  short  period  during  which  I  am  to  occupy  a  seat  on  this 
floor.  That  good  fortune,  however,  was  not  allotted  to  me.  I  had  to  hear 
the  jarring  sounds  again,  not  of  the  death-knell,  but  of  agitation  ;  and  what 
its  ultimate  consequence  is  to  be,  I  know  not ;  I  hope  never  the  severance 
of  this  Union.  I  hope,  I  believe,  the  Union  is  to  be  eternal.  I  can  not  but 
think  that  if  the  bright  capacity,  the  cultivated  intellect,  and  the  undoubted 
patriotism  of  gentlemen  here  could  be  subsidized  to  the  great  object  of  de- 
vising ways  and  means  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  Union,  for  harmonizing 
the  discordant  sentiments  that  exist  in  the  community,  and  reconciling 
difficulties,  it  would  be  a  most  desirable  and  commendable  employment.  It 
would  seem,  however,  that  they  were  rather  devising  causes  and  occasions 
of  disagreement  and  alienation  between  the  North  and  the  South.  Dis- 
union has  become  a  cant  phrase.  It  is  talked  of  familiarly.  In  olden 
times,  and  it  is  within  my  recollection,  when  it  was  first  sounded  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  when  it  was  first  suggested  in  the  debate  on  the 
tariff  of  1824,  I  thought  it  was  treason,  and  that  the  individual  ought  to 
have  been  crucified.  It  is  no  more  acceptable  to  me  now  than  it  was  then. 
It  is  more  familiar,  but  that  does  not  commend  it  either  to  my  affection  or 
to  my  judgment.  Disunion,  sir  !  You  might  as  well  tell  me  that  you  could 
have  a  healthy  patient,  and  a  whole  man,  if  you  were  to  cut  the  main  artery 
of  his  life. 

Have  gentlemen  ever  reflected  as  to  when,  where,  and  how  they  are  to 
begin  disunion  ;  and  where  it  is  to  end  ?  Will  they  cut  the  great  Missis- 
sippi in  two  ?  Who  is  to  have  the  mouth  of  it  ?  Who  is  to  command  its 
source  ?  Will  it  be  those  who  agitate  the  subject,  or  are  ultra  upon  it  ? 
Never,  never !  Look  at  the  great  West,  rising  like  a  giant.  Think  you 
they  will  be  prohibited  the  privilege  of  commanding  the  great  outlet  of 
that  river,  when  their  productions  are  boundless  and  float  upon  its  bosom 
every  year,  and  every  day  of  every  year  ?  Sir,  it  is  madness.  I  must  remark 
to  my  honorable  friend  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Iverson],  with  all  kindness  of 
feeling  personally,  that  when  I  heard  him  speak  for  the  South,  I  could  not 
but  review  scenes  that  passed  before  me  in  the  old  Chamber,  when  gentle- 
men rose  and  spoke  for  the  South  as  if  they  were  proxies  of  the  South,  and 
held  the  South  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands,  or  controlled  its  destinies  by 
their  will.  Sir,  I  am  of  the  South.  I  was  born  there.  I  have  lived  there. 
No  other  man  in  the  whole  South  has  a  broader  interest  in  it  than  myself ; 


518  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

my  all  is  there',  and  I  have  represented  a  proud  State  here.  I  answer  for  a 
part  of  the  South.  I  intend  to  disclaim  the  right  of  any  gentleman  on  this 
floor  to  speak  for  the  South,  when  I  can  offer  a  negation  to  his  assertions. 

This  must  be  stopped,  sir.  It  may  wear  out.  If  it  does  not,  and  the 
crisis  comes,  you  will  find  the  patriotic  hearts  of  the  South  are  better  em- 
ployed than  in  agitating  this  subject ;  men  who  are  better  engaged  in  the 
daily  avocations  of  life  ;  men  whose  employments  lead  them  to  love  their 
country,  to  hope  for  its  advancement,  to  rely  in  security  that  on  their  own 
exertions  depend  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  their  families ;  and  whose 
prayers  are  for  harmony  and  the  well-being  and  prosperity  of  their  children 
in  life.  These  are  the  bone  and  sinew  of  that  country.  They  have  no  pas- 
sions to  flatter ;  they  have  no  political  aspirations  ;  they  cherish  nothing 
but  a  holy  loyalty  for  their  country  and  its  Constitution  ;  and  when  these 
men  are  called  to  action,  and  look  around  upon  the  elements  which  they 
are  to  oppose,  it  will  be  as  wise,  if  it  were  possible,  for  a  sane  man  to  throw 
himself  in  the  way  of  the  furious  tornado,  as  for  public  men  to  oppose  them. 
They  will  not  do  it.  They  will  stand  aloof,  hugging  security  with  a  con- 
sciousness of  happiness  and  the  future  well-being  of  the  human  race.  They 
will  be  contented  with  the  blessings  they  enjoy,  and  will  not  put  them  to 
the  hazards  of  revolution. 

The  gentleman  spoke  of  one  State  seceding  and  others  following.  Mr. 
President,  it  would  be  much  easier  for  one  State  to  come  back  than  it  would 
be  for  other  States  to  go  with  it.  I  can  see  no  propriety  in  that.  What 
would  they  do  ?  Suppose  one  State  goes  out ;  it  rules  itself  out  of  the 
Union  ;  it  has  cut  off  all  intercourse  with  the  other  States ;  and  as  to  talk- 
ing of  a  division  of  the  great  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  the  right  of 
a  State  to  any  participation  in  them  is  at  an  end  when  she  secedes  from  the 
Union.  She  has  left  good  company  and  gone  off  by  herself ;  she  is  in  a 
minority ;  she  can  not  take  any  portion  of  the  territory,  for  she  has  abj  _ired 
that ;  she  has  surrendered  it  by  going  out  of  the  Union,  for  it  is  only  through 
the  Union  that  she  has  an  interest  in  it.  Where  would  be  the  navy  of  the 
seceders  ?  where  their  army  ?  where  their  security  at  home  ?  Sir,  the  very 
moment  that  a  State  places  herself  out  of  the  Union,  that  moment  she  as- 
sumes the  attitude  of  revolution  ;  she  has  revolted.  Certain  duties  are  en- 
joined on  her  by  the  Constitution  ;  if  she  resists  the  operation  of  the  Con- 
stitution, she  becomes  a  rebel  per  se. 

Sir,  let  the  wise  men  of  this  Union  turn  their  heads  and  their  hearts  tow- 
ard peace  and  harmony  ;  let  them  become  reconciled  one  to  another,  an< 
continue  not  the  use  of  crimination  and  recrimination,  but  the  language 
conciliation,  of  courtesy,  of  considerate  demeanor,  reflecting  but  not  talk- 
ing, thinking  but  not  acting  prematurely,  and  then  we  shall  see  a  harmonioi 
and  desirable  state  of  things  in  this  country.     We  shall  see  no  animosity 
we  shall  see  here  no  bitterness  ;  no  incendiary  pamphlets  will  be  circulatec 
in  either  section.     Let  gentlemen  of  the  North  cease  to  agitate  the  subje( 
of  our  Southern  institutions.     They  are  ours,  they  were  theirs,  and  they 
a  right  to  them,  and  can  re-establish  them  again  if  they  choose.     If  it  is 
matter  of  policy  with  them  to  eschew  them,  it  is  a  matter  of  necessity  anc 
of  right  and  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  South  to  maintain  them.     Gen- 
tlemen may  talk  of  philanthropy  and  humanity  and  the  equality  of  all  mei 


What  can  be  done  with  the  Negroes?  510 

under  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  but  I  do  not  think  an  African 
equally  white  with  me,  and  therefore  he  is  not  on  a  footing  of  equality  ex- 
actly. He  has  never  enjoyed  political  rights,  and  therefore  he  has  been  de- 
prived of  none.  In  Africa,  he  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  slaughtering  and 
eating  his  fellow-man  ;  and  it  was  consistent  with  his  idolatry,  and  consistent 
with  his  education ;  but  that  does  not  give  him  the  education  and  moral 
pitch  that  white  men  have. 

But  be  that  as  it  may,  whilst  these  subjects  are  being  discussed,  I  ask,  I 
implore  gentlemen  to  tell  us  what  better  disposition  can  be  made  of  them. 
Is  the  wild  and  savage  African  of  Africa  better  than  the  slave  of  the  South  ? 
Is  he  as  well  off  as  the  free  blacks  of  the  North  or  those  who  are  freezing  in 
Canada  ?  No ;  he  is  not  as  well  off  as  they  are ;  he  is  not  cared  for ;  and 
will  you  throw  our  slaves  back  again  into  barbarism,  or  will  you  turn  them 
loose  upon  us  in  the  South  ?  Have  we  done  aught  to  produce  the  necessity 
of  having  them  amongst  us  ?  Did  not  your  ancestors  do  it  ?  We  never 
were  a  commercial  people ;  we  never  carried  on  the  slave-trade  until  re- 
cently— and  I  brand  that  as  an  act  of  unmitigated  infamy ;  but  it  was  done 
by  others.  Slavery  has  descended  to  us  ;  it  is  necessary,  and  we  must  main- 
tain it ;  but  does  it  conflict  with  the  well-being  of  Northern  gentlemen  and 
Northern  society  that  the  South  bear  it  ?  We  are  told  that  it  is  a  calamity 
and  misfortune  to  us.  Let  us  bear  our  misfortunes  alone.  We  have  not 
asked  for  intervention,  nor  can  we  permit  it.  It  is  requiring  too  much.  Have 
I  ever  sought  to  drive  slavery  into  your  communities  ?  Have  I  ever  sought 
to  extend  its  limits  or  to  trench  on  any  one  of  the  established  principles  of 
gentlemen  who  think  differently  on  this  subject  from  myself?  I  have  not 
sought  to  thrust  it  down  their  throats ;  but  I  have  determined  always  to 
maintain  it  as  a  man,  and  to  vindicate  the  rights  that  exist  with  us. 

You  never  hear  me  talk  of  "Southern  rights."  The  South  has  no  rights 
but  what  belong  to  the  North  ;  nor  has  the  North  any  rights  but  what  be- 
long to  the  South.  The  North  has  excluded  slavery ;  the  South  retains  it. 
The  North  did  it  because  exclusion  was  their  interest ;  the  South  retain  it 
because  that  is  their  interest.  All  the  States  have  equal  rights.  You,  gen- 
tlemen of  the  North,  have  the  right  to  adopt  slavery  when  you  please.  We 
have  the  right  to  abolish  it  when  we  please.  You  have  the  right  to  abolish 
it,  and  we  to  adopt  it.  Our  rights  are  reciprocal  under  the  Constitution. 
We  hold  no  rights  that  are  Southern  that  are  not  Northern  ;  but  "  Southern 
rights"  is  a  cant  phrase,  calculated  to  inflame  the  popular  mind,  and  create 
an  alienation  of  feeling,  as  though  the  South  was,  in  interest,  antagonistic 
to  the  North,  and  the  North  to  the  South.  Allay  these  reflections,  gentle- 
man ;  hush  them  up ;  cure  and  heal  the  wounds  that  have  been  inflicted 
upon  the  nation ;  give  harmony  to  it,  and  you  will  give  stability  to  our  in- 
stitutions. God  has  given  us  everything  that  is  necessary  to  make  us  a 
happy,  a  great,  and  a  mighty  nation  ;  and,  oh,  let  us  not  be  laggard  in  the 
generous  race  of  emulation  to  honor  His  works. 

THURSDAY,  January  13,  1859. 

Mr.  Iverson  having  replied  to  the  foregoing  remarks,  Mr.  HOUSTON  re- 
joined as  follows : 
Mr.  President :  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  lateness  of  the  hour  last  evening 


520  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

at  which  the  honorable  Senator  from  Georgia  [Mr.  Iverson]  concluded  his 
remarks,  I  should  then  have  taxed  the  Senate  for  a  short  time ;  but  as  the 
usual  hour  had  arrived  fO"r  our  adjournment,  I  thought  it  proper  to  defer 
what  I  had  to  say  until  this  morning.  Before  proceeding  to  notice  the  re- 
marks of  the  honorable  Senator,  I  desire  to  afford  him  an  opportunity  of 
giving  a  more  explicit  explanation  to  one  expression  which  he  used  in  rela- 
tion to  myself.  When  he  referred  to  the  course  which  I  had  pursued  in  the 
Senate  on  former  occasions,  he  spoke  of  my  "  antecedents."  If  the  gentle- 
man will  be  so  kind  as  to  explain  to  me  the  full  scope  of  that  observation,  I 
shall  be  better  enabled  to  compass  my  view  of  the  subject.  I  should  be 
glad  if  the  Senator  would  think  proper  to  explain  what  he  meant  by  my 
"  antecedents,"  as  he  twice  used  that  term  in  the  course  of  his  remarks. 

Mr.  IVERSON.  Well,  sir,  I  meant  simply  this :  as  far  as  my  observation 
of  the  Senator's  political  course  had  gone — and  it  covered  a  number  of 
years — I  understood  him  upon  all  occasions,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  to 
be  crying  hosannas  to  the  Union ;  and  I  meant,  in  connection  with  that, 
the  remark  which  I  made,  that  when,  in  the  face  of  the  Northern  aggres- 
sion, in  the  face  of  the  rapid  and  powerful  march  of  the  spirit  of  abolition- 
ism in  the  Northern  States,  and  the  dangers  to  which  the  institutions  of  the 
South  were  subjected  by  it,  I  heard  a  Southern  man  constantly  singing 
praises  to  the  Union,  and  denouncing  everybody  who  should  call  it  in  ques- 
tion under  any  circumstances,  I  suspected  that  he  was  endeavoring  to  make 
himself  a  popular  man  in  the  North,  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  high  polit- 
ical position. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Mr.  President,  the  honorable  Senator  need  not  repeat 
the  whole  of  his  exposition  of  that  particular  remark  of  his,  for  he  has 
heretofore  been  very  explicit ;  and  I  intend,  in  the  course  of  my  observa- 
tions, to  advert  to  that  particular  part  of  his  speech.  He  has  not  instanced 
any  particular  occasion  to  which  he  intended  to  apply  the  term  "ante- 
cedents ";  no  vote,  no  action  of  mine,  by  which  I  have  gone  out  of  the  way 
for  the  purpose  of  lauding  the  Union,  or  condemning  any  gentlemen  who 
had  thought  contrary  to  me  on  that  subject.  I  have  combated  opinions 
that  I  thought  heretical,  and  I  am  always  ready  to  combat  them — whether 
they  be  in  accordance  with  Northern  or  Southern  views;  but  not  for  the 
purpose  of  making  personal  assaults  or  reflections  on  gentlemen.  If  my 
antecedents  are  looked  out,  it  will  be  found  that  they  have  been  entirely 
consistent.  I  know  to  what  the  gentleman  must  necessarily  have  referred, 
as  he  made  the  remark  in  connection  with  his  allusion  to  the  recent  defeats 
which  I  have  sustained.  The  reference  must  have  been  to  my  vote  for  the 
organization  of  Oregon,  my  vote  for  the  admission  of  California,  and  my 
vote  in  opposition  to  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill.  All  these  votes  were  in 
strict  accordance  with  the  instructions  that  I  derived  from  my  own  State, 
and  under  the  Constitution  of  the  Union  and  the  Democratic  measures  of 
this  Government ;  so  that  in  them  I  am  sustained.  But  if  my  advocacy  of 
the  Union  has  caused  my  immolation,  politically,  as  the  Senator  says,  I  exult 
and  triumph  in  that  as  the  most  glorious  antecedent  of  my  existence ;  one 
that  I  hail  with  pride  and  consolation  as  an  American ;  because  1  have  al- 
ways looked  to  the  Union  as  the  sheet-anchor  of  our  safety  and  our  national 
grandeur  and  prosperity.  11  for  that  I  have  been  stricken  down,  I  rejoice 


Charge  of  Presidential  Aspirations.  521 

at  it ;  I  shall  consider  myself  a  blessed  martyr ;  and  I  should  endure  that 
martyrdom  a  thousand  times  were  the  alternative  submitted  to  me  of  office 
or  abandonment  of  the  Union. 

But,  sir,  the  Senator  suspects  that  I  or  any  Southern  man  who  advocates 
and  sings  peans  to  the  Union  is  in  pursuit  of  the  Presidency.  I  can  assure 
the  honorable  gentleman  that  it  is  the  last  thing  in  this  world  that  I  would 
accept,  if  it  were  tendered  to  me ;  and  for  his  satisfaction,  and  that  he  may 
not  hereafter  anticipate  any  rivalry  on  my  part,  in  any  aspirations  that  he 
may  have,  I  withdraw  myself  from  all  competition  by  the  assurance  that  if 
every  political  party  of  this  Union  were  to  tender  to  me  this  day  the  nomi- 
nation for  President,  I  would  respectfully  decline  it.  I  have  higher,  nobler, 
tenderer  duties  to  perform.  I  have  to  create  a  resting-place  for  those  who 
are  dear  to  me  as  the  people  of  this  Union,  and  who  form  part  of  them. 
These  are  the  duties  I  have  to  perform.  If  there  is  aught  of  public  service 
that  remains  to  me  unfinished,  I  am  not  apprised  of  it.  My  life  has  been 
meted  out  to  sixty-five  years  ;  and  forty-five  years  of  that  life  devoted  to 
my  country's  service,  almost  continuously,  should  entitle  me  to  an  honor- 
able discharge.  I  claim  that  discharge  from  my  country.  I  claim  that, 
having  performed  every  duty  which  devolved  upon  me  with  fidelity,  I  ought 
to  be  permitted  to  retire  from  this  Chamber  in  accordance  with  my  heart- 
felt desires,  with  a  constitution,  thank  God,  not  much  impaired,  and  with 
clean  hands  and  a  clean  conscience,  to  the  retirement  where  duties  are  de- 
manded of  me  as  a  father.  So,  the  defeat  of  which  he  speaks  was  no  dis- 
appointment ;  and,  by  way  of  explanation,  that  the  gentleman  may  be  more 
perfectly  satisfied  with  my  position,  I  will  say,  that  had  my  lamented  and 
honorable  colleague,  General  Rusk,  remained  with  us,  by  the  providence  of 
God,  on  the  4th  of  March  last  I  should  have  vacated  my  seat  and  retired  to 
the  walks  of  private  life.  A  man  who  has  combated  so  many  difficulties  as 
myself,  who  has  been  engaged  in  constant  commotion,  in  turbulence,  and  in 
scenes  of  upheaving  difficulties,  should  seek  a  respite  at  the  close  of  his  life, 
if  his  span  should  be  meted  out  a  few  years,  to  create  a  homestead  for  his 
family,  and  a  place  of  rest  for  himself.  So,  sir,  I  hope  the  gentleman,  on 
this  point,  will  be  perfectly  satisfied  that  I  have  no  aspirations  ungratified  ; 
I  have  no  expectations,  as  a  recompense,  to  look  for,  for  my  devotion  to 
the  Union.  It  is  an  inherent  principle  in  me  ;  I  gave  evidences  of  it  many 
years  ago.  I  have  periled  everything  for  that  and  for  the  protection  of  the 
frontier  of  the  honorable  gentleman's  State,  in  early  life,  when  disunion  was 
a  word  not  known  in  the  vocabulary  of  politics  in  America.  That  was  an 
evidence  that  I  gave  then,  of  devotion  to  the  Union  ;  and  I  need  not  point 
to  the  spot  in  the  South  which  I  watered  with  my  blood  to  defend  this 
Union.  What  I  have  done  since,  I  care  not  to  recount ;  but  I  know  that, 
without  reference  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  I  was  engaged  in 
struggles  that  tended  to  the  perpetuation  of  this  Union,  as  I  believe,  though 
I  was  then  in  a  separate  community  of  men.  We  gave  national  existence 
to  Texas,  that  she  might  become  a  part  of  this  great  Confederacy.  I  there 
gave  renewed  evidence  of  my  devotion  to  the  Union,  and  to  the  institutions 
of  the  United  States.  Sir,  there  a  spark  flashed  upon  the  world,  the  conse- 
quence of  which  has  created  a  revolution  that  is  still  onward,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  affect  this  whole  globe.  Until  time  shall  merge  in  the  ocean  of 


522  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

eternity,  its  effects  will  not  be  arrested.  It  has  opened  a  world,  and  we 
came  forward  and  were  incorporated  into  this  Union.  It  was  not  a  small 
territory;  it  was  an  empire  and  a  Republic  of  itself,  which  had  passed 
through  every  crucible  of  trial  and  of  difficulty  that  would  test  men's  souls 
and  try  their  nerves.  This  was  not  to  secure  the  Presidency  of  the  United 
States  ;  nor  did  it  look  very  possible  then  that  aspirations  of  that  kind  in- 
fluenced me  or  any  other  Texan.  Certainly  it  is  not  so  plausible  as  to  sup- 
pose that,  by  contriving  the  separation  of  these  States,  the  honorable  gen- 
tleman might  have  aspiration's  to  gratify,  which,  it  might  be  presumed, 
could  not  be  so  well  compassed  in  the  Union,  considering  the  intractable 
character  of  the  Northern  people.  Their  affinities  might  not  be  such  as  to 
be  commanded  readily  in  advancing  the  gentleman  to  the  Presidency,  and 
he  might  think  it  expedient  to  have  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  a  new 
confederacy  formed,  in  order  that  he  might  turn  a  jack  and  secure  the  game 
to  himself.  [Laughter.] 

Sir,  I  trust  I  have  always  had  higher  and  holier  aspirations  than  those 
connected  with  self.  If  my  ambition  were  not  inordinate,  it  ought  to  be 
gratified  and  fully  satisfied  with  the  number  of  positions  that  I  have  filled, 
as  responsible  and  important,  relatively,  as  that  of  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States ;  surrounded  by  difficulties,  overwhelmed  by  menacing  mil- 
lions, without  a  friend  to  succor  or  sustain  us.  Sir,  I  have  had  to  wade 
through  difficulties  and  through  scenes  of  anguish  and  peril  with  a  gallant 
people — none  have  ever  been  tested  to  the  same  extent— without  resources, 
new,  unhoused,  surrounded  by  all  the  inconveniences  and  peril  of  a  wilder- 
ness, surrounded  by  savage  tribes,  with  the  feelings  of  nations  alien  to  us. 
Sir,  we  have  had  these  to  pass  through  ;  and  loyal  to  one  section  of  the  country, 
I  was  loyal  to  all.  When  Texas  was  annexed  to  the  United  States,  it  was 
not  to  the  Southern  Confederacy,  nor  in  anticipation  of  one ;  she  was  an- 
nexed to  the  Union ;  and  as  a  Union  man,  I  have  ever  maintained  my  posi- 
tion, and  ever  shall.  I  wish  no  prouder  epitaph  to  mark  the  board  or  slab 
that  may  lie  on  my  tomb  than  this :  "  He  loved  his  country ;  he  was  a 
patriot ;  he  was  devoted  to  the  Union."  If  it  is  for  this  that  I  have  suf- 
fered martyrdom,  it  is  sufficient  that  I  stand  at  quits  with  those  who  have 
wielded  the  sacrificial  knife. 

But,  sir,  it  has  not  estranged  me  from  the  people  I  represent.  The  gen- 
tleman says  I  have  no  right  to  represent  them  on  this  floor ;  that  I  have 
been  repudiated*.  That  forms  a  justification  for  him,  I  suppose,  when  speak- 
ing of  the  entire  South,  to  embrace  the  little  section  of  Texas  and  represent 
that  too,  while  he  excludes  the  actual  representative  from  any  participation 
in  the  duties  of  his  section.  I  admit  the  great  ability  of  the  gentleman,  and 
his  entire  competence  for  the  task.  He  speaks  of  the  whole  South  as 
familiarly  as  if  he  were  speaking  for  it ;  and,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
whole  South,  he  speaks  of  Georgia  as  "  my  own  State."  Well,  sir,  that  may 
be  all  right;  Georgia  may  have  but  one  man  in  it  for  aught  I  know.  [Laugh- 
ter.] I  have  not  been  there  for  two  years ;  but  it  did  seem  to  me,  having 
heard  of  distinguished  personages  there,  some  that  have  occasionally  illu- 
mined the  Senate  by  the  corruscations  of  their  genius  and  their  profound 
ability,  that  really  Georgia  had  some  other  representatives  on  this  floor  and 
in  the  other  House  than  the  honorable  Senator  himself. 


Houston? 8  Non-Reelection  no  Discredit.  523 

Can  the  gentleman  suppose  that  any  little  mar,  as  he  would  think  it  to 
be,  in  not  re-elevating  me  to  a  situation  in  this  body,  would  inflict  the 
slightest  mortification  on  me  ?  Not  at  all.  I  do  not  believe  that  it  was 
intended  in  the  act  to  compliment  me,  by  any  means.  I  believe  it  was 
designed  to  pretermit  and  to  rebuke  me ;  and  the  means  to-  do  it  were 
afforded,  because  the  persons  who  were  then  in  power  and  controlled  the 
presses  and  political  influences  in  the  State  had  been  pampered  and  nour- 
ished, and  cherished  by  the  means  which  my  late  colleague,  General  Rusk, 
and  myself,  procured  for  the  State,  the  $5;ooo,ooo  granted  by  Congress,  of 
which  there  remains  to-day  not  one  bit  of  gold-dust  in  the  treasury  of 
Texas.  We  gave  them  the  means  of  controlling  the  political  condition  of 
that  State,  thinking  we  had  placed  men  in  power  who  had  claims  upon  its 
confidence  and  respect.  Whether  it  was  a  wayward  fit,  or  whether  it  was  a 
considered  thing,  I  care  not.  It  afforded  me  an  opportunity  of  retiring  to 
the  situation  that  I  desire  ;  and  it  has  not  alienated  my  affections  in  the 
slightest  from  the  people  of  Texas.  They  have  no  honors  to  confer  that  I 
would  accept ;  still  they  are  the  people  that  I  need  not  say  I  love.  I  cher- 
ish them,  and  their  interest  is  to  me  a  dear  interest,  because  with  their 
destiny  my  posterity  are  identified. 

These  are  the  reasons  that  control  me,  Mr.  President,  and  they  shall  ever 
control  me.  Those  men  had  no  power  to  inflict  mortification  on  me,  and 
their  act  was  exceedingly  grateful  to  me  because  it  solved  a  problem  which 
had  never  been  solved  before.  It  had  been  insisted  upon  that  Texas  could 
not  get  along  without  my  services  ;  but  they  have  demonstrated  to  me  that 
they  can  get  along  without  my  services,  and  I  am  exceedingly  glad  of  it, 
because  it  shows  their  increasing  prosperity.  [Laughter.]  But,  sir,  whilst 
the  constitutional  term  which  remains  unexhausted  to  me  shall  endure,  I 
will  continue  faithfully  to  discharge  my  trust  to  them,  and  I  have  made  a 
gain  if  they  should  perchance  have  made  .a  loss,  and  I  will  avail  myself  of 
that  advantage  without  leaving  the  Senate  with  a  single  regret,  or,  I  hope, 
a  harsh  or  ungentle  feeling  toward  one  gentleman  within  the  scope  of  my 
view.  I  would  not  cherish  a  wish  of  unkindness  to  the  honorable  Senator 
from  Georgia ;  and  if  truthfully  he  can  reconcile  the  course  which  he  has 
adopted  to  himself,  he  will  meet  with  no  rebuke  from  me.  But  rebuke  and 
vindication  are  different  things. 

It  is  possible  that  I  may  be  able  to  extend  courtesy  to  the  gentleman  in 
my  seclusion  or  retirement  at  home,  in  my  humble  way  of  life — for  none  of 
the  blandishments  of  wealth  or  elegance  have  ever  surrounded  me  in  life. 
Hardy  and  rugged  in  my  nature,  both  physically  and  intellectually,  I  have 
always  been  ready  to  meet  and  combat  the  inconveniences  of  life.  I  have 
known  how  to  abound,  and  I  have  known  how  to  want.  I  have  known  what 
it  is  to.  feel  exultation,  and  I  have  realized  abasement.  Whatever  Providence 
has  allotted  me,  that  I  have  learned  to  be  contented  with,  so  long  as  my 
honor  is  untarnished.  The  honorable  gentleman  may  find  it,  ere  a  single 
year  runs  out,  convenient  in  an  excursion  to  Texas,  after  some  political 
events  have  taken  place  in  Georgia,  to  call  and  spend  a  social  time  with 
me,  realizing  that  fortune  is  a  capricious  jade,  and  that  politics  are  "  mighty 
unsartin."  [Laughter.]  Should  the  gentleman  come,  I  promise  him  the 
bread  of  peace,  the  reception  of  welcome  ;  but  still  he  can  not  indoctrinate 


524  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

me  with  the  principles  of  disunion.  That  I  announce.  That  is  a  subject 
that  shall  be  ruled  out  of  our  social  intercourse,  while  it  meets  my  unquali- 
fied condemnation  without  attaching  it  to  the  gentleman  himself.  [Ap- 
plause in  the  galleries.] 

The  PRESIDING  OFFICER.    Order  ! 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  I  take  the  Globe,  and  expect  to  have  them  all  filed  away, 
and  I  may  occasionally  try  to  refresh  my  reminiscences,  and  regale  myself 
by  adverting  to  some  scenes  that  have  been  exciting  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  and  throughout  the  nation.  I  shall  hope  that  they  are 
things  that  have  been,  but  are  not ;  for  no  sound  will  be  so  delightful  to 
me  in  retirement  as  to  hear  that  the  Union  is  more  closely  bound  together 
every  day,  cemented  by  affection  and  reciprocal  kind  offices  ;  and  that  that 
crimination  and  recrimination  which  has  existed  heretofore,  has  died  away; 
that  all  agitation  has  subsided,  and  is  forgotten  ;  that  like  one  great  family 
in  a  grand  migration  to  a  happier  condition  of  national  existence,  we  are 
marching  hand  in  hand,  and  that  our  people  feel  one  common  cause,  one 
common  home,  one  common  fraternity  throughout  the  broad  Union.. 

But,  Mr.  President,  notwithstanding  the  gentleman's  characteristic  amen- 
ity and  politeness,  his  great  amiability  of  disposition,  and  his  bland  kind- 
ness of  demeanor,  I  am  satisfied  that,  when  he  gave  utterance  to  these 
sentiments,  he  could  not  have  been  in  earnest,  and  that  they  were  merely 
an  ebullition  of  the  moment — nothing  more.  He  says  : 

"  The  Senator  talks  about  the  Union  and  sings  hosannas  in  its  praise.  I 
have  heard  those  songs  sung  before  ;  and  I  must  say  that  I  have  never 
heard  them  sung  by  a  Southern  man  without  suspecting  at  once  that  his 
eye  was  upon  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States." 

Sir,  that  would  argue,  ^f  I  were  disposed  to  be  suspicious — but  I  am  very 
unsuspecting  in  my  nature — that  the  gentleman  who  is  ready  to  draw  deduc- 
tions from  the  conduct  of  others,  was  always  looking  at  that  prize  himself, 
and  that  on  the  least  indication,  as  he  believed,  of  a  similar  feeling  in  oth- 
ers, he  was  ready  to  detect  it  and  set  it  down  to  their  account  rather  as  an 
offense  than  as  a  commendable  quality.  Again  : 

"  It  may  require  a  great  deal  of  charity,  looking  at  the  antecedents  ol 
that  Senator,  and  the  remarks  he  has  made  here  to-day,  to  suppose,  although 
his  political  life  is  about  to  end,  that  he  has  not  lost  sight  of  that  long  and 
lingering  hope  of  his — the  great  folly  of  his  life." 

Now,. sir,  I  might  call  on  the  gentleman  for  some  evidence  of  that,  but  1 
will  not  do  it.  I  do  not  believe  it  is  tangible,  and  I  do  not  wish  to  occupy 
time  unnecessarily ;  but,  really,  I  have  never  endeavored  to  chalk  out  a 
course  of  policy  in  my  life,  with  reference  to  the  Presidency,  that  seemed 
half  so  significant  as  to  promise  the  dissolution  of  the  Union  and  the  for- 
mation of  a  Southern  republic ;  for  that  clearly  indicates  ulterior  views  on 
the  part  of  the  Senator,  with  a  mind  that  was  suspicious — not  with  me ! 
Again  : 

"  Sir,  it  is  this  very  intensity  of  feeling  which  the  Senator  from  Texas  has 
so  long  exhibited  for  the  Union,  over  and  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of 
his  own  section,  that  the  people  of  his  State  have  decided  to  put  him  in 
retirement ;  and,  for  one,  I  can  not  but  rejoice  at  that  decision." 


Houston  no  Intriguer  in  Politics.  525 

I  should  like  to  know  what  sacrifice  of  the  interests  of  my  country  I  have 
ever  caused.  Was  it  for  sacrificing  my  country  that  I  was  immolated  ?  or  that  I 
was  pretermitted,  is  a  better  expression,  for  I  consider  it  no  sacrifice  without 
some  loss  of  life ;  and  I  am  not  hurt.  [Laughter.]  The  cry  was,  "  Abolition, 
and  the  three  thousand  preachers,"  because  I  advocated  their  right  of  peti- 
tion to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  These  were  the  charges  made 
against  me  :  opposition  to  the  Nebraska  bill,  voting  against  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  compromise.  I  am  satisfied  that  it  was  done,  not  altogether  re- 
gardless of  the  circumstances  that  then  existed,  for  it  was  known  that  about 
the  time  the  Nebraska  bill  was  introduced,  when  it  was  not  contemplated 
to  repeal  the  Missouri  compromise,  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  I  made 
a  solemn  declaration  that  I  would  vote  against  the  bill,  and  resist  it  while  I 
lived.  Then  the  alternative  was  suggested,  "  Let  us  bring  in  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  compromise,  and  Houston  is  either  bound  to  retract  what  he 
has  avowed  publicly,  or  to  vote  against  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise, and  that  will  put  him  down,  by  raising  the  cry  of  abolition  against 
him.  He  will  have  to  vote  with  gentlemen  who  are  ultra  in  the  North,  and 
that  will  put  him  down,  by  identifying  him  with  them.  Besides,  the  Ad- 
ministration of  the  Government,  with  all  its  patronage,  with  all  the  news- 
paper press,  and  with  the  cry  of  Democracy,  shall  overwhelm  this  man,  and 
he  is  no  longer  an  obstacle ;  and  if  we  have  suspected  he  had  his  eye  on 
the  Presidency,  this  will  kill  him  at  home,  and  then  he  will  be  killed 
abroad."  There  is  a  consolation  in  that  part  of  it,  and  I  am  much  obliged 
to  them  for  it. 

I  do  not  interfere  with  politics  out  of  the  House  or  in  the  House,  any 
more  than  I  can  help ;  but  I  see  that  it  is  complained  that  the  Northern 
Democracy  is  routed  and  broken  down.  I  announced  in  the  discussion  of 
the  Nebraska  bill,  that  if  you  dared  to  repeal  the  Missouri  compromise,  it 
would  be  giving  the  adversaries  of  the  Democracy  in  the  North  a  weapon 
with  which  they  would  discomfit  and  beat  them  down ;  that  it  was  not  sus- 
taining the  Northern  Democracy;  that  it  was  literally  butchering  them. 
Has  it  not  been  so  ?  And  what  has  the  South  gained  by  it  ?  The  result  is 
that  within  a  brief  space  of  time,  two  States  that  would  have  been  Indian 
territory,  will  be  added  to  the  North.  It  has  placed  Missouri  in  such  a 
situation  that  she  must  of  necessity  yield  to  the  surrounding  influences, 
and  add  another  State  to  the  North.  I  shall  not  enlarge  upon  this ;  but 
that  is  what  the  South  gained.  I  forewarned  them  of  the  impending  evil, 
and  for  that  I  was  stricken  down ;  so  far  as  political  influences  could  be 
brought  to  bear,  I  was  pretermitted  ;  and  these  were  the  offenses  that  I  had 
committed.  But  the  Southern  vision  is  becoming  clear ;  the  beam  is  being 
taken  out  of  their  natural  eyes,  and  they  are  beginning  to  comprehend  fully 
the  extent  of  the  benefits  flowing  from  that  kind  of  dispensation.  I  opposed 
that  repeal.  I  could  not  agree  with  gentlemen  who  advocated  the  measure 
of  repealing  the  Missouri  compromise,  sanctified  by  so  many  Democratic 
associations,  by  the  approval  of  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet,  of  Jackson,  of 
Polk,  and  of  all  the  illustrious  men ;  approved  by  all ;  rejected  by  none ; 
not  even  a  mooted  question  in  the  community.  Its  repeal  was  concocted 
here,  and  from  here  it  was  radiated  throughout  the  country  with  the  dclat 
of  a  Democratic  Administration,  as  a  Democratic  measure. 


526  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

But  did  that  sanctify  that  curse  to  the  South  ?  No,  sir ;  it  could  not  con- 
vert it  into  a  blessing;  that  was  impossible.  If  some  gentleman  of  the 
North,  who  is  considered  ultra  in  politics — the  gentleman  from  Massachu- 
setts, or  from  New  York,  or  from  Ohio — had  introduced  a  provision  to  re- 
peal the  Missouri  compromise,  what  reception  would  the  proposition  have 
met  in  the  South  ?  There  was  not  a  man  in  the  whole  South  who  would 
not  have  grasped  his  weapon  of  war  and  rushed  to  the  scene  of  combat, 
and  been  willing  to  have  fallen  upon  that  line  in  vindication  of  Southern 
rights.  Well,  sir,  did  it  sanctify  it  as  a  measure  of  blessing  to  the  South, 
that  it  was  introduced  not  by  a  Southern  man,  but  by  a  Northern  man  with 
Southern  principles  ?  When  he  introduced  it,  it  was  adopted  by  the  South 
and  by  both  the  existing  political  parties  which  had  but  a  few  years  before 
solemnly  abjured  the  reagitation  of  the  slavery  question,  in  their  political 
conventions.  Their  solemn  pledge  was  disregarded  ;  the  torch  was  applied 
to  the  magazines  of  agitation  ;  and  what  has  been  the  condition  of  the 
country  from  that  moment  to  this,  but  agitation  unnecessarily  produced, 
for  political  ends  and  to  manufacture  Presidents  ?  That  was  all  of  it,  and 
the  South  is  yet  the  sufferer ;  and  I  pray  God  that  deeper  calamities  may 
not  fall  upon  her.  That  measure  is  the  initiative  of  misfortune  to  the 
South. 

These  may  have  been  my  antecedents ;  but  they  are  such  as  I  am  proud 
of ;  and  I  only  regret  I  did  not  triumph  and  enforce  them  with  ability  suffi- 
cient to  have  produced  a  trembling  in  this  Chamber,  to  make  gentlemen 
weak  in  the  knees  who  resisted  the  conviction  that  flashed  upon  every 
mind. 

I  am  sure  I  need  not  dwell  upon  this  subject;  but  I  will  make  a  further 
remark  to  the  honorable  gentleman,  who  on  a  former  occasion  classed  me 
as  a  party  to  myself.  From  that  I  rathsr  derived  some  consolation,  because 
I  knew  that  according  to  my  estimate,  I  could  not  have  been  in  bad  com- 
pany if  I  were  by  myself,  [laughter,]  and  that  no  difficulty  could  arise  be- 
tween myself  and  my  companions.  [Renewed  laughter.]  We  should  har- 
monize perfectly.  I  see  discord  in  other  political  parties;  I  see  a  great 
want  of  harmony ;  I  see  "  hards  "  and  "  softs,"  politically  in  the  same  party, 
not  exactly  harmonizing ;  some  going  a  little  too  far,  some  not  going  far 
enough;  some  going  one  road,  and  some  another;  some  rather  kind  to 
banks,  and  others  a  little  friendly  to  internal  improvements,  beyond  the 
standard  that  General  Jackson  fixed. 

I  am  a  Union  man.  The  great  champion  of  the  Union  was  Andrew  Jack- 
son. To  him  descended  from  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  in  a  direct  line, 
the  principles  upon  which  he  stood;  and  his  declaration,  "The  Union:  it 
must  and  shall  be  preserved,"  will  never  be  forgotten.  Sir,  that  will  tingle 
in  the  ears  of  patriots  for  ages  to  come.  All  the  combinations  of  aspirants 
or  political  demagogues  can  not  defeat  the  great  object  and  aim  of  our 
forefathers,  and  of  the  men  who  rise  in  the  vista  between  them  and  us.  I 
have  never,  in  my  life,  seen  an  Andrew  Jackson  Democrat  who  was  not  a 
firm  and  decided  Union  man.  He  was  not  a  man  to  make  hypothetical 
cases,  and  say  that  in  such  and  such  events,  in  case  such  and  such  things 
would  be  done,  the  Union  would  be  dissolved.  It  is  easy  to  make  a  man  of 
straw  and  prostrate  him.  The  honorable  Senator  from  Georgia,  however 


Houston  unable  to  think  of  Disunion.  527 

says  the  people  of  Georgia  would  not  even  wait  for  overt  acts.  He  thinks 
they  would  begin  before  it  came  to  that.  I  think  there  was  no  danger  to 
be  apprehended  from  the  anti-slavery  agitation  so  long  as  it  was  confined 
to  such  people  as  those  who  originated  it  in  the  North — a  lady  or  two,  and 
a  gentleman  or  two,  here  and  there.  They  became  objects  of  importance 
from  the  fact  that  the  South,  choosing  to  agitate  the  matter,  came  in  con- 
flict with  them,  and  gave  them  prominence,  and  swelled  them  into  some- 
thing like  a  political  party,  and,  after  a  while,  they  became  imposing  in 
their  attitude.  But,  sir,  there  were  more  free-soilers  made  by  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  compromise  than  had  ever  existed  before  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  By  whom  was  that  appeal  brought  about  ?  Who  produced  it  ? 

Sir,  I  am  not  afraid  of  disunion.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  danger, 
though  gentlemen  may  talk.  There  are  a  great  many  very  gaseous  gentle- 
men in  the  South  who  have  a  great  deal  of  time  to  play  the  demagogue, 
and  to  become  important  street-corner  politicians,  to  talk  about  it ;  but  there 
are  thousands  of  men  at  home  at  their  work,  who  know  nothing  and  care 
nothing  about  what  is  said  in  such  places  and  by  such  persons.  These  men 
contrive  either  to  be  sent  to  public  assemblies  on  occasions  that  can  give 
expression  to  their  opinions,  or  they  send  themselves  voluntarily,  and  they 
assume  to  represent  what  is  considered  an  important  class  in  the  commu- 
nity. But,  sir,  they  are  not  going  to  bring  about  disunion.  An  attempt 
was  made  in  a  portion  of  the  Southern  country  to  start  a  great  Southern 
league,  to  prepare  the  public  mind  for  forcing  the  Southern  States  into  a 
revolution  at  any  time  that  might  be  thought  proper  ;  but  that  league  was 
an  abortion ;  it  failed ;  it  may  have  had  one  small  branch,  but  it  tapered 
down  to  the  mere  point  of  nothing.  That  was  said  to  be  a  great  effort. 
From  the  fuss  it  made  throughout  the  South,  you  would  have  thought  it 
embodied  some  great  principle ;  that  the  South  were  in  imminent  danger 
of  destruction,  but  it  happened  that  the  South  got  along  very  well,  and  the 
Southern  league  died.  That  is  the  way  these  leagues  will  go  whenever  they 
start,  and  are  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  people.  When  the  people 
reflect,  they  will  be  fully  satisfied  that  it  is  not  a  league  for  the  benefit 
either  of  them  or  of  their  posterity. 

I  can  not  for  a  moment  believe  that  the  wisdom  of  the  nation  will  ever, 
so  long  as  time  lasts,  abandon  the  road  of  security  and  safety  to  it,  or  that 
it  will  ever  forget  the  wise  teachings  of  the  fathers.  What  do  you  think 
of  the  great  political  leader  who  will  boldly  assert  that  the  boys,  nowadays, 
have  more  wisdom  than  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  and  the  fathers  of 
the  Revolution  had  ?  Such  a  sentiment  has  been  enunciated  by  the  author 
of  the  Southern  league ;  but  how  much  regard  is  to  be  paid  to  his  sanity, 
or  how  much  respect  to  his  patriotism  or  his  opinions  ?  Sir,  what  shall  be 
thought  when  a  man  profanely  derides  the  memory  of  our  glorious  ances- 
tors who  established  this  Union,  and  consecrated  it  by  their  wisdom  and  by 
their  loyalty  and  by  their  devotion  to  human  happiness,  and  who  had  the 
prospective  glory  of  a  nation  of  freemen  before  them.  The  idea  that  an 
American  tongue  should  be  wagged  to  detract  from  their  high  renown  and 
manifest  wisdom  is  sacrilege. 

The  honorable  gentleman  supposes  that  I  meant  to  make  a  martyr  of 
him,  and  that  I  imputed  to  him  treason,  and  wanted  to  crucify  him.  Sir 


528  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

I  never  thought  of  such  a  thing.  I  meant  to  make  no  application  of  my 
remarks  on  that  point  to  him ;  but  I  wanted  to  impress  him  with  my  per- 
sonal kindness  of  feeling,  and  to  show  that  I  had  no  hostility.  I  did  not 
wish  to  evince,  either  in  tone,  in  language,  or  in  sentiment,  any  personal 
hostility  to  him.  It  was  his  opinions  that  I  combated ;  not  his  personal 
amiable  qualities,  nor  his  blandness,  nor  his  personal  attractions  or  embel- 
lishments ;  but  I  wished  to  attack  what  I  thought  was  the  heresy  of  his 
positions  ;  not  to  impugn  his  honor,  his  truth,  or  his  candor.  I  could  not 
do  that,  for  he  is  exceedingly  candid.  [Laughter.]  It  is  really  strange 
that  he  should  suppose  that  I  would  crucify  him.  I  have  no  doubt  he 
thinks  he  is  right ;  but  I  would  rather  that  he  should  live  for  a  thousand 
vears,  that  he  should  live  until  experience  shall  correct  what  I  think  are 
his  errors  ;  but  I  would  not  cut  short  his  life  a  single  moment,  or  send 
him  to  his  long  account  with  the  sin  of  any  predilection  he  might  have  for 
disunion  upon  his  head.  I  would  not  think  of  it,  Mr.  President.  [Laugh- 
ter.] I  am  sure  there  is  no  single  quality  that  I  more  admire  than  for- 
bearance ;  and  though  that  gentleman  has  thought  proper  to  say  that  I 
charged  him  with  treason,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  he  was  not  in  my  mind's 
eye  at  the  particular  moment  that  I  used  the  expression  in  regard  to  trea- 
son. I  was  referring  then  to  a  crisis  over  which  busy  memory  was  em- 
ployed, thinking  of  the  scenes  that  had  passed  between  that  moment  and 
the  moment  I  was  addressing  the  Senate ;  what  vast  changes  had  taken 
place ;  a  new  world  of  associates,  and  all  things  contrasted  with  that  day, 
wonderful  to  contemplate.  I  never  once  thought  of  inflicting  crucifixion 
upon  the  gentleman,  nor  did  I  think  of  charging  him  with  treason,  though 
I  believe  the  sentiments  he  has  enunciated  might  bear  that  construction, 
if  we  were  to  come  down  to  the  Constitution  and  its  intent  and  spirit.  He 
says  it  is  treason  to  the  South  to  do  so  and  so.  Well,  sir,  the  honorable 
gentleman  is  not  unconscious  of  his  importance.  I  am  satisfied  that  he  is 
fully  impressed  with  the  exalted  position  which  he  occupies,  and  I  can  not 
say  that  I  ever  wish  that  he  shall  not  be  renewed  in  his  position  here  ;  but 
if  he  shall  not  be,  I  promise  him  a  hospitable  reception  at  Cedar  Point, 
where  we  can  talk  over  the  present,  talk  over  the  past,  and  enjoy  the  fish 
of  the  bay  and  the  game  of  the  forest. 

Mr.  President,  I  tell  you  that  the  honorable  Senator  is  not  altogether 
without  some  aspirations  ;  he  feels  that  he  is  not  only  capable  of  great 
things,  but  that  they  might  be  thrust  upon  him,  for  he  says : 

"  I  am  free  to  declare,  that  if  I  had  the  control  of  the  Southern  people  " — 

Well,  now,  that  shows  that  there  is  good  material  there  out  of  which  to 
make  a  Governor,  and  if  he  had  never  thought  about  the  control  of  them 
he  would  not,  in  the  heat  of  debate,  suggest  it  here.  There  is  something 
deliberate  and  calculating  in  this  : 

"  I  am  free  to  declare  here,  that  if  I  had  the  control  of  the  Southern 
people,  I  would  demand  this  of  Congress  " — 

He  thinks  that  the  South  should  have  everything.  He  does  not  define 
exactly  what  it  is,  but  she  should  have  an  equal  share  of  everything,  with- 
out specifying  any  particular  thing — as  I  now  hope  she  has ;  and  he  says  : 

"  I  would  demand  this  of  Congress  at  the  organization  of  every  Territorial 


Northern  Injustice  in  Words,  not  in  Public  Acts.    529 

government,  as  the  terms  upon  which  the  South  should  remain  in  the 
Union.  I  would  hold  our  '  right '  in  one  hand  and  '  separation  '  in  the  other, 
and  leave  the  North  to  choose  between  them.  If  you  would  do  us  justice, 
I  would  live  with  you  in  peace ;  if  you  denied  us  justice,  I  would  not  live 
with  you  another  day." 

Now,  sir,  I  want  to  know  when  the  North  has  denied  us  justice  ?  and  I 
want  to  know  whether  words  spoken  are  to  be  taken  for  acts  done  ?  Is  it 
to  be  a  cause  of  quarrel  between  the  North  and  South  that  a  number  of 
intemperate  individuals  at  the  North  express  ultra  notions,  about  which  the 
masses  in  the  North  do  not  agree  themselves  ?  Is  the  language  of  such 
individuals  to  be  set  down  to  the  charge  of  the  North  as  meriting  the 
reprobation  and  condemnation  of  the  whole  community  ?  and  are  they,  for 
that  reason,  to  be  declared  aliens  and  to  be  ostracised  ?  Can  we  control 
the  expressions  of  persons  in  the  North  ?  There  is  no  constitutional  pro- 
hibition, that  I  know  of,  against  the  expression  of  opinion  ;  every  man  has 
a  right  to  express  his  opinions  in  this  country  :  and,  much  as  I  may  be  at 
variance  with  gentlemen  in  regard  to  their  views,  I  do  not  consider  the 
expression  of  them  an  act  of  treason  to  the  South.  The  South  very  freely 
exercises  the  same  privilege ;  and  if  the  North  had  the  same  disposition 
which  is  evinced  by  some  portions  of  the  South,  they  could  with  good  rea- 
son complain  of  the  constant  talk  of  dissolution,  and  use  that  as  a  pretext 
for  sloping  off  themselves.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  expression  of  opinions 
is  a  violation  of  the  Constitution  ;  I  do  not  think  it  is  sufficient  ground  to 
keep  up  an  eternal  quarrel.  An  overt  act  of  encroachment  on  our  rights 
would  place  us  in  a  different  position.  I  can  see  no  use  in  presenting  hypo- 
thetical cases  continually,  and  saying  that  if  such  and  such  things  were  done 
that  never  have  been  contemplated  or  thought  of,  they  would  be  good 
ground  for  separation.  When  those  things  occur  it  will  be  time  enough  to 
examine  the  point ;  we  shall  be  as  well  prepared  then  as  we  are  now ;  but 
to  make  preparation  for  an  event  that  is  not  at  all  probable,  may  be  the 
means  of  precipitating  us  into  difficulties  from  which  nothing  would  ever 
extricate  us.  When  an  act  is  done  there  may  be  something  in  it ;  but  gen- 
tlemen may  express  themselves  as  they  please. 

I  was  censured,  and  it  was  brought  up  as  a  cause  of  challenge  against  me 
in  a  canvass  through  which  I  passed,  that  I  had  said  that  if  John  C.  Fre- 
mont, or  any  other  citizen  under  the  Constitution  of  the  Union,  were  elected 
President,  I  would  not  deem  it  cause  for  going  into  revolution  or  division. 
That  was  the  sentiment  I  declared,  and  it  was  brought  up  in  judgment 
against  me.  I  repeat  the  sentiment — I  would  judge  the  tree  by  its  fruit. 
The  American  people  have  the  right  to  select  any  citizen  who  is  qualified 
under  the  Constitution  for  President  of  the  United  States ;  and  whilst  he 
discharges  his  duties  under  the  Constitution,  I  would  render  him  allegiance 
as  faithfully  as  if  he  had  been  the  man  of  my  own  choice,  however  adverse 
he  might  be  to  me.  So  long  as  he  discharged  his  duties  by  executing  the 
laws  of  the  country  and  supporting  the  Constitution,  I  would  sustain  him. 

The  gentleman  feels  ground  of  felicitation  in  the  fact  that  I  was  beaten  ; 

he  rejoices  at  that  result.     I  can  join  him  in  that  feeling,  and  say  to  him 

that,  if  he  should  happen  to  be  beaten  in  Georgia,  we  can  talk  over  both 

events  in  Texas  in  perfect  tranquillity ;  and  I  am  sure  he  will  learn  from  me 

34 


530  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

to  be  reconciled,  and  feel  pleasant  under  the  infliction.  But,  considering 
tiie  humility  of  my  condition,  as  the  gentleman  represented  it,  his  attack 
really  suggested  to  me  the  fable  of  the  dead  lion.  Another  animal  passing 
by,  regarding  his  lifeless  condition,  took  the  liberty  of  planting  its  heels  in 
his  face,  and  exulted  in  the  infliction  which  it  made.  It  was  of  that  pecul- 
iar class  of  animals  from  which  Samson  took  a  jaw-bone  to  slay  the  Phil- 
istines. [Explosive  amusement  in  the  galleries  and  on  the  floor  of  the  Sen- 
ate Chamber.] 

Mr.  IVERSON.  Mr.  President,  I  heartily  rejoice  that  the  Senator  from 
Texas,  in  the  generous  moderation  which  he  has  exhibited  upon  the  present 
occasion,  has  said  nothing  to  which  I  feel  called  upon  to  make  any  reply. 
That  Senator's  relations  and  mine  of  a  personal  character,  as  he  knows  well, 
have  been  long  friendly  and  cordial ;  and  I  regret,  perhaps  more  than  hef 
that  anything  should  have  occurred  to  mar  the  kind  feelings  which  have 
subsisted  between  us.  But,  sir,  when  yesterday  the  Senator  thought  proper 
to  indulge  in  language  which  I  considered  exceedingly  ungenerous  and 
harsh  toward  sentiments  which  I  had  uttered  on  this  floor,  1  could  but  feel 
that  I  was  called  upon  to  repel  the  charges  he  made,  and  to  carry  the  war 
even  into  Africa ;  but  the  kind  personal  feelings  which  the  Senator  has 
exhibited  toward  me  to-day,  together  with  the  very  exalted  compliments  he 
has  thought  proper  to  pay  me,  have  disarmed  me  and  suppressed  even  the 
temporary  feelings  into  which  I  was  betrayed  yesterday  after  the  speech  of 
the  Senator.  I  rejoice  that  I  have  it  in  my  power,  on  the  present  occasion, 
to  express  my  regrets  that  I  should  yesterday,  by  what  I  considered  a  harsh 
attack  made  on  my  sentiments  and  myself  personally,  have  been  betrayed 
into  any  language  which  was  calculated  to  wound  the  sensibility  of  the 
Senator  from  Texas. 


SPEECH  OF  HON.  SAM  HOUSTON. 
Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  February  3,  1859. 

In  pursuance  of  a  notice,  I  ask  leave  to  introduce  a  bill  to  repeal  so  much  ot 
the  act  of  February  21,  1857,  entitled  "  An  act  to  divide  the  State  of  Texas  into 
two  judicial  districts,"  as  creates  and  establishes  a  district  court  of  the  United 
States  in  the  eastern  district  of  the  State  of  Texas,  and  to  incorporate  the  same 
with  the  western  district  of  said  State. 

Before  the  motion  is  put,  however,  I  desire  to  make  some  remarks  explana- 
tory of  its  object. 

I  might  have  claimed  this  as  a  privileged  question ;  but  not  wishing  to  do  so, 
I  have  determined  to  submit  the  remarks  which  I  wish  to  make  in  relation  to 
it  on  the  presentation  of  this  bill.  I  need  not  inform  the  honorable  Senate,  or 
you,  Mr.  President,  that  a  subject  of  much  excitement  has  occupied  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  in  relation  to  the  impeachment  of  one 
of  the  judicial  officers  of  Texas. 

From  the  reflections  which  have  been  cast  upon  the  character  of  Texas,  I  feel 
called  upon  to  vindicate  her  reputation,  and  to  stand  up  in  the  maintenance  ot 
her  rights,  and,  as  I  conceive,  her  good  character.  I  find  it  has  become  historic 


Judge  Watrous  and  "Texan  Statutes  of  Limitation"  531 

in  the  proceedings  of  the  other  House,  and  before  the  committee  of  investiga- 
tion, that  reflections  of  the  most  unwarrantable  character  have  been  cast,  not 
only  upon  the  general  character  of  Texas,  but  upon  her  citizens  at  large.  In 
the  first  place,  I  find  in  the  answer  of  Judge  Watrous  before  the  committee  that 
he  alleges  these  facts  as  the  reason  for  the  clamor  which  he  contended  was 
raised  against  him.  He  has  the  effrontery  to  affect  a  tone  of  injured  innocence, 
and  says : 

"  I  should  have  much  more  respect  for  the  manliness  which  should  have  dis- 
closed the  real  cause  of  the  assault.  As  to  the  '  divers  citizens '  whose  rights 
had  been  improperly  invaded,  they  must,  of  course,  be  the  defendants  in  the 
only  two  suits  which  I  had  tried.  Can  it  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that,  in 
trying  these  two  very  ordinary  suits,  I  could  have  been  guilty  of  such  enormous 
outrages  as  to  call  for  or  to  justify  this  anomalous  and  this  clandestine  mode  of 
procedure  ?  The  mystery  is  solved  by  the  simple  fact  that  the  decision  of  one 
of  the  cases  involved  the  construction  of  the  statute  of  limitations,  to  which  so 
many  of  the  emigrants  to  Texas  had  looked  as  a  sure  and  certain  protection  ' 
against  those  creditors  whom  they  had  left  behind,  and  who  were  so  unreason- 
able as  to  follow  them  into  the  country  of  their  adoption,  and  commence  suits 
upon  the  liens  which  had  been  created  upon  the  property  to  secure  the  payment 
of  these  debts.  It  was,  indeed,  a  just  subject  of  complaint  that  the  statute  of 
limitations  was  not  declared  to  be  a  sponge  to  wipe  out  all  the  debts  of  the 
citizens  of  Texas.  If  I  had  put  the  construction  on  the  statute  required  by  the 
exigencies  of  the  case  and  the  popular  cry  ;  if  I  could  have  been  driven  from  my 
position  by  any  of  the  means  resorted  to ;  if  I  had  consented  to  surrender  my 
reason  and  my  judgment,  and  to  tamper  with  my  conscience  and  my  oath,  these 
resolutions  would  never  have  been  heard  of;  and  I  should  have  glided  smoothly 
down  the  stream  of  popular  favor,  and  have  been  enabled  to  taste  the  '  froth 
from  every  dip  of  the  oar.'  " 

I  find  also  in  the  Globe  that  a  most  zealous  speech  was  made  in  advocacy  of 
Judge  Watrous  by  a  gentleman  from  New  Hampshire  [Mr.  Tappan],  and  that, 
in  debating  the  subject  of  impeachment  when  the  resolutions  were  under  dis- 
cussion in  the  House,  he  not  only  retracted  a  former  judgment  of  Judge 
Watrous'  guilt,  but  sought  to  protect  him  by  indulging  in  aspenions  upon  the 
State  and  citizens  of  Texas,  who  were  his  accusers.  This  uncalled-for  and 
wicked  defamation,  made  before  the  country,  calls  for  reply  and  for  rebuke. 
The  gentleman,  with  others  who  were  interested  with  him  in  the  defeiseof 
Judge  Watrous,  showed  such  utter  disregard  of  the  facts  as  to  assert  that  the 
resolutions  of  the  State  urging  the  resignation  of  the  judge,  "  grew  out  of  the 
fact  of  a  decision  made  by  him,  which  touched  the  pockets  of  a  good  many 
citizens  of  Texas." 

I  request  the  close  attention  of  honorable  Senators  to  a  history  which-  it  is 
now  time  to  divulge,  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  and  monstrous  conspira- 
cies ever  formed  by  the  ingenuity  of  man,  and  under  the  incitements  of  plunder. 
I  design  to  make  a  full  and  authentic  expost,  which  circumstances  now  call  for, 
of  a  conspiracy  aga'nst  the  public  domain  of  Texas,  of  the  most  enormous  de- 
signs, conceived  in  the  most  grasping  and  comprehensive  spirit  of  fraud,  armed 
with  the  most  extraordinary  resources,  enlisting  talents  and  power,  and  all  the 
ingenuities  of  intellect  in  its  execution,  and  involved  in  its  progressive  steps,  in 


532  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

a  secrecy  that  would  adorn  a  romance,  and  extending  in  its  ramifications  through 
different  parts  of  the  Union — I  know  not  where. 

The  history  I  propose  to  recite,  with  strict  adherence  to  the  evidence  in  my 
possession,  a  part  of  which  has  been  slumbering  until  this  time,  not  designing 
to  indulge  in  any  assertions,  or  in  any  criminations  not  fully  warranted  by  the 
text  of  the  testimony. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  necessary  to  explain  the  condition  of  the  public  domain 
of  Texas,  at  the  period  when  the  history  of  the  appalling  conspiracy  referred  to 
commenced.  In  the  year  1837,  by  a  general  law  of  Texas,  large  donations  of 
land  were  made  to  those  who  had  arrived  and  settled  in  the  country  previous  to 
1836,  the  date  of  her  declaration  of  independence  ;  to  married  men  one  league 
of  land,  and  to  those  who  were  unmarried,  one-third  of  a  league. 

Under  this  law  boards  of  land  commissioners  were  appointed,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  investigate  all  claims  on  the  Government  for  head-rights  to  lands,  and 
to  grant  certificates  to  such  persons  as  furnished  the  requisite  proofs  of  their 
being  entitled  to  the  same.  Many  of  these  boards  betrayed  their  trust,  and 
perpetrated  frauds  of  the  most  alarming  magnitude,  assigning  large  numbers 
of  certificates  to  fictitious  persons.  These  frauds  came  to  be  of  the  most  open 
and  notorious  character ;  so  much  so  that  cases  could  be  instanced  where,  to 
counties  not  numbering  more  than  one  hundred  voters,  nine  hundred  certificates 
were  issued  by  the  fraudulent  action  of  these  boards.  The  amount  of  these 
false  certificates  reached  at  last  to  such  an  overwhelming  number  that  on 
the  5th  day  of  February,  1840,  a  law  was  enacted,  visiting  the  most  severe  pen- 
alties on  the  crime  of  making,  or  issuing,  or  being  concerned  in  the  making  or 
issuing  any  such  fraudulent  or  forged  certificates,  and  providing  that  those  who 
issued,  or  dealt  in,  or  purchased  or  located,  or  who  were  concerned  in  the  issu- 
ing, or  dealing  in,  or  purchasing  or  locating,  these  fraudulent  land  certificates, 
should  be  punished  by  thirty-nine  lashes  on  the  bare  back,  and  by  imprison- 
ment from  three  to  twelve  months,  in  the  discretion  of  the  judge.  A  law  was 
passed  about  the  same  time,  forbidding  the  survey  of  any  land  claimed  under 
these  certificates,  until  certified  to  be  correct  by  other  boards  of  commissioners, 
appointed  to  examine  into  and  detect  the  frauds  by  which  the  bounty  of  the 
Republic  had  been  abused,  and  an  attempt  made  to  despoil  it  of  its  domain. 

Senators  will  be  enabled,  by  the  light  of  the  legislation  to  which  I  have  re- 
ferred, to  comprehend,  on  unimpeachable  authority,  the  distressed  and  terrible 
condition  of  affairs  in  Texas,  about  the  year  1840,  with  reference  to  her  public 
lands.  It  is  not  necessary  to  accept  the  truth  of  the  statement  of  the  enormous 
and  frightful  frauds  which  threatened  to  devastate  the  Republic,  robbing  it  of 
millions  of  acres  of  its  public  domain,  on  the  faith  of  the  popular  clamor,  or 
even  on  that  of  the  general  history  of  the  time ;  for  we  have  here  the  special 
and  severe  legislation  of  the  State,  attesting  the  justice  of  the  public  alarm,  and 
defending  her  interests  against  the  advances  of  the  stupendous  fraud  that 
threatened  to  engulf  the  fortunes  of  herself  and  of  her  people.  To  this  we  may 
even  add  the  high  testimony  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  which 
at  a  subsequent  date  we  find  confirming  the  just  causes  of  terror  that  had  so 
agitated  the  Republic  of  Texas  on  the  subject  of  these  certificates,  in  the  follow- 
ing terms : 

"  Immense  numbers  of  these  certificates  were  put  in  circulation,  either  forged 


Conspirators  in  Fraudulent  Land  Titles.         533 

or  fraudulently  obtained,  which,  if  confirmed  by  surveys  and  patents,  would 
soon  have  absorbed  all  the  vacant  lands  of  the  Republic." 

To  those  who  were  adventurous  in  crime  and  daring  in  its  exploits,  a  rich 
and  tempting  held  was  opened  in  the  wide  extent  of  these  fraudulent  land  cer- 
tificates. Detection  was  dangerous ;  but  the  prize  was  great  in  proportion  to 
the  danger.  It  was  natural  to  suppose,  too,  that  detection  might  be  baffled  by 
the  resources  of  a  company  extending  to  distant  points,  and  enlisting  in  its  en- 
terprise of  fraud  men  of  capital,  of  position,  and  of  comprehensive  ingenuity; 
and  men  who,  so  long  as  they  escaped  the  thirty-nine  lashes,  would  not  care  for 
public  reproaches;  and,  so  long  as  they  saved  their  backs  from  public  stripes, 
would  laugh  to  scorn  that  lash  which  public  indignation  may  put  "  into  the 
hand  of  every  honest  man  to  whip  the  rascals  naked  through  the  world." 

John  C.  Watrous  was  appointed  Federal  Judge  in  Texas  on  the  2pth  of  May, 
1846,  soon  after  the  admission  of  the  State  into  the  American  Union.  Some 
time  previous  to  January,  1847,  we  find  a  land  company  organized  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  the  main  object  of  which  was  to  speculate  in  the  fraudulent  Texas 
land  certificates,  and  to  endeavor  to  have  them  validated  through  the  machinery 
of  the  courts.  This  company  was  composed  of  Messrs.  J.  N.  Reynolds,  J.  S. 
Lake,  Judge  Watrous,  O.  Klemm,  McMillen,  Williams,  etc.  The  only  citizen  of 
Texas  who  appears  to  be  in  the  company  is  John  C.  Watrous,  United  States 
district  judge,  with  circuit  court  powers. 

The  object  of  introducing  Judge  Watrous  into  this  banded  association  is  not 
left  to  mere  conjecture.  I  will  presently  show  what  facilities  it  was  designed  to 
give  to  the  removal  of  suits  from  Texas  and  Texas  juries,  and  it  may  be  well 
understood  how  the  high  position  of  Judge  Watrous  might  be  lent  to  the  ad- 
vancement, in  various  respects,  of  the  interests  of  the  company,  and  how  his 
court  might  be  prostituted,  if  he,  a  willing  tool  for  gain,  submitted  to  the  vile 
offices  of  fraud. 

To  accomplish  these  purposes  there  were  also  imported  into  Texas  about  the 
date  of  the  formation  of  the  company  referred  to,  two  attorneys  in  their  service 
--Ovid  F.  Johnson,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  William  G.  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire. 

Thus  we  find  the  conspiracy  armed  for  the  prosecution  of  its  designs,  having 
an  active  promoter  in  a  judicial  officer  high  in  position,  and  having  for  its  con- 
federates parties  whose  names  and  positions  have  not  yet  been  fully  disclosed. 

It  appears  that  nearly  the  entire  interest  was  represented  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  the  commercial  metropolis  of  the  country,  famous,  indeed,  more  for  its 
enterprises  of  good  than  for  those  magnificent  adventures  of  fraud  that  form 
startling  episodes  in  the  history  of  a  great  commercial  city. 

In  a  letter  which  I  will  here  submit  there  are  some  names  given  of  members 
of  the  conspiracy,  including  that  of  Judge  Watrous : 

"NEW  YORK,  November  14,  1847. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — This  will  introduce  to  you  my  friend  O.  F.  Johnson,  Esq.,  on 
his  way  to  Texas,  where,  for  the  future,  he  intends  to  reside.  Mr.  J.  was  here, 
and  being  one  ot  us,  was  present  in  several  conferences  with  Messrs.  Lake, 
Judge  Watrous,  Klemm,  McMillen,  Williams,  etc.,  in  reference  to  our  Texas 
enterprise.  He  can  tell  you  all,  and  more  than  all  of  us  could  by  letter.  I  ex- 
pect to  see  you  before  the  loth  December. 

"  Yours  truly,  J.  N.  REYNOLDS. 

"Messr?  MARTIN  &  Co.,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana." 


534  Hou stores  Literary  Remains. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  to  the  list  of  names  in  the  letter  there  is  the  significant 
affix  of  et  cetera. 

It  appears  from  the  correspondence  of  the  association,  passages  from  which  I 
shall  presently  submit,  that  the  general  term  even  included  Phalen,  which  was 
not  divulged  in  the  list  referred  to,  although  he  was  president  of  the  associa- 
tion !  Who  else  is  included  in  the  term  et  cetera  f  They  may  be  upon  the 
bench  ;  they  may  be  in  the  halls  of  Congress  ;  they  may  be  in  positions  of  seem- 
ing respectability ;  they  may  be  any  and  everywhere.  The  country  is  left  to 
imagine  the  extent  of  the  conspiracy,  with  enough  known  to  stimulate  the  de- 
sire to  know  more. 

The  plot  is  concerted  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  great  city  for  the  specu- 
lative and  dramatic  enterprises  of  trade.  The  curtain  rises  there,  and  we  find 
the  dramatis  persona,  as  far  as  revealed  in  the  bills,  in  Judge  Watrous,  Rey- 
nolds, Lake,  Klemm,  Williams,  and  McMillen.  It  will  be  instructive  of  the 
plot  to  pass  in  review  the  public  characters  of  some  of  the  actors. 

J.  N.  Reynolds,  a  New  York  politician,  who  appears  to  be  an  active  manager 
of  the  affairs  of  the  company,  is  the  individual  of  that  name  who  was  charged 
with  receiving  from  Lawrence,  Stone  &  Co.,  a  compensation  of  $1,500  for  lobby- 
ing a  tariff  scheme  in  Congress. 

Joseph  L.  Williams  is  an  ex-member  of  Congress  from  Tennessee ;  was  a 
witness  in  behalf  of  Judge  Watrous,  in  the  investigation  made  in  1852  into  the 
judge's  official  conduct  as  to  the  very  frauds  in  which  it  now  appears  he  was  a 
confederate  ;  and  has  resided  during  the  past  and  present  sessions  of  Congress 
in  this  city,  where  he  has  been  actively  defending  Judge  Watrous. 

Of  Messrs.  Lake  and  Klemm,  and  of  their  mode  of  transacting  business,  we 
find  some  curious  accounts  in  one  of  the  numbers  of  "  De  Bow's  Review," 
in  the  year  1848.  (See  October  and  November  numbers,  pp.  262,  263,  treating 
of  the  connection  of  these  gentlemen  with  the  bubble  banking  system.) 

The  article  tells  us  that— 

"  Mr.  J.  S.  Lake  was  formerly  canal  commissioner,  and  became  the  largest 
stockholder  in  the  Bank  of  Wooster  [Ohio],  an  institution  never  in  good  repute, 
and  which  was  on  the  point  of  failing  three  years  ago,  together  with  the  Nor- 
walk  and  Sandusky  banks,  in  connection  with  the  exploded  bubble  called  the 
bank  of  St.  Clair,  Michigan.  The  capital  of  the  Wooster  Bank  was  $249,450  ; 
of  that  there  stood  in  Mr.  Lake's  name  $171,900.  Mr.  Lake  then  moved 
to  New  York,  and  commenced  business  as  a  broker  under  the  firm  of  J.  S. 
Lake  &  Co.,  in  Wall  street.  The  Co.  was  his  son-in-law,  O.  Klemm,  who  was 
doing  business  in  Cleveland  under  the  firm  of  O.  Klemm  &  Co.,  the  Co.  being 
J.  S.  Lake,  in  New  York.  Klemm  was  also  cashier  of  the  bank.  Those  gentle- 
men performed  all  the  business  of  the  bank;  that  is  to  say,  Mr.  Klemm  purchased 
with  its  means  eastern  drafts,  and  sent  them  to  Lake  for  collection,  Lake  making 
his  returns  occasionally,  the  other  directors  knowing  but  little  of  the  transactions. 
With  the  large  amount  of  the  means  derived  from  the  Wooster  Bank,  Lake  & 
Co.  speculated  in  produce,  on  which  they  acknowledged  a  loss  of  $150,000,  and 
they  started  three  other  Ohio  banks,  besides  buying  the  Mineral  Bank  of  Mary- 
land and  a  bank  in  Texas."  ..."  Here,  then,  Lake  &  Co.  had  borrowed  of  the 
public  on  small  notes  through  four  banking  machines,  one  laying  the  foundation 
of  the  others,  $936,398." 

Mr.  Lake's  banking  operations  were  extended  to  Texas,  under  circumstanrvs 


Branch  Baiiks  and  Forged  Titles.  535 

which  make  it  evident  that  they  were  particularly  designed  to  further  the  gigantic 
land  conspiracy  conducted  there  by  Judge  Watrous,  and  to  furnish  additional  re- 
sources of  power  in  the  execution  of  their  plans.  We  find  this  confederate 
of  Judge  Watrous  securing  the  only  bank  charter  in  Texas.  The  mother  bank 
was  established  at  Galveston,  Judge  Watrous'  home,  and  its  president  was 
Samuel  M.  Williams,  whose  name  has  been  prominently  brought  forward  in  the 
late  investigation  into  Judge  Watrous'  conduct  in  connection  with  the  La  Vega 
eleven-league  grant ;  also  with  the  grant  in  the  Ufford  and  Dykes  suit,  and  with 
the  forged  power  of  attorney  introduced  into  both  these  suits. 

Further:  we  find  that,  simultaneous  with  the  institution  of  the  Cavazos  suit 
(which  involved  an  immense  amount  of  property — an  embryo  city,  a  port  of 
entry,  numerous  villages,  and  valuable  government  improvements — and  in  which 
Judge  Watrous'  conduct  was  charged  to  have  been  fraudulent  and  corrupt),  a 
branch  bank  is  established  at  Brownsville,  which  is  included  in  the  Cavazos 
grant.  Of  this  branch  bank,  Reynolds,  one  of  the  land  company,  and  its  active 
agent,  is  appointed  manager  or  president.  He  appears  to  have  entered  into 
these  banking  operations  with  great  spirit,  judging  from  his  letters  in  relation  to 
the  affairs  of  the  land  company,  in  which  he  speaks  of  importing  "  trunks  full " 
of  notes,  and  adverts  to  the  lands  on  the  Rio  Grande,  where  his  bank  was 
located,  as  "an  empire  worth  fighting  for."  I  will  read  extracts  from  these  let- 
ters, as  they  throw  light  on  the  general  subject,  which  may  be  instructive. 

"  NEW  YORK,  November  14,  1847. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : —  ....  The  first  plate  is  done,  and  the  second  is  under  full 
way.  We  had  a  very  pleasant  time  when  Klemm  and  McMillen  were  here.  Mr. 
Williams,  with  whom  you  have  become  acquainted,  was  here,  and  we  had  a 
supper  at  Delmonico's.  Johnson  was  with  us,  also  Lake  and  Judge  Watrous. 
Mr.  Lake  is  hurrying  like  Jehu,  and  says  we  must  be  off,  so  that  you,  Me.,  and 
I,  shall  leave  New  Orleans  by  the  loth.  I  am  not  half  ready  to  leave,  but  sup- 
pose I  shall  be  tumbled  off  with  a  trunk  full. 

"  Yours  truly,  J.  N.  REYNOLDS. 

"  NEW  YORK,  May  6,  1847 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : — I  shall  endeavor  to  leave  here  for  Philadelphia  on  Monday 
next.  I  am  extremely  anxious  to  see  you  ;  and  Mr.  Phalen,  the  president  of  our 
association,  has  business  in  Baltimore — he  will  leave  on  Saturday — so  that  on 
his  return  through  your  city  we  may  all  have  an  interview  together. 

"  I  send  you  a  map  of  our  survey  on  the  Rio  Grande — an  empire  worth  fight 

ing  for 

"  To  O.  F.  JOHNSON,  Esq.  J.  N.  REYNOLDS." 

It  may  be  easily  understood  what  service  these  bubble  banks  might  perform, 
or  might  be  expected  to  perform,  in  furnishing  resources  of  power  to  the  land 
company,  and  particularly  in  a  small  community  like  that  of  Brownsville.  No 
exertion  of  power,  or  resort  of  ingenuity,  seems  to  have  been  left  untried  by  the 
conspirators  to  compass  their  infamous  ends. 

A  United  States  judge  was  secured  as  a  confederate  ;  attorneys  were  imported 
into  the  country  to  give  vigor  to  the  speculation ;  and  banks  were  established  to 
subserve  the  ends  of  the  conspiracy.  All  the  transactions  of  different  members 
of  the  company  seem  to  have  been  "  part  of  one  stupendous  whole,"  banded  in 


536  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

one  common  design  of  plunder  ;  and  a  rivalry  seemed  to  exist  as  to  who  should 
grasp  the  larger  fortune  in  the  land  controversies  of  Texas. 

To  convey  some  idea  of  the  fearful  magnitude  of  the  operations  of  this  land 
company,  I  may  state  that  it  appears,  from  the  action  of  the  Senate  of  Texas  on 
the  subject,  that  they  extended  to  twenty-four  millions  seven  hundred  and  thirty- 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-four  acres  of  land,  besides  being  impli- 
cated in  the  proceeds  of  other  interests  of  immense  value,  to  which  I  shall  pres- 
ently allude. 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  confidence  which  appears  to  have  animated  this  vast 
conspiracy,  I  may  here  introduce  a  letter  in  which  Reynolds,  one  of  the  principal 
financial  conductors,  proposes  to  another  member  of  the  conspiracy  to  have  still 
another  judicial  district  created  "  in  the  glorious  country  their  locations  covered," 
and  to  secure  the  appointment  of  judge  there.  It  seems  that  these  parties  were 
not  satisfied  with  having  enlisted  the  services  of  one  federal  judge  to  pro- 
mote the  ends  of  their  conspiracy ;  they  were  anxious  to  perfect  their  organiza- 
tion by  securing  the  appointment  of  still  another  judge  in  their  interest,  to  share 
the  labors  of  his  honor,  John  Charles  Watrous.  I  will  read  the  brief  but  inter- 
esting disclosures  made  in  the  letter  I  have  alluded  to.  Here  it  is : 

"  BRANCH  OF  THE  COMMERCIAL  AND  AGRICULTURAL  BANK  OF  TEXAS, 
AT  BROWNSVILLE. 

"  December  n,  1850. 

"  MY  DEAR  JOHNSON  : —  ....  You  have  seen  the  report  recently  published 
in  the  Republic  of  the  glorious  country  our  locations  cover.  I  think  you  can  gain 
it ;  and  then  get  a  law  passed  for  a  new  United  States  district,  and  take  the  ap- 
pointment. I  would  go  on  at  the  heel  of  the  session,  and  log-roll  for  you 

if  necessary. 

"  Yours  truly,  J.  N.  REYNOLDS." 

The  members  of  the  company  seem  to  have  a  great  aptitude  for  "  log-rolling," 
and  the  disreputable  appliances  of  the  lobby.  They  must  have  considered  them- 
selves very  potential  in  this  respect,  to  judge  from  the  frequent  propositions  of 
the  kind.  They  had  supreme  confidence  in  themselves;  and  their  continued  suc- 
cess seems  to  have  inspired  the  belief  that  there  was  naught  too  difficult  or  too 
high  for  spirits  like  theirs  to  dare. 

As  a  further  instance  of  the  determined  courage  of  these  honest  gentlemen, 
and  their  resolves  to  do  or  die,  I  am  tempted  here  to  give  one  other  extract  of  a 
letter  from  Reynolds  to  Johnson,  written  at  New  York.  It  suggests,  too,  the 
desperate  character  of  the  enterprise  for  which  the  writer  required  men  of 
"  nerve  "  to  adventure  in  the  boat  now  floating  down  the  stream  of  success, 
but  which  might  at  any  time  be  dashed  upon  the  rocks.  He  writes  as  follows  : 

"  NEW  YORK,  May  4,  1847. 

•'  MY  DEAR  SIR  : —  ....  We  play  for  empire,  and  will  see  it  to  the  end. 
If  you  find  any  of  your  moneyed  friends  who  have  the  nerve  to  go  into  this  boat 
with  us,  at  this  stage  of  our  voyage,  I  will  give  them  an  interest  on  the  most  fa- 
vorable terms.  As  to  the  value  of  the  lands  there  can  be  no  doubt.  Does  the 
judge  talk  of  coming  North  ? 

"  Yours  truly,  J.  N.  REYNOLDS. 

"  O.  F.  JOHNSON,  Esq." 

From  the  ooint  to  which  I  have  now  reached,  in  the  narration  of  the  facts  as 


Plot  to  remove  Trial  to  New  Orleans.          537 

to  the  organization,  the  object,  and  the  means  of  this  company,  the  history  be- 
comes more  interesting,  inasmuch  as  it  directly  involves  the  acts  of  Judge  Wat- 
rous,  and  exposes,  over  their  own  signature,  in  letters,  the  shameless  schemes 
of  the  members  of  the  company  to  corrupt  the  courts  of  the  United  States. 

The  first  movement  of  the  parties  in  the  court  seems  to  have  been  the  insti- 
tution of  a  made-up  suit,  to  test  the  question  how  far  the  fraudulent  land  certifi- 
cates might  be  validated  by  the  action  of  the  courts.  The  suit  was  brought  in 
Judge  Watrous'  court  by  Phalen,  a  citizen  of  New  York,  against  Herman,  a 
citizen  of  Texas,  on  a  promissory  note  for  three  thousand  dollars,  dated  5th  July, 
1846,  at  ninety  days. 

The  inspection  of  the  correspondence  of  the  land  company  betrays  the  fact 
that  this  man  Phalen  was  the  president  of  that  company,  and  a  confederate  of 
Judge  Watrous. 

The  defense  was  that  the  note  was  given  for  a  fraudulent,  and  therefore 
worthless  land  certificate. 

The  petition  in  the  suit  was  filed  on  the  2ist  of  January,  1847. 

The  answer  was  filed  on  the  22d  of  the  same  month. 

The  transfer  to  New  Orleans,  on  application  of  the  plaintiff,  was  made  on  the 
next  day  after,  the  23d.  Thus,  in  less  than  seventy-two  hours  from  the  institu- 
tion of  the  suit,  it  was  transferred  to  New  Orleans,  on  application  of  the  plain- 
tiff. All  this  was  done  out  of  term  time. 

The  transcript  was  filed  there  (New  Orleans)  on  the  nth  of  February.  The 
trial  was  commenced  on  the  i6th  of  that  month ;  and  the  case  was  finally  sub- 
mitted, for  decision,  on  the  23d  of  March. 

Thus  we  see,  that  in  sixty  odd  days  from  the  filing  of  the  petition,  the  case 
was  put  at  issue,  transferred,  tried,  and  submitted.  It  appears  that  in  the  plead- 
ings at  New  Orleans,  it  was  admitted  by  the  plaintiff  that  the  certificate  which 
he  (Phalen)  had  sold  to  Herman  for  three  thousand  dollars  was  a  fraudulent  one, 
issued  to  a  fictitious  person. 

It  appears,  moreover,  that  Judge  Watrous  had  informed  one  of  his  confeder- 
ates in  the  land  association  (Reynolds)  of  the  transfer  of  the  suit  referred  to, 
actually  before  it  had  been  commenced  in  his  court !  In  a  letter  from  Reynolds 
to  Johnson,  dated  the  loth  of  February,  1847,  he  says : 

"  Judge  Watrous  informs  me,  by  letter  of  the  \gth  ultimo,  that  you  were  to 
leave  the  next  day,  from  Galveston,  for  New  Orleans,  in  charge  of  our  land  case, 
with  the  view  of  bringing  it  before  the  circuit  court  of  that  district." 

This  information  was  given  on  the  I9th  of  January ;  the  suit  was  not  even  in- 
stituted until  the  2ist  of  that  month. 

I  will  now  read  some  of  the  correspondence  in  my  possession,  that  passed  be- 
tween members  of  the  land  company  touching  the  conduct  of  this  suit : 

"  NEW  YORK,  February  10,  1847. 

"DEAR  SIR:— Judge  Watrous  informs  me,  by  letter  of  the  I9th  ultimo,  that 
you  were  to  leave  the  next  day,  from  Galveston,  for  New  Orleans,  in  charge  of 
our  land  case,  with  the  view  of  bringing  it  before  the  circuit  court  of  that  dis- 
trict. And  I  hear  from  Major  Holman,  that  you  were  daily  expected  in  Phila- 
delphia. I  write  therefore,  at  present,  merely  to  say,  that  if  you  are  in  New 
Orleans,  that  I  have  caused  Mr.  Grimes  to  be  written  to  by  one  of  our  associ- 
ates, and  that  he  will  join  you  in  the  case.  •  I  am  very  anxious  to  have  your  views 


538  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

briefly  on  the  prospect ;  and  if  you  will  keep  me  advised  of  its  progress,  it  will 
lay  me  under  an  obligation  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  requiting.  In  my  judgment, 
tke  least  possible  notoriety  should  attend  the  case  in  New  Orleans,  no  matter 
what  the  result  may  be.  Nor  do  I  think  it  was  the  best  policy  to  have  pressed 
the  courts  of  Texas.  They  may  be  easily  made  to  follow  the  law,  while  they 
have  not  the  nerve  to  pronounce  it. 

"  You  will  please  call  on  Mr.  Grimes.     Let  me  hear  from  you. 

"  Yours  truly,  J.  N.  REYNOLDS. 

"  OVID  F.  JOHNSON,  Esq." 

"  NEW  YORK,  May  22,  1847. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  : — Can  you  not  contrive  through  Jennings,  of  New  Orleans,  to 
get  at  the  Judge's  opinion  ?  His  mind  must,  ere  this,  have  been  made  up.  Tell 
Jennings  to  get  it  out  of  the  clerk  of  the  district  or  of  the  circuit  court.  Tell 
him  that  you  must  have  it  for  me  in  advance  of  the  mail.  Do  your  best  to  have 
the  decision  go  off  quietly  in  New  Orleans.  As  Jennings  is  now  interested, 
tell  him  that  he  must  work  to  our  hands.  All  this  you  can  do  from  your  acquaint- 
ance with  him.  You  may  promise  him  your  influence  as  to  the  future,  and  it 
will  not  be  less  potential  than  the  Duke.  I  would  give  anything  to  know  at  this 
moment,  as  I  could  so  much  better  shape  my  action  with  Mr.  M.  Indeed,  if  we 
get  a  favorable  opinion,  and  have  the  news  in  advance,  I  shall  go  by  lightning  to 
Texas. 

"  OVID  F.  JOHNSON,  Esq.  J.  N.  REYNOLDS." 

The  declarations  of  these  letters,  perhaps,  surpass  anything  ever  seen  in  a 
correspondence  of  this  nature,  in  shameless  effrontery,  and  the  betrayal  of  cor- 
rupt intentions.  It  is  openly  advised  that  "  the  best  should  be  done  to  have  the 
decision  go  off  quietly  in  New  Orleans  ";  that  "  the  least  possible  notoriety 
should  attend  the  case."  It  is  recommended  that  dishonorable  influences  should 
be  used  with  the  officers  of  the  court  there  ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  they  had 
been  made  interested  in  the  case.  Not  satisfied  with  the  part  he  had  already 
taken  in  the  making  up  and  direction  of  this  suit,  but  rivaling  his  confederates 
in  the  steps  taken  toward  influencing  officers  of  the  court,  we  find  Judge  Watrous 
leaving  his  court  at  Galveston,  to  attend  the  court  at  New  Orleans  during  the 
progress  of  the  suit ;  thus  giving  an  influence  to  his  views  and  interests  by  his 
presence  and  countenance. 

On  the  3oth  of  June,  1847,  a  decision  was  given  in  the  case  of  Phalen  vs.  Her- 
man, in  the  court  of  New  Orleans,  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff,  declaring  the  fraudu- 
lent certificate  sued  on  to  be  valid,  and  giving  judgment  for  $3,000.  Here  the 
curtain  drops  in  New  Orleans ;  but  without  a  day's  intermission  rises  again,  in 
continuation  of  the  plot,  in  Texas. 

With  reference  to  this  Phalen  suit  we  find  the  following  judgment  expressed 
in  a  series  of  resolutions  passed  in  August,  1856)  by  the  Senate  of  Texas,  but  at 
too  late  a  day  in  the  session  to  obtain  the  action  of  the  other  legislative  House : 

"  Said  judge  (Watrous)  is  guilty  of  obtaining  and  attempting,  by  contriving 
and  carrying  on  a  made-up  suit  in  his  own  court,  to  validate  in  the  same  over 
twelve  hundred  fraudulent  land  certificates,  claimed  by  himself  and  his  '  com- 
peers,' and  of  a  class — in  all  the  enormous  amount  of  twenty-four  millions  three 
hundred  and  thirty-one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-four  acres — of  fraudu- 
lent certificates,  thereby  attempting  to  deprive  his  country  of  a  vast  domain,  be- 


Artifice  Practiced  in  New  Orleans  Court.        539 

sides  causing  the  State  the  cost  of  additional  counsel  in  defending  herself  against 
such  enormous  preconcerted  spoliations ;  and,  on  discovery  of  his  interests  in 
said  class  of  certificates  being  made,  said  judge  transferred  said  suit  for  determi- 
nation to  the  United  States  court  in  another  State,  after  shaping  the  case  and 
influencing  that  court  in  such  a  manner  as  to  obtain  his  desire  d  judgment." 

It  will  be  observed  from  what  I  have  stated  of  the  sudden  translation  of  the 
conspiracy  from  New  Orleans  to  Texas,  that  there  is  no  pause  in  the  progress 
of  the  drama ;  the  scenes  are  shifted  with  almost  incredible  swiftness ;  and 
when  the  interest  might  seem  to  flag,  we  find  a  new  character  introduced  into 
the  drama  to  challenge  our  admiration  of  the  versatility  and  resources  of  the 
plotters. 

Thus  we  find,  on  the  very  day  of  the  rendering  of  judgment  in  the  Phalen 
suit  at  New  Orleans,  Thomas  M.  League,  a  new  character  in  the  play,  but  suf- 
ficiently well  known  as  a  partner  of  Judge  Watrous  in  his  land  speculations,  and 
an  ally  in  all  his  enterprises,  intervenes,  and  institutes  a  suit  in  the  State  court 
of  Texas,  as  the  transferee  of  the  identical  fraudulent  certificate  that  had  been 
declared  valid  in  the  United  States  district  court  at  New  Orleans.  This  Mr. 
League  will  be  found  to  be  a  conspicuous  party  throughout  the  whole  system  of 
fraud  dealt  out  through  Judge  Watrous'  court.  In  a  resolution  adopted  by  the 
Senate  of  Texas,  in  1856,  just  referred  to,  his  connection  with  the  judge  is 
pointedly  alluded  to  ;  and  it  is  stated  : 

"  That  it  is  believed  by  many  good  citizens  that  said  Watrous,  in  connection 
with  Thomas  M.  League,  and  other  compeers,  are  directly  or  indirectly  interested 
in  most  of  the  important  suits  brought  in  his  court." 

It  will  be  well  to  keep  an  eye  on  this  Mr.  League,  and  to  note  his  association 
with  the  enterprise  of  the  fraudulent  certificates,  for  there  will  hereafter  be 
shown  his  connection  with  other  and  later  schemes  of  judicial  fraud,  carried  out 
through  the  machinery  of  Judge  Watrous'  court. 

It  would  appear,  from  the  evidence  taken  before  the  committee  of  the  House, 
in  the  investigation  into  Judge  Watrous'  conduct,  an  attempt  is  made  to  have 
it  appear  that  League's  connection  with  him  dated  from  the  inception  of  the 
Lapsley  frauds,  in  1850;  but  here  we  have  the  fact  to  note  of  his  previous  con- 
nection with  the  judge's  land  speculations;  and  find  him,  in  1847,  at  the  head 
and  front  of  the  nefarious  land  certificate  conspiracy.  His  connection  with 
Watrous  was  a  general  one,  and  contracted  with  a  common  design,  whenever 
and  wherever  opportunity  offered. 

The  object  of  this  suit,  instituted  by  League,  was  to  compel  the  surveyor  to 
survey  the  land  called  for  in  the  certificate.  Thus  we  have  the  case  brought 
into  the  State  court,  backed  by  the  authority  of  a  precedent  decision,  declaring 
this  fraudulent  certificate  valid.  The  manner  of  thus  bringing  it  may  be  ex- 
plained by  that  passage  in  the  letter  of  Reynolds,  in  which  he  says  : 

"  Nor  do  I  think  it  was  the  best  policy  to  have  pressed  the  courts  of  Texas. 
They  may  be  easily  made  to  follow  the  law,  while  they  have  not  the  nerve  to 
pronounce  it." 

The  case  was  decided  in  Galveston,  the  court  sustaining  the  surveyor  in  his 
refusal  to  survey  under  such  certificate ;  whereupon  an  appeal  was  taken  to  the 
supreme  court  of  the  State,  at  Austin. 

Now  to  exhibit  more  fully  the  connection  of  Judge  Watrous  with  these  suits, 


540  Houston? $  Literary  Remains. 

and  with  the  general  affairs  of  the  land  company,  I  will  here  read  a  letter  which 
appears  to'  have  been  addressed  by  William  G.  Hale,  on  the  subject  of  this  case, 
on  the  I4th  of  March,  1847,  to  Judge  Watrous,  who  was  then  at  New  Orleans, 
being  the  same  time  when  the  Phalen  suit  was  pending  there. 

"AUSTIN,  March  14,  1847. 

"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND  : — I  have  written  several  letters  to  you  at  Galveston, 
which  your  trip  to  New  Orleans  has  probably  prevented  from  reaching  you. 
They  contained  some  particulars  which  it  is  important  for  you  to  know,  and  I 
will  briefly  recapitulate  them. 

"  Our  case  was  docketed  No.  504,  nearly  at  the  heel  now,  although  some  new 
appeals  have  come  up.  As  the  court  is  going  over  the  docket  regularly,  and 
has  about  reached  No.  250,  it  would  be  some  time  before  we  could  get  a- hear- 
ing ;  but  we  expect  to  bring  it  in  during  the  absence  of  the  lawyer  here,  on  the 
spring  circuit.  Hemphill  speaks  of  taking  a  vacation  in  his  turn.  You  will 
find  more  about  it  in  my  other  letters.  We  have  been  looking  over  the  case 
carefully,  and  have,  we  think,  discovered  some  new  points. 

"  Col. ,  from  Nacogdoches,  was  here  a  short  time  ago,  and  being  con- 
nected through  some  business  with  Colonel ,  communicated  to  us  several 

startling  pieces  of  intelligence.  He  says  Miner  has  been  riding  about  his  part 
of  the  country,  endeavoring  publicly  to  buy  up  the  certificates,  but  the  large 
holders,  being  generally  men  of  some  respectability,  would  not  associate  with 
him,  or  listen  to  his  offers ;  that  he  was  thus  compelled  to  traffic  with  the  low- 
est class  of  bar-room  vagabonds,  who  palmed  off  upon  him  forged  and  duplicate 
certificates,  and  boasted  openly  of  cheating  him,  in  all  the  '  groggeries.' 

"  This  may,  or  may  not,  be  correct ;  Miner,  not  the  seller,  may  have  been  the 
cheater ;  but  it  shows  the  necessity  of  additional  caution,  and,  coupled  with  his 
former  conduct,  furnishes,  perhaps,  a  good  ground  for  restraining  him  in  his 
course. 

"  Col.  Ward  refuses  to  patent  islands.     A  mandamus  will  be  necessary. 
"  I  have  inspected  the  titles  of  the  Nueces,  and  will  have  an  opinion  ready. 

"We  have  had  a  long  interview  with  Mr.  Hedgcoxe,  the  agent  of  Peters 
colony,  and  are  arranging  matters. 

"Ever  yours,  WILLIAM  G.  HALE. 

"  Hon.  JOHN  C.  WATROUS,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana." 

I  ask  the  particular  attention  of  honorable  Senators  to  the  terms  and  expres- 
sions of  this  letter  ;  the  trading  with  "  bar-room  vagabonds  ";  the  likelihood  of 
the  sellers  of  these  certificates  having  been  "  cheated  "  in  the  trade  ;  and  the 
chuckling  tone  of  congratulation  in  the  assertion  of  the  probability  of  "  Miner 
being  the  cheater,  not  the  seller."  It  is  to  be  recollected  that  this  letter  was  to 
Judge  Watrous  himself.  It  was  about  "  our  case."  Here  is  the  letter  of  the 
"  dear  friend,"  the  counselor,  the  agent  of  a  United  States  district  and  circuit 
judge,  informing  him  of  trades  made  for  his  (the  judge's)  benefit,  with  drunken 
vagabonds,  and  chuckling  over  the  cheats  thought  to  be  imposed  upon  the  dirty 
and  miserable  bar-room  gangs  with  whom  it  was  found  necessary  to  carry  on 
their  criminal  commerce.  Here  is  the  principal,  Judge  Watrous,  judge  of  a 


Cheating  of  "JBar-room"  Confederates.  541 

federal  court,  adopting  the  acts  of  this  smart  agent,  participating  in  the  low 
swindling  of  bar-room  vagabonds,  and  through  the  letters  of  his  agent,  com- 
muning with  himself,  and  congratulating  himself  on  the  fruits  of  the  lowest  and 
most  debased  exploits  of  fraud. 

It  must  be  recollected,  too,  that  this  commerce  in  land  certificates,  openly 
treated  of  between  Judge  Watrous  and  his  agent,  was  in  violation  of  a  law,  of  a 
highly  penal  character,  punishing  the  offender  with  the  infamy  and  pain  of 
thirty-nine  public  stripes  on  the  bare  back. 

Here  also  is  another  letter,  which  I  will  read,  from  the  same  William  G.  Hale 
to  O.  F.  Johnson,  directly  indicating  Judge  Watrous'  active  connection  with 
the  suits  referred  to,  and  with  the  procurement  of  fraudulent  land  certificates : 

"GALVESTON,  July  5,  1847. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :— Colonel ,  Judge  Watrous,  and  myself,  received  the 

'  legal  papers '  and  your  letter.  Judge  Norton  happened,  by  the  merest  good 
fortune,  to  be  here  at  the  time,  and  Trueheart  also ;  so  the  whole  matter  was 
arranged  here  and  by  a  trip  to  Houston-. 

"  We  altered  the  petitions  materially,  owing  to  many  reasons  which  have 
sprung  up  since  you  left.  Judge  Watrous  will  explain  them  to  you  at  length. 
All  the  papers  were  sent  to  San  Antonio  by  Colonel  Wilson,  a  partner  of  True- 
heart,  who  pledged  himself  to  have  them  filed  by  the  2oth  of  last  month.  That 
directions  should  be  sent  from  New  York  on  the  first  of  June,  and  in  a  matter 
of  such  difficulty,  and  be  executed  in  San  Antonio  on  the  25th,  is  one  of  tho<>p 
lucky  chances  which  rarely  happen. 

"  I  have  received  several  letters  from  the  trustees  of  the  Peters  Association, 
and  have  written  to  them  explaining  some  matters.  What  arrangement  did 
you  make  with  them  as  to  fees  ;  and  will  they  advance  anything  ? 

"  Our  other  matters  remain  in  statu  quo.  The  Stafford  cases  have  given  us 
much  trouble,  but  we  shall  get  out  the  attachments  in  a  few  days.  We  may, 
however,  have  to  promise  the  sheriff,  as  an  incentive,  the  $175  which,  as  you 
wrote  us,  the  banks  agree  to  advance  for  expenses. 

"  Judge  Toler  is  quite  anxious  about  the  '  Grant  claims.'  The  papers  in 
Holman's  hands  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  procure.  The  original  certificates 
of  the  grant,  ninety-seven  in  number,  have  been  just  found  among  Judge  W.'s 
papers.  Toler  said  he  would  be  at  the  North  this  summer.  A.  Allen  has 
already  gone  on.  I  suppose  you  have  seen  him.  He  will  give  you  some  trouble 
in  arranging  this  matter. 

"Judge  Watrous  will  be  in  New  York  about  the  first  of  August.  He  has 
been  detained  here  by  business. 

"  Very  truly  yours,  WILLIAM  G.  HALE." 

The  papers  referred  to  in  the  above  letter,  as  sent  to  San  Antonio,  by  Colonel 
Wilson,  were  fraudulent  land  certificates,  exceeding  one  million  acres)  besides 
an  indefinite  number  which  Hale,  in  his  instructions  to  Wilson,  designates  as 
"  No.  2  ";  a  list  of  those  in  the  hands  of  Miner,  the  agent  referred  to  in  the  letter 
from  Hale  to  Watrous,  as  dealing  with  bar-room  vagabonds,  and  cheating  them 
for  the  benefit  oi'  his  principal. 

I  may  here  introduce  another  letter  from  Hale  to  Johnson,  showing  the  prose- 
cution of  the  designs  of  the  conspirators,  as  dealing  in  these  fraudulent  certifi- 


542  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

cates,  in  defiance  of  the  penal  statute,  and  showing  also  the  great  estimation  of 
the  advantage  of  having  these  certificates  put  into  a  company  stock,  and  "  man- 
aged "  by  Judge  Watrous  and  his  confederates;  for  to  secure  this  advantage 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  out  of  three  hundred  thousand  acres  is  offered 
as  a  premium. 

"AUSTIN,  February  24,  1847. 

"Mv  DEAR  SIR:  — .  .  .  .  Colonel  met  here  with  an  old  ac- 
quaintance, Colonel ,  and,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  a  large  land- 
holder in  the  East.  Through  some  former  business  connections  with  him, 

was  able  to  persuade  him  to  an  arrangement  most  advantageous  to  us. 

holds  about  sixty  of  the  rejected — ah  !  call  them  not  fraudulent ! — and 

thinks  he  can  secure  as  many  more.  He  is  willing  to  give  us  half  in  order  to 
have  the  others  put  into  the  company  stock,  and  located  and  managed  with  the 
rest ;  most  kindly  offered  to  divide  with  us,  so  that  this  arrangement  will  secure 
us  about  thirty  more  leagues,  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  con- 
tingently.   has  gone  home  now  to  obtain  them.  He  speaks  in  the  most 

disrespectful  terms  of  Miner  and  his  management. 

"  Miner  is  here,  and  going  to  San  Antonio.  I  have,  most  strangely,  received 
no  letter  yet  from  Judge  Watrous,  respecting  the  final  settlement  with  the 
'  little  fellow,'  nor  the  survey  and  the  engagement  of  Hay,  but  I  expect  one 
daily.  Miner's  presence  will  complicate  matters,  I  am  afraid. 

"WILLIAM  G.  HALE." 

The  expression  of  this  letter  "  ah  !  call  them  not  fraudulent,"  is  curious  for  its 
flippant  irony.  It  reminds  one  of  the  same  self-complacency  with  which,  in  a 
formerly-quoted  letter,  he  opines  his  agent,  Miner,  to  be  "  the  cheater,  not  the 
seller." 

To  return  to  the  history  of  the  case  which  Mr.  League  had  taken  in  hand. 
At  the  December  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  judgment 
was  rendered,  affirming  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Texas,  declaring 
the  certificate  invalid  and  void. 

It  might  have  been  supposed  that  after  the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Texas,  the  high  Court  of  Appeals,  and,  finally,  after  the  decision  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  against  the  validity  of  the  certificate,  further  efforts 
on  the  part  of  the  company  would  have  been  hopeless.  But  what  vitality,  what 
ramifications,  what  resources,  must  they  have  possessed,  when  we  find  them 
daring,  at  the  last,  as  I  shall  show,  to  anticipate  exerting  an  influence  on  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  itself?  This,  certainly,  was  a  fitting  climax  to 
audacity  and  assertion  of  power.  Thus  we  find  this  branch  of  the  scheme  of 
the  conspirators  expiring  with  an  adventurous  and  desperate  effort  to  retrieve 
their  fortunes  by  improper  influences  with  the  courts ;  the  last  effort,  still  char- 
acteristic, and  still  significant  of.the  comprehensive  grasp  and  connections  of 
this  most  extraordinary  combination. 

As  exposing  the  honest  proposition  of  exerting  an  influence  on  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  I  will  here  read  from  a  letter  from  Mr.  Joseph  L. 
Williams  on  this  subject,  to  whom,  it  appears,  was  and  is  allotted  the  Wash- 
ington branch  of  the  company's  operations  : 

"WASHINGTON  CITY,  November  I,  1851. 

"DEAR  SIR: — .  .  .  .  Youi    suggestion?  as  to  the  proper  course  for  our 


Scheme  to  Acquire  the  Texas  Salt  Lake.          543 

party  to  pursue,  in  respect  to  the  Salt  Lake,  commanded,  as  they  still  do,  my 
most  earnest  attention.  Not  doubting  that  you  have  most  thoroughly  viewed 
this  triangular  title — not  hearing  from  Mr.  Reynolds  on  this  point,  and  of  course 
unadvised  of  his  peculiar  views  in  detail,  in  relation  thereto — I  must  say  that  I 
most  fully  concur  in  your  views  of  our  best  policy.  Time  is  on  the  wing.  A 
few  years  more,  and  Mr.  Reynolds  and  I  border  on  '  the  sere  and  yellow  leaf.' 
Of  immense  value,  the  property  admits  of  a  very  long  division.  A  protracted 
litigation,  in  quest  of  the  lion's  share,  divests  us  virtually  of  all,  and  secures 
something  only  to  our  legal  representatives.  Dum  vivimus,  -vivamus.  So  say 
I.  Of  our  party,  Mr.  Reynolds  holds  the  major  interest ;  perhaps  nearly  all. 
Compared  to  his,  my  right  is  small.  Thus,  I  feel  some  delicacy  in  obtruding 
any  conclusion  of  mine  against  any  deliberate  judgment  of  his.  I  have  the 
utmost  confidence  in  his  judgment  and  discretion. 

"I  am  also  sure  that  all  that  can  be  compassed  by  energy  and  perseverance, 
he  (Reynolds)  will  accomplish.  And  yet,  he  may  be  impelled  by  the  rivalry  to 
evade  an  obsolete  title  on  the  one  hand  and  a  fraudulent  one  on  the  other, 
backed,  as  it  is,  by  the  perjured  tyrants  of  a  petty  and  venal  Legislature.  Hence, 
you  will  oblige  me  by  assuring  our  old  friend  Reynolds  that  while,  under  the 
peculiar  circumstances,  I  venture  my  mite  of  advice,  in  confirmation  of  yours, 
with  due  deference  to  him,  I  yet  offer  it  most  urgently.  Please,  therefore,  show 
him  this  letter.  As  he  is  of  course  familiar  with  all  the  positions  stated  in  your 
letter,  they  need  not  be  detailed  in  this  paper.  My  health,  though  far  better 
than  when  I  saw  you  here,  under  so  many  months  of  the  care  of  Dr.  Francis,  of 
New  York,  is  still  by  no  means  reliable.  If  this  thing  can  be  made  available 
during  the  short  life  I  have  yet  probably  before  me,  I  am  very  anxious  to  see 
that  result. 

"I  find  much  of  your  matter  of  reliance  in  the  big  suit,  in  Bibb's  Reports. 

This  casually  led  me,  the  other  day,  to  bring  the  case  to  the  notice  of . 

Ke  seems  perfectly  familiar  with  every  precedent  and  doctrine  applicable  to  this 
case,  and  its  whole  class,  and  he  says  it  is  quite  impossible  for  the  Supreme 
Court,  on  deliberate  review  and  consideration,  to  abandon  right,  reason,  and 
customary  law  on  account  of  one  casual  act  of  stultification  at  the  last  term. 
/  shall  not  omit  the  part  of  striker  with  certain  members  of  the  court,  which 
I  told  you  I  would  see  to.  I  am  already  here  for  the  purpose.  I  will  persuade 
Catron,  of  Tennessee,  to  take  the  case  under  his  especial  charge. 

"JOSEPH  L.  WILLIAMS." 

It  has  been  shown,  incontestably,  that  Judge  Watrous  was  a  member  of  the 
conspiracy,  in  the  furtherance  of  whose  designs  Williams  was  acting.  The  part 
assumed  by  this  man  as  "  striker  "  with  certain  members  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  the  act  of  Judge  Watrous  himself.  He  (the 
judge)  was  responsible  for  the  acts  of  his  confederates,  having  entered  into  a 
conspiracy  with  them  for  their  mutual  profit,  and  with  a  common  design.  Such 
is  the  rule  of  evidence.  Such  is  the  irresistible  conclusion  to  be  made  in  cases 
of  this  nature,  according  to  the  authority  which  I  will  here  read,  from  the  great 
and  universally  admitted  text-book  on  the  subject  of  evidence,  which  is  no  doubt 
familiar  to  honorable  Senators  : 

"  The  evidence  in  proof  of  a  conspiracy  will,  generally,  from  the  nature  of  the 


544  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

case,  be  circumstantial.  Though  the  common  design  is  the  essence  of  th» 
charge,  it  is  not  necessary  to  prove  that  the  defendants  came  together  and 
actually  agreed  in  terms  to  have  that  design,  and  to  pursue  it  by  common  means. 
If  it  be  proved  that  the  defendants  pursued  by  their  acts  the  same  object,  often 
by  the  same  means,  one  performing  one  part,  and  another  another  part  of  the 
same,  so  as  to  complete  it,  with  a  view  to  the  attainment  of  that  same  object, 
the  jury  will  be  justified  in  the  conclusion  that  they  were  engaged  in  a  conspiracy 
to  effect  that  object.  Nor  is  it  necessary  to  prove  that  the  conspiracy  originated 
with  the  defendants,  or  that  they  met  during  the  process  of  its  concoction  ;  for 
every  person  entering  into  a  conspiracy  or  common  design  already  formed,  is 
deemed  in  law  a  party  to  all  acts  done  by  any  of  the  other  parties,  before  or 
afterward,  in  furtherance  of  the  common  design." — 3  Greenleaf,  sec.  93. 

This  rule  for  determining  the  responsibility  of  Judge  Watrous  I  would  have 
borne  in  mind,  as  I  shall  proceed  to  develop  the  acts  of  the  different  conspira- 
tors in  the  prosecution  of  their  common  schemes  of  fraud. 

What  state  of  things  could  exist,  or  can  be  imagined,  that  would  more  loudly 
and  imperiously  call  for  resolutions  such  as  were  passed  by  the  Legislature  of 
Texas,  in  the  name  of  an  outraged  people,  against  the  judicial  plunderer  and 
conspirator  who  was  aiming  to  coin  his  fortunes  by  forgery  and  fraud  the  most 
stupendous  ?  A  copy  of  these  resolutions  I  beg  to  submit  here  for  the  consider- 
ation of  honorable  Senators  : 

"  JOINT  RESOLUTION. 

"  Whereas,  it  is  believed  that  John  C.  Watrous,  judge  of  the  United  States  dis- 
trict court  for  the  district  of  Texas,  has,  while  seeking  that  important  position, 
given  legal  opinions  in  causes  and  questions  to  be  litigated  hereafter,  in  which 
the  interests  of  individuals  and  of  the  State  are  immensely  involved,  whereby  it 
is  believed  he  has  disqualified  the  court  in  which  he  presides  from  trying 
such  questions  and  causes,  thereby  rendering  it  necessary  to  transfer  an  in- 
definite and  unknown  number  of  suits,  hereafter  to  be  commenced,  to  courts  out 
of  the  State  for  trial ;  and  whereas  it  is  also  believed  that  the  said  John  C.  Wat- 
rous has,  while  in  office,  aided  and  assisted  certain  individuals,  if  not  directly  in- 
terested himself,  in  an  attempt  to  fasten  upon  this  State  one  of  the  most  stupend- 
ous frauds  ever  practiced  upon  any  country  or  any  people,  the  effect  of  which 
would  be  to  rob  Texas  of  millions  of  acres  of  her  public  domain,  her  only  hope 
or  resource  for  the  payment  of  her  public  debt  ;  and  whereas  his  conduct  in  court 
and  elsewhere,  in  derogation  of  his  duty  as  a  judge,  has  been  marked  by  such 
prejudice  and  injustice  toward  the  rights  of  the  State,  and  divers  of  its  citizens, 
as  to  show  he  does  not  deserve  the  high  station  he  occupies  :  Therefore, 

"  Be  it  resolved  by  the  Legislature  of  the  Slate  of  Texas,  That  the  said  John 
C.  Watrous  be,  and  he  is  hereby  requested,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  State, 
to  resign  his  office  of  judge  of  said  United  States  Court  for  the  district  of 
Texas. 

"  SEC.  2.  Be  it  further  resolved,  That  the  Governor  forward  the  said  John  C. 
Watrous,  under  the  seal  of  the  State,  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  preamble  and  res- 
olution ;  also,  a  copy  to  each  of  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States. 

"  Approved,  March  20,  1848." 

An  absurd  and  abortive  attempt  has  been  made  by  Judge  Watrous  and  some 


Judge  WatrouS  Frauds  before  U.  &  Congress.     545 

of  his  especial  advocates,  to  explain  the  feeling  that  prompted  the  passage 
of  these  resolutions,  by  the  fact  that  he  had  given  an  unpopular  decision  on  the 
statute  of  limitations.  Indeed,  Judge  Watrous,  in  his  printed  answer  to  the 
charges  assigned  against  him,  adopts  this  preposterous  assertion  as  his  prin- 
cipal defense,  and  appears  to  suggest  that,  instead  of  himself  being  the  criminal, 
the  people  of  Texas  are  so  dishonest  and  depraved,  that  the  standards  of 
morality  he  has  adopted  in  his  court  are  too  high  for  them  to  appreciate 
and  conform  to.  The  falsehood  of  this  is  only  exceeded  by  the  obliquity  of 
the  shameless  man  who  utters  it.  In  making  such  a  statement  in  his  answer, 
he  knew  that  he  was  stating  what  was  untrue  in  fact  and  false  in  spirit.  And, 
further,  I  shall  prove  that  he  not  only  stated  what  was  untrue,  but  was  con- 
strained to  convict  himself  of  it  before  the  committee  that  inquired  into  his 
conduct. 

In  his  answer  to  which  I  have  reference,  Judge  Watrous  has  the  effrontery  to 
assert  that  his  ruling  in  the  case  of  the  Union  Bank  vs.  Stafford,  on  the  statute 
of  limitations,  brought  upon  him  the  censure  and  denunciation  conveyed  in  the 
resolutions  of  the  Legislature.  This  was  worse  than  puerility,  for  it  proved  to 
be  utterly  untrue.  The  Stafford  suit  was  not  even  instituted  until  some  months 
after  the  resolutions  had  been  passed  by  the  Legislature. 

This  essential  fact  Judge  Watrous  thought  to  suppress ;  but  when  the 
committee  called  for  witnesses  from  Texas,  and  he  had  reason  to  suppose 
that  his  falsehood  would  be  detected,  he  was  then  fain  to  acknowledge  it,  and  to 
make  the  humiliating  and  self-convicting  request  of  the  committee  to  withdraw 
his  answer,  committing  him  to  the  falsehood,  from  the  files,  so  that  he  might 
suppress  the  public  evidence  of  his  infamy,  at  least  in  this  particular. 

In  1852,  the  matter  of  the  judge's  nefarious  dealings  in  fraudulent  land  cer- 
tificates was  brought  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  and  this  charge,  among  other- 
matters  of  crimination,  was  assigned  against  the  judge  in  a  memorial  of  William 
Alexander,  a  citizen  of  Texas.  Only  three  witnesses,  however,  out  of  twentv- 
one  asked  for  by  the  prosecution,  were  sent  for,  and  these  three  not  witnesses 
to  any  one  of  the  specifications  pending  against  the  judge.  The  committee  re- 
ported the  evidence  insufficient ;  the  House  failed  to  act  in  any  way  on  the  mat- 
ter, and  the  facts,  therefore,  of  the  case,  remained  undeveloped  and  occult,  and 
the  justice  of  it  unvindicated. 

The  Legislature  of  Texas,  at  its  last  session,  instructed  the  Representatives  of 
that  State  to  urge  the  trial  of  Judge  Watrous  on  all  the  charges  against 
him ;  and  in  obedience  to  these  instructions  the  Hon.  Mr.  Reagan,  who  in 
part  represents  the  State  in  the  other  branch  of  Congress,  had  the  memorial 
of  Mr.  Alexander  taken  from  the  files,  and  referred  to  the  Judiciary  Committee 
for  investigation.  Mr.  Reagan  urged  an  investigation  of  the  charges  contained 
in  that  memorial ;  and  in  his  speech  in  the  House,  on  that  subject,  states : 

"  I  also  offered  to  the  committee  to  make  the  charge  against  Judge  Watrous, 
that  he  had  sold  three  fraudulent  league  certificates  to  a  gentleman  by  the  name 
of  Lowe,  of  Illinois,  for  about  six  thousand  dollars,  when  he  knew  the  certifi- 
cates to  be  fraudulent,  void,  and  worthless  ;  and  when,  by  the  laws  of  Texas,  to 
sell  such  certificates  was  a  crime  of  the  grade  of  forgery,  and  punishable  with  a 
most  ignominious  penalty.  And  I  proposed  to  prove  this  charge  by  a  part  of  a 
record  which  I  had  from  the  district  court  for  Galveston  county,  Texas,  and  by 


546  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

the  testimony  of  gentlemen  who  were  then  here  as  witnesses  in  this  case  from 
Texas. 

"  But  Judge  Watrous  resisted  my  right  to  make  these  charges,  and  the  com- 
mittee felt  themselves  bound  by  the  action  of  the  House  on  the  Alexander  memo- 
rial, as  these  were  a  part  of  the  charges  contained  in  that  memorial,  and  de- 
clined to  hear  the  charges.  I  then  gave  notice  to  Judge  Watrous,  and  his  coun- 
sel, General  Gushing,  that  when  the  House  came  to  act  on  the  report  of 
the  committee  I  should  bring  these  things  to  the  attention  of  the  House,  so  that 
if,  by  such  means,  he  should  elude  a  trial  and  escape  justice,  the  Representatives 
of  the  people,  and  the  people  of  the  nation,  through  our  proceedings,  should 
know  how  it  was  done." 

Here  I  might  rest  on  the  proofs  already  submitted  of  Judge  Watrous'  deep 
and  dire  offenses  in  connection  with  the  land  company,  to  the  extensive  opera- 
tions of  which  I  have  but  briefly  referred.  But  I  conceive  that  the  just  interests 
of  my  State,  and  those  of  some  of  her  most  valued  citizens,  who  have  been  in- 
jured, misrepresented,  and  betrayed  by  the  machinations  of  this  conspiracy,  re- 
quire that  I  should  extend  the  narrative  to  other  principal  facts. 

I  have  already  made  brief  allusion  to  the  operations  and  designs  of  the  con- 
spiracy in  the  direction  of  the  Rio  Grande.  This  branch  of  the  speculation  de- 
serves, on  account  of  its  great  importance,  a  fuller  development  of  the  facts 
connected  with  it. 

The  Cavazos  grant  was  one  of  immense  value,  and  constituted  a  tempting 
prize  to  the  grasping  and  rapacious  spirit  of  these  land  speculators,  with  whom 
Judge  Watrous  was  actively  connected.  It  lies  about  sixty  miles  on  the  Rio 
Grande  ;  about  forty  miles  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Laguna  Madre,  and 
about  sixty  miles  on  the  Sal  Colorado.  It  contains  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  acres  of  land.  It  embraces  within  its  limits,  as  claimed  by  Cavazos, 
the  town  or  city  of  Brownsville,  also  Point  Isabel,  which  is  the  site  of  the  Cus- 
tom-house, and  the  port  of  entry  for  the  Rio  Grande  country  ;  besides  numerous 
villages  or  ranches,  and  also  valuable  government  sites  and  improvements.  With 
the  expectation  of  occupying  the  upper  portion  of  the  Rio  Grande  country,  "  an 
empire  worth  fighting  for,"  it  was  necessary  for  the  company  to  have  this  coast 
outlet  to  complete  their  gigantic  scheme.  Point  Isabel  was  the  only  coast  out- 
let for  the  great  salt  lake  of  Texas  that  lay  within  sixty  miles  of  it,  and  that  con- 
stituted an  inexhaustible  source  of  wealth.  This  great  principality  that  com- 
manded the  outlet  of  the  Rio  Grande  country,  and  that  so  abounded  in  all 
the  elements  of  wealth,  was  reputed  to  be  owned  by  some  eight  Mexican 
families. 

The  salt  lake  I  have  referred  to  was  another  grand  prize,  which  the  lai 
company  was  seeking  to  grasp  through  the  aid  of  Judge  Watrous.  I  sh< 
presently  show  how  this  underplot,  too,  was  conceived  and  conducted  in  tl 
progress  of  the  sweeping  and  overwhelming  designs  of  the  vast  combination. 

Returning,  however,  to  Galveston,  to  watch  the  progress  of  these  honest  gei 
try,  with  reference  to  the  Cavazos  grant,  we  find  John  Treanor  and  William 
Hale  meeting  there.  It  appears  they  there  concoct  a  suit.  This  suit  is  repi 
sented  by  John  Treanor,  as  the  agent  of  all  the  Mexican  families,  or  partie 
represented  to  be  owners  of  the  Cavazos  grant.  It  is  instituted  by  Allen  ai 
Hale  ;  and  the  allegations  of  the  complaint  are  verified  by  the  affidavit  of  Jol 


Fraud  in  the  Cavazos  Claim.  547 

Treanor,  claiming  to  be  agent  as  aforesaid.  This  man  Treanor  appears  to 
be  a  notorious  person  in  the  district  of  the  Rio  Grande,  to  judge  from  the 
testimony  of  Brevet-Major  W.  W.  Chapman,  of  the  army,  when  stationed  at 
Fort  Brown,  who  briefly  describes  him  in  a  public  official  letter,  as  "  a  man 
without  character  or  standing  in  the  community."  Sufficient  indications  of  his 
character,  however,  are  given  in  the  part  assumed  by  him  and  his  confederate, 
Hale,  in  this  Cavazos  case.  It  appears  from  the  record  of  this  case  that  at  least 
five  of  the  Mexican  families  or  parties  claimed  to  be  represented,  had  never 
given  any  authority  whatever  for  the  institution  of  the  suit ;  and  as  to  one  of  the 
five,  Treanor  himself  was  constrained  to  admit  that  his  interest  was  diametri- 
cally opposed  to  the  claim,  for  the  establishment  of  which  he  had  been  made  a 
party  plaintiff.  Here,  then,  in  the  very  inception  of  the  suit,  we  see  fraud  promi- 
nently and  boldly  standing  out.  In  the  whole  progress  of  the  suit,  too,  we  re- 
mark John  Treanor  and  William  G.  Hale  as  the  managers  throughout.  Their 
numerous  affidavits  support  the  case  to  the  end.  In  no  part  of  the  proceedings 
do  we  find  the  complainants  acting  or  participating.  It  is  Treanor,  the  "  man 
without  character  or  standing,"  and  William  G.  Hale,  the  agent  and  attorney 
of  the  land  company,  I  have  been  referring  to,  the  intimate  friend  of  Judge 
Watrous. 

It  appears,  moreover,  that  for  purposes  of  collusion  it  was  managed  that  Hale 
and  Johnson,  the  two  lawyers  imported  for  purposes  already  referred  to,  should 
take  opposite  sides.  Further  than  this,  and  to  still  greater  outrage  of  justice,  it 
appears  from  the  record  that  James  N.  Reynolds,  a  member  of  this  New  York 
land  company,  is  appointed  by  Judge  Watrous  United  States  Commissioner  at 
Brownsville,  to  take  testimony.  Thus  the  company,  or  its  members,  were 
represented  by  their  agents  and  attorneys,  who  act  as  counsel  on  different  sides 
of  the  case,  and  by  Reynolds,  the  active  manager  of  their  affairs,  who,  as 
United  States  Commissioner,  took  the  principal  testimony  for  the  defense,  which 
it  evidently  appears  to  have  been  the  object  of  the  company  to  defeat. 

The  fact  of  collusion,  the  committee  of  investigation  in  the  Thirty-fourth 
Congress  have  determined  unanimously,  and  in  passing  judgment  upon  it  they 
say: 

"  In  the  case  of  Cavazos  et  al.  vs.  Stillman  et  at.,  the  record  affords  sufficient 
evidence  to  satisfy  the  committee  that  there  was  collusion  between  the  solicitors 
for  the  complainants  and  a  part  of  the  solicitors  for  the  defendants,  and  that  a 
part  of  the  defendants,  or  one  of  them  at  least,  Jacob  Mussina,  was  defrauded 
'and  betrayed  by  such  collusion.  They  would  further  state  that  there  is  evidence 
to  satisfy  them  that  a  part  of  the  defendants  were  concerned  in  the  conspiracy, 
and  that  the  judge  of  the  court  knew  of  the  collusion  during  the  pendency  of 
the  suit." 

I  may  also  suggest  here  that  it  will  be  found  profitable  to  fix  attention  upon 
the  man  Treanor,  as  hereafter  he  will  be  found  figuring  in  another  important 
matter  in  active  connection  with  Judge  Watrous. 

I  am  disinclined  to  trespass  upon  the  time  of  the  Senate  by  following  this 
Cavazos  case  through  its  tortuous  progress,  ai\d  to  its  final  acts  of  injustice  and 
oppression.  What  little  I  have  said  of  the  patent  fraud,  in  its  inception  and 
management,  will  prepare  the  minds  of  honorable  Senators  to  understand  the 
conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  committees  of  investigation  in  the  House,  as  to 


548  Houston^  Literacy  Remains. 

the  consummation  of  the  conspiracy,  and  fraud  by  the  wrongful  decisions  of 
Judge  Watrous  on  the  side  of  his  confederates,  Hale  and  Treanor. 

The  committee  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress  conclude  their  report  by  saying: 

"  The  committee  have  examined  numerous  records,  consisting  of  pleadings, 
orders  of  court,  affidavits  and  depositions,  and  after  a  patient  and  laborious  re- 
search, they  have  reluctantly  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  conduct  of  Judge 
Watrous  in  the  case  above  referred  to  can  not  be  explained  without  supposing 
that  he  was  actuated  by  other  than  upright  and  just  motives;  that  in  his  disre- 
gard of  the  well-established  rules  of  law  and  evidence  he  has  put  in  jeopardy 
and  sacrificed  the  right  of  litigants." 

In  the  present  Congress  we  have  a  report  from  a  moiety  of  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  which,  on  the  Cavazos  branch  of  the  case,  presents  the  following 
summary  and  well-sustained  judgment : 

"Every  irregular  or  wrongful  decision  of  the  judge  was  in  favor  of  the  com- 
plainants and  against  the  defendant,  Mussina,  and  those  occupying  a  similar 
position,  and  was  to  their  particular  injury.  By  maintaining  the  proceeding  as 
one  rightfully  brought  on  the  chancery  side  of  the  court,  these  defendants  were 
illegally  deprived  of  their  right  to  a  trial  by  a  jury,  and  were  compelled  to  sub- 
mit to  an  adjudication  upon  their  rights  to  the  property  in  such  a  manner  that 
the  decision  would  be  final  and  conclusive  as  to  the  title  of  the  property,  instead 
of  one  upon  the  right  of  possession,  which  would  at  once  have  been  pronounced, 
on  the  law  side  of  the  court  in  an  action  of  ejectment.  By  maintaining  juris- 
diction over  the  case,  when  a  portion  of  the  defendants,  as  well  as  the  plaintiffs, 
were  aliens,  these  defendants  were  deprived  of  their  rights  to  have  the  questions 
involved  in  it  decided  by  the  courts  of  Texas,  to  whose  jurisdiction  they  were 
rightfully  amenable,  and  whose  laws  were  to  govern  in  that  decision.  By  ad- 
mitting incompetent  witnesses  to  testify,  their  rights  were  affected  by  evidence 
given  by  persons  who  had  an  interest  in  the  litigation  adverse  to  theirs.  And, 
finally,  they  are  prevented  from  having  the  decision  against  them  reviewed  in 
the  appellate  court  by  the  failure  of  the  judge  to  perform  his  full  duty  to  them 
in  facilitating  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  appeal,  given  to  them  by  the  law,  from 
motives  of  public  policy,  for  their  own  private  advantage ;  and  that,  too,  when 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  decree  by  the  court  is  not  in  conformity  with 
the  principles  of  law,  as  recognized  in  Texas.  Such  a  course  of  action  con- 
tinued through  the  whole  progress  of  a  cause,  in  favor  of  some  of  the  parties 
and  against  others,  is,  to  our  minds,  conclusive  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a 
purpose,  on  the  part  of  the  judge,  to  favor  one  party  or  set  of  parties  at  the  ex- 
pense and  to  the  injury  of  others,  which  is  inconsistent  with  an  upright,  honest, 
and  impartial  discharge  of  the  judicial  functions.  And  this,  we  believe,  consti- 
tutes a  breach  of  that  'good  behavior'  upon  which,  by  the  Constitution,  the 
tenure  of  the  judicial  office  is  made  to  depend." 

It  appears  that  a  decree  was  rendered  in  the  Cavazos  suit,  in  the  month  of 
January,  in  favor  of  Cavazos  and  others. 

After  the  rendition  of  the  decree,  suits  in  ejectment  became  necessary.  At 
this  juncture  we  find  Judge  Watrous  again  acting  and  making  a  wrongful  and 
tyrannical  order  for  the  exclusion  from  jury  service  in  his  court  (on  the  regular 
panel)  of  the  citizens  of  the  four  Rio  Grande  counties  of  Cameron,  Hidalgo, 
Star,  and  Webb. 


Fraud  in  Selecting  the  Jury.  549 

By  the  deputy  marshal,  whose  term  of  office  depended  on  the  pleasure  of  the 
judge,  jurors  are  selected—  not  taken  from  the  jury  list  of  the  State,  as  the  law 
requires;  not  even  drawn  or  balloted  for— to  attend  the  United  States  Court  at 
Brownsville ;  all  from  Galveston,  a  distance  of  several  hundred  miles.  They 
are  taken  from  this  distant  place,  that  is  the  home  of  Judge  Watrous,  and  of  his 
confederates,  Hale  and  League.  These  Cavazos  suits  had  been  pending  in 
Galveston,  and  adjudications  been  had  on  some  of  them.  They  were  a  subject 
of  notoriety  there;  and  had  naturally  given  rise  to  much  popular  discussion  and 
conversation  with  reference  both  to  the  questions  anol  the  interests  involved. 

Thus  it  appears  that  to  accomplish  the  purpose  of  the  judge  more  fully,  the 
citizens  of  four  counties  were  dishonored  and  deprived  of  important  civil  privi- 
leges, and  the  law  was  violated. 

They  were  not  taken  from  different  parts  of  the  State,  as  is  the  custom  in  the 
United  States  Courts,  but  from  the  narrow  circle  of  the  judge's  own  home  and 
neighborhood.  A  schooner  is  chartered  by  the  deputy  marshal,  to  carry  them 
to  the  court  at  Brownsville.  There  are  also  selected  by  the  deputy  marshal  a 
company  of  strolling  players  to  serve  as  jurors,  and  placed  on  board  this 
schooner.  Judge  Watrous  himself  is  a  compagnon  de  voyage. 

Honorable  Senators  may  imagine  the  scene,  the  small,  coasting,  gulf  schooner, 
freighted  with  jurymen  and  players,  and  the  United  States  district  and  circuit 
judge. 

I  have,  in  a  brief  manner,  referred  to  the  collusion  in  the  Cavazos  suit,  which 
Judge  Watrous  knew,  and  which  he  countenanced,  to  the  prejudice  and  betrayal 
of  at  least  one  of  the  defendants,  Mr.  Jacob  Mussina.  The  evident  position  ot 
matters,  and  the  reports  of  the  committees  on  the  subject,  from  which  I  have 
read,  show  that  Mussina  was  without  any  power  to  enforce  his  rights,  and 
without  any  chance  to  obtain  them  in  the  determination  of  this  case  in  Judge 
Watrous'  court.  He  then  applied  for  redress  to  the  courts  of  his  domicile  in 
Louisiana ;  and  finding  the  parties  there  who  were  accused  in  the  committee's 
report  referred  to,  as  having  colluded  in  the  Cavazos  suit,  and  as  having  "  de- 
frauded and  betrayed  him,"  he  sued  them  for  the  collusion  and  frauds  they  had 
practiced  to  his  prejudice,  in  Judge  Watrous'  court,  and  otherwise.  This  suit 
was  commenced  on  the  1st  of  November,  1851  ;  it  was  tried  in  May,  1853  ;  and 
a  verdict  was  rendered  in  favor  of  Mussina,  by  a  jury  of  his  countrymen,  for  the 
land  claimed,  or  $214,000  in  lieu  thereof,  and  $25,000  as  damages. 

In  January,  1854,  a  rule  was  taken  at  Galveston,  Texas,  upon  Jacob  Mussina, 
a  citizen  of  Louisiana,  and  he  was  cited  to  appear  before  Judge  Watrous  at  Gal- 
veston, to  answer  for  contempt  of  court  in  instituting  the  suit  in  New  Orleans, 
in  disobedience  to  the  decree  which  he  had  rendered  in  the  Cavazos  case,  al- 
though the  fact  was  that  the  suit  referred  to  was  commenced  two  months  before, 
the  rendition  of  the  decree,  which  proceedings  the  House  Judiciary  Committee 
of  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress  have  characterized  in  a  deliberate,  unanimous  re- 
port, as  "  irregular,  unjust,  and  illegal,  and,  taken  in  connection  with  the  previous 
proceedings  and  rendition  of  the  decree,  oppressive  and  tyrannical."  And  this 
opinion  was  endorsed  by  a  portion  of  the  present  Judiciary  Committee  in  the 
House,  from  whos^  report  I  read  the  following  expression  of  judgment : 

"  It  also  seems  clear,  when  the  pleadings  in  the  suit  instituted  by  Mussina 
against  Stillman,  Belden,  and  Ailing,  and  Basse  and  Hord,  in  the  fourth  district 


550  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

court  of  New  Orleans,  are  considered,  together  with  the  judgment  rendered  in 
it,  upon  the  verdict  of  a  jury,  and  the  evidence  in  the  contempt  case,  that  there 
was  no  foundation  whatever  for  the  proceeding  against  him  for  a  contempt,  and 
that  the  action  of  the  judge  with  respect  to  it  was  unauthorized  by  law,  and  was 
intended  to  be  vexatious  and  oppressive.  How  any  other  'conclusion  can  be 
arrived  at/  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  suit  in  New  Orleans  was  instituted 
by  Mussina  against  his  codefendants  alone  and  .their  counsel,  and  related  to 
rights  growing  out  of  their  own  transactions,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive." 

The  defendant  appealed  from  the  judgment  of  the  New  Orleans  court  in  favor 
of  Mussina.  In  1855,  the  case  was  heard  on  appeal,  in  the  supreme  court  of 
the  State  of  Louisiana,  and  was  dismissed  on  a  question  of  jurisdiction  in  the 
court.  It  was  during  the  hearing  of  this  appeal  that  Judge  Watrous  was  at 
New  Orleans,  under  the  assumed  name  of  "John  Jones,"  and  lodging  secretly 
at  the  Verandah  Hotel. 

In  order  to  continue  understandingly  the  history,  the  narration  of  which  I 
have  undertaken,  it  is  necessary  here  to  make  a  momentary  review  of  the  posi- 
tions occupied  by  the  man  Reynolds,  who,  it  has  been  shown,  was  a  prominent 
actor  in  the  eventful  drama  of  the  conspiracy,  so  far  as  it  appears  to  have  pro- 
gressed. It  has  been  shown  that  he  was  one  of  the  chief  and  choicest  spirits  in 
the  inception  of  the  New  York  company.  It  has  been  shown  from  the  corre- 
spondence relative  to  the  action  of  the  court  at  New  Orleans,  that  he  had  made 
the  clerk  of  the  court  interested  in  the  suit.  It  has  been  shown  under  what  cir- 
cumstances he  established  a  bogus  bank  on  the  Cavazos  grant.  It  has  been 
shown  that  he  was  appointed  by  Judge  Watrous,  and  acted  as  commissioner  to 
take  testimony  in  the  Cavazos  case,  on  the  side  of  the  defense,  to  defeat  which, 
by  collusion,  was  the  evident  purpose  of  the  company  of  whom  and  in  whose 
service  he  was. 

Thus  we  find  this  man  Reynolds  connected  and  intermixed  with  all  that  takes 
place  through  Judge  Watrous'  court,  in  the  progress  of  the  conspiracy  in  which 
both  were  so  deeply  and  so  criminally  interested  and  implicated. 

I  now  present  him  as  attempting  to  seize  the  "Great  Salt  Lake  of  Texas,"  the 
immense  value  of  which  and  its  location  I  have  referred  to.  This  lake  was  a 
reservation  of  the  Government  of  Texas,  and  the  only  possible  means  of  appro- 
priating this  valuable  property  was  by  influencing  the  courts  and  the  Legislature. 

It  is  shown  by  the  letter  of  Mr.  Joseph  L.  Williams,  which  I  have  read  in  an- 
other part  of  this  cast,  and  by  the  order  of  transfer,  to  which  I  shall  presently 
refer,  that  the  three,  Reynolds,  Williams,  and  Watrous,  at  least,  were  interested 
in  this  fraudulent  adventure. 

They  had  already  been  successful  in  the  Phalen  suits,  at  New  Orleans  (wherein 
their  fraudulent  certificates  were  declared  valid) ;  and,  in  the  flush  of  their  en- 
tire success  in  this  matter,  they  were  emboldened  to  extend  their  grasp,  and  to 
attempt  to  take  by  adventure  every  prize  that  their  avarice  could  discover. 

This  suit  is  instituted  in  Judge  Watrous'  court,  on  the  I4th  of  May,  1849.  It 
appears  that  the  case  remained  there  from  the  I4th  of  May,  1849,  to  tne  7^ 
June,  1850.  It  is  then  transferred  to  New  Orleans  ;  and  it  is  especially  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  application  for  the  transfer  in  this  case,  as  well  as  the  transfer 
in  the  Phalen  case,  was  made  by  the  plaintiff  himself— Mr.  James  N.  Reynolds. 
I  will  here  give  an  extract  from  the  order  of  transfer : 


Fraudulent  Transfer  of  Suit  to  New  Orleans.     551 

"JAMES  N.  REYNOLDS,  of  Louisiana,  \ 

vs.  >  No.  1982. 

HENRY  M.  LEWIS,  and  THOMAS  NEWCOMB,  of  Texas.  ) 

"  Petition  in  this  cause  filed  in  district  court  of  the  United  States,  district  of 
Texas,  on  the  I2th  day  May,  A.D.  1849." 

Copy  of  order  of  transfer. 

And  afterward,  on  Monday,  the  7th  day  of  June,  A.D.  1850,  the  following 
order  was  made,  to  wit : 

"  JAMES  N.  REYNOLDS,  \ 

VS.  V 

HENRY  M.  LEWIS.      ) 

"  This  day  came  the  parties  by  their  attorneys,  and  upon  motion  of  the  said 
plaintiff,  and  because  the  judge  of  this  court  is  so  connected,  in  interest  and 
otherwise,  with  one  of  the  parties  in  this  suit  as  to  render  it  improper,  in  his 
opinion,  to  sit  upon  the  trial  of  that  cause,  it  is  now  hereby  ordered  by  the 
court,  that  this  fact  be  entered  upon  the  record  of  this  court,  and  that  a  certified 
copy  of  such  entry,  with  all  the  proceedings  in  this  suit,  be  forthwith  certified  in 
the  circuit  court  of  the  United  States  for  the  eastern  district  of  Louisiana,  that 
being  the  most  convenient  court  of  the  United  States  in  the  next  adjacent  State." 

Well  might  Reynolds  move  for  a  transfer  to  New  Orleans.  Did  he  not 
think  (as  his  correspondence  has  already  disclosed)  that  he  had  the  clerk 
of  the  court  to  work  there  in  his  behalf  ?  Did  he  not  think  that  he  had  an 
approach  to  the  ear  of  the  court  there  ?  Did  he  not  have  there  the  influ- 
ence, the  official  presence  of  Judge  Watrous,  a  brother  of  the  bench  ?  In 
fine,  did  he  not  have  the  case  transferred  from  the  juries  of  Texas,  but  to 
have  it  removed  to  a  court,  where  there  was  every  augury  of  success,  it  mat- 
tered not  whether  by  fair  or  by  foul  means  ? 

I  have  already  directed  attention  to  the  participation  of  Thomas  M. 
League  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  land  company,  and  in  the 
advancement  of  its  interests.  It  has  been  shown  that  at  the  time  the  cur- 
tain dropped  at  New  Orleans  on  the  Phalen  case,  a  suit  was  on  the  instant 
instituted  by  League,  on  the  identical  test  land  certificate  that  had  just  been 
the  subject  of  the  suit  in  New  Orleans ;  thus  revealing  his  partnership  in 
the  common  iniquity  of  Judge  Watrous  and  his  "compeers,"  and  indicating 
his  position  as  a  prominent  actor  in  the  infamous  certificate  business,  that 
was  the  chief,  but  not  the  only,  subject  of  the  company's  operations. 

It  may  also  be  remarked,  that  Johnson  and  Hale,  the  attorneys  for  the 
company  in  the  Phalen  case  at  New  Orleans,  appear  also  as  counsel  for 
League,  in  the  consequent  suit  at  Galveston. 

It  is  to  be  seen  how  he  sustains  other  characters,  and  undertakes  other 
parts  in  the  wide  field  of  the  company's  speculations.  It  appears  from  the 
testimony  in  the  Watrous  investigation  that,  in  company  with  Robert 
Hughes,  the  confidential  adviser  and  favored  counsel  of  Judge  Watrous,  he 
assumed  or  simulated  an  interest  in  what  was  called  the  Powers  and  Hewit- 
son's  colony  grant,  and  undertook  to  bring  suits  in  relation  to  it  in  Judge 
Watrous'  court,  by  feigned  change  of  residence. 


552  Houston's  Literary  JRemains. 

The  grant  to  Powers  and  Hewitson,  the  empressarios,  included  a  large 
body  of  valuable  land  on  the  coast,  west  of  Galveston. 

Powers  expressed  an  unwillingness  to  go  out  of  the  State,  and  change  his 
residence,  so  as  to  qualify  himself  to  sue  in  the  Federal  court.  He,  too,  as 
League  testified,  had  the  common  affliction  of  being  "  afraid  to  trust  the 
juries  of  Texas."  The  difficulty,  however,  appears  to  have  been  solved  bv 
League,  in  concert  with  Judge  Watrous'  counsel  and  familiar,  Robert 
Hughes.  League  volunteered  to  go  out  of  the  State,  and  bring  suits  in  his 
own  name,  in  the  Federal  court,  for  a  share  of  the  property  to  be  recovered. 
Powers  furnished  the  subject  matter  of  litigation.  League  furnished  all  the 
money,  and  "  Hughes  was  to  do  the  legal  part  of  the  matter." 

The  plot,  however,  was  finally  disconcerted  by  the  decision  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  to  the  effect  that  League's  change  of  residence  not 
being  bonafide,  he  could  have  no  standing  in  court ;  in  a  word,  that  it  was 
an  attempted  fraud  upon  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court. 

It  then  became  necessary  to  use  another  party  in  the  matter,  and  a  gen- 
tleman by  the  name  of  Williams,  of  North  Carolina,  is  substituted.  Thus  we 
see  this  man,  bent  on  accomplishing  his  ends,  throughout  identifying  him- 
self and  the  counsel  of  Judge  Watrous  with  a  scheme  in  which  both  were 
only  acting  mercenary  parts,  using  the  word  in  its  broadest  sense ;  in  which 
he  was  hired  to  act  the  part  of  a  litigant  in  the  court  of  his  friend  and  part- 
ner, Judge  Watrous,  in  fraud  of  the  jurisdiction  of  that  court ;  and  in  which 
the  judge's  counsel  and  familiar  too  was  hired  under  a  contract  of  cham- 
perty, and  was  to  have  a  share  of  the  land  for  "  doing  all  the  legal  part  of 
the  matter." 

This  is  to  be  remarked,  as  the  first  introduction  of  Hewitson  into  the 
Federal  court,  and  will  shortly  lead,  as  I  shall  show,  to  the  development  of 
other  connections  between  him  and  Judge  Watrous  in  the  perpetration  of 
other  and  more  astounding  frauds  than  have  yet  been  disclosed. 

I  conceive  that  it  is  required,  in  order  to  complete  the  history  of  the  sys- 
tem of  frauds,  in  which  Judge  Watrous  was  prominently  concerned,  to  show 
further  the  connections  between  some  of  the  prominent  actors  introduced 
into  the  narrative  and  others  to  be  introduced,  in  matters  which  have  been 
the  subject  of  late  congressional  investigation,  and  of  fierce  debate.  I  cer- 
tainly do  not  propose  to  review  the  debates  that  have  taken  place  on  this 
subject.  But  I  refer  more  particularly  to  the  transactions,  which  I  shall 
proceed  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of,  of  the  obtaining  of  lands  by  Judge  Watrous, 
the  wrongful  use  of  his  court  in  relation  thereto,  and  his  participation  in 
fixing  a  forged  link  in  a  chain  of  title  upon  settlers  in  Texas,  that  I  may 
more  fully  show  and  illustrate  the  constant  and  pervading  connection  of 
parties  already  alluded  to  with  the  judge  in  attempts  to  plunder  the  citizens 
of  Texas,  and  in  administering  a  system  of  fraud  through  his  court. 

In  January,  1851,  we  find  that  two  suits  were  commenced  in  the  United 
States  court  in  Texas,  presided  over  by  Judge  Watrous.  One  was  entitled 
Ufford  vs.  Dykes  ;  the  other  was  Lapsley  vs.  Spencer  and  ten  others. 

These  two  suits  were  commenced  in  Judge  Watrous'  court  at  the  same 
term,  for  between  fifty  and  sixty  thousand  acres  of  land  each.  William  G. 
Hale  was  counsel  for  the  plaintiff  in  one  case,  and  Robert  Hughes  counsel 
for  the  plaintiff  in  the  other.  In  both  cases,  it  appeared  from  the  testimonv, 


Judge  Watrous^  Interest  in  the  Suit.  553 

the  property  claimed  was  owned  in  the  State  of  Alabama ;  and  in  both 
cases,  the  claims  of  the  parties  had  slumbered  for  nearly  twenty  years — 
until  the  first  term  of  the  court  of  Judge  Watrous,  after  he  (Judge  Watrous) 
had  obtained  an  interest. 

With  respect  to  the  Ufford  and  Dykes  suit,  an  attempt  was  made  in  the 
course  of  the  investigation  by  the  committee  of  the  House  to  discover  who 
were  the  parties  in  interest  in  Alabama.  But  the  inquiry  was  baffled.  The 
witness  who  was  examined  as  to  the  matter,  plead  his  privilege  as  an  attor- 
ney, and  declined  to  answer.  What  important  disclosures  might  have  been 
made,  had  the  question  been  freely  answered,  and  the  truth  relieved  from 
suppression,  is  left  to  conjecture.  It  was  esteemed  important  to  know  the 
connections  which  existed  in  the  inception  of  these  suits.  The  committee 
sought  the  information ;  but  they  were  stopped  at  the  very  threshold  by 
concealment,  leaving  the  whole  matter  in  suspicious  darkness. 

It  is  also  found  in  the  Ufford  and  Dykes  case,  that  William  G.  Hale,  the 
agent  of  the  fraudulent  land  company,  as  shown  by  the  correspondence, 
and  holding  the  most  intimate  relations  with  the  court,  is  counsel  for  the 
plaintiff,  and  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  case,  the  counsel  is  Robert 
Hughes,  the  confidential  friend  and  witness  of  the  court. 

The  same  question  of  title  existed  as  in  the  Lapsley  cases,  in  which  Judge 
Watrous  was  interested  by  partnership  in  speculation  with  the  plaintiff  to 
the  amount  of  one-fourth  of  the  property,  which  one-fourth  is  valued  at 
$75,000,  and  for  which  he  (Judge  Watrous)  has  never  paid,  and  never  was 
required  to  pay,  a  cent  of  purchase  money  up  to  the  present  time.  The  grants 
in  both  cases  had  a  common  title  ;  and  in  one  of  them  Judge  Watrous  had 
obtained  an  interest. 

It  may  be  observed,  too,  that  the  judge  professes  to  have  purchased  an 
interest  in  one  of  these  grants,  without  ever  seeing  the  title  papers,  on  the 
simple  opinion  of  Hughes,  "  the  best  land  lawyer  in  the  Union,"  as  he  en- 
thusiastically describes  him,  that  they  were  good.  He  was  willing,  as  he 
signifies,  to  accept  this  opinion  absolutely  as  true.  Now  this  Ufford  and 
Dykes  grant  had  a  title  identical  with  that  in  which  Judge  Watrous  had 
obtained  an  interest.  This  title  he  had  declared  to  be  good,  on  the  bare 
Assertion  of  Hughes.  He  thus  went  on  the  bench  in  the  Ufford  and  Dykes 
case,  fully  committed  to  an  opinion  on  the  title,  and  with  nothing  whatever 
for  him  on  that  point  to  adjudicate. 

I  now  request  honorable  Senators  to  accompany  me  to  a  scene  in  the 
United  States  district  court  in  Texas,  and  to  bestow  upon  it  but  a  moment's 
criticism,  in  order  to  perceive  its  significance. 

On  the  bench  is  his  honor,  Judge  Watrous,  surrounded  by  all  the  imposing 
circumstances  of  the  dispensation  of  justice.  The  case  of  Ufford  vs.  Dykes 
is  called.  A  jury  is  impaneled.  Before  the  judge,  as  foreman  of  that  jury, 
stands  Edwin  Shearer,  a  deputy  clerk  in  his  own  court,  who  is  the  agent  of 
the  judge,  who  was  consulted  on  the  subject,  at  the  inception  of  the  very 
scheme  of  fraud  at  Galveston  ;  was  present  at  Selma,  Alabama,  when  the 
contract  was  made  between  Judge  Watrous  and  others,  and  who  is  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Price,  a  partner  of  the  judge  in  that  transaction  ;  and  besides,  was 
not  qualified  under  the  law  to  be  a  juror.  It  appears  that  a  verdict  was 
rendered  thus : 


554  Houston's  Liter a/ry  Remains. 

VERDICT — Endorsed  :  "  We,  the  jury,  find  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiffs  for 
the  ten  leagues  of  land  described  in  the  plaintiff's  petition,  and  also  ten 
cents  damages. 

"March  10,  1854.  EDWIN  SHEARER,  Foreman." 

This  appears  to  have  gone  by  default.  Now,  to  obtain  a  default,  a  chain 
of  title  was  necessary  ;  such  a  chain  was  to  be  exhibited.  Yet  it  is  found  to 
be  admitted  by  counsel,  more  than  a  year  after  this  trial,  that  the  authority 
to  sell  the  land  in  suit — the  power  of  attorney  to  Williams — the  main  link  of 
the  title,  was  wanting.  It  could  not  have  been  before  the  court  or  the  jury, 
when  the  verdict  was  entered.  It  could  not,  for  the  especial  reason  that 
the  default  was  entered  in  March,  1854,  and  the  testimony  of  the  parties  in 
the  Watrous  investigation  shows  that  the  power  was  never  transcribed,  or 
withdrawn  from  the  land  office,  until  December  of  that  year.  Juries,  it  is 
to  be  recollected,  are  selected  in  Judge  Watrous'  court — not  balloted  for. 
Further  comment  than  this  is  unnecessary. 

This  default  was  opened  at  the  suggestion  of  Judge  Watrous,  as  the  judg- 
ment by  default  did  not  appear  to  answer  the  purpose  he  had  in  view.  The 
object  evidently  was  to  have  the  title  completed,  by  introducing  the  power 
of  attorney,  and  obtaining  judgment  of  its  genuineness.  And  the  fact  most 
striking  is  that  at  the  second  trial,  Robert  Hughes,  the  representative  of 
Judge  Watrous,  is  smuggled  into  the  case  for  the  defense,  and  very  kindly 
furnished  to  the  opposite  counsel,  William  G.  Hale,  Esq.,  the  power  referred 
to — the  very  link  of  title  necessary  to  defeat  him,  Robert  Hughes,  in  the 
defense  of  the  suit ! 

I  have  adverted  to  a  scene  in  the  Ufford  and  Dykes  case.  I  wish  the 
attention  of  Senators  to  another  scene,  transpiring  after  the  lapse  of  about 
one  year,  in  the  same  cause,  and  in  the  same  court.  Judge  Watrous  is  on 
the  bench.  Before  him  stand  Robert  Hughes  and  William  G.  Hale.  Con- 
template for  a  moment  the  position  of  these  parties.  Judge  Watrous  is  the 
owner  of  an  interest  valued  at  seventy-five  thousand  dollars  in  the  La  Vega 
grant,  which,  it  appears,  he  purchased  in  reliance  on  the  opinion  of  Robert 
Hughes.  To  Hughes  is  intrusted  the  defense  of  his  title.  He  is  the  "-sole 
counsel "  for  Lapsley  and  others.  He  stands  now  before  the  court  in  oppo- 
sition to  that  title,  as  "the  leading  counsel  for  the  defendant,  and  controlled 
its  management."  Here  is  Robert  Hughes,  the  representative  of  Judge 
Watrous,  interested  in  the  La  Vega  title,  standing  before  Judge  Watrous,  in 
opposition  to  that  title.  What  a  strange  and  anomalous  position,  surely ! 
Here  is  his  honor,  John  C.  Watrous,  on  the  bench  ;  and  here,  John  C.  Wat- 
rous personated  by  Hughes  at  the  bar.  The  case  is  called,  and  the  curtain 
rises  on  still  further  developments  in  the  scene.  The  plaintiff's  counsel, 
William  G.  Hale,  announces  himself  ready  to  proceed,  except  that  he  lacks 
the  power  of  attorney  to  Williams,  that  is  all-important  to  complete  his 
title.  Judge  Watrous,  through  his  representative,  or  Hughes,  as  represent- 
ing the  Judge,  supplies  that  want ;  thus  kindly  giving  to  his  opponent, 
Hale,  the  very  means  of  defeating  him  (Hughes)  in  the  suit ;  but  mark  you, 
the  means  also  of  sustaining  the  title  of  Judge  Watrous — for  the  power  of 
attorney  was  common  to  both  titles.  I  have  already  shown,  in  the  Cavazos 
case,  how  counsel  of  this  vast  company  were  introduced  for  purposes  of 


Collusion  of  Counsel  in  the  La  Vega  Suit.         555 

collusion,  and  for  the  betrayal  of  parties  who  stood  in  the  way  of  the  land 
speculations  of  Judge  Watrous  and  his  confederates.  Therefore,  this  is 
illustration  the  second. 

It  will  be  seen  hereafter,  as  I  proceed  toward  the  completion  of  the  nar- 
rative of  facts  I  have  undertaken,  that  the  power  of  attorney  alluded  to  plays  a 
very  important  part  in  the  scheme  of  fraud  by  which  Judge  Watrous  was 
attempting  to  appropriate  an  immense  tract  of  land  situated  within  his 
judicial  district. 

The  legal  title  to  the  La  Vega  grant  was  conveyed  by  League  to  John 
W.  Lapsley,  of  Alabama,  who  held  the  property  in  trust  for  the  several  'par- 
ties in  interest,  including  Judge  Watrous. 

In  the  deed  of  conveyance  there  is  to  be  remarked  a  very  singular  feature. 
There  is  no  general  warranty  of  title  ;  but  there  is  a  special  and  extraor- 
dinary warranty  given  in  the  following  terms  : 

"  The  said  party  of  the  first  part  (League)  binds  himself,  his  heirs,  and 
legal  representatives  to  warrant  and  forever  defend  the  title  by  this  inden- 
ture granted  to  the  said  party  of  the  second  part,  his  heirs,  legal  represent- 
atives, and  assigns,  against  the  said  Thomas  de  la  Vega,  and  the  party  of 
the  first  part,  the  respective  heirs  and  assigns,  and  all  others  claiming,  or 
to  claim,  by,  under,  or  through  the  said  Thomas  de  la  Vega,  and  the  party  of 
the  first  part,  or  either  of  them." 

This  warranty,  it  is  to  be  observed,  is  against  the  party's  own  vendor.  It 
applied  to  the  chain  of  title  from  him,  the  all-important  link  of  which  was 
the  power  of  attorney  to  Williams  to  sell  the  land.  It  shows  that  in  the 
transaction  at  Selma,  Alabama,  to  which  Judge  Watrous  was  a  party,  the 
power  of  attorney  was  a  subject  of  concern,  and  probably  of  debate.  It 
suggests  that  even  then,  by  some  of  the  parties,  the  denunciation  was  an- 
ticipated, which  was  afterward  made,  of  that  title-paper  as  a  forgery,  and 
a  forgery,  too,  in  the  procurement  of  which  Judge  Watrous  himself  had 
assisted. 

This  power  of  attorney  purports  to  have  been  made  in  the  year  1832.  It 
appears  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  prove  it  up  until  1855.  Thus  it  was 
kept  secret,  or  nothing  revealed  of  it,  for  about  twenty-three  years.  It  is 
true  that  Robert  Hughes  testified  that  he  withdrew  a  power  of  attorney 
from  the  general  land  office  in  1854 — twenty-one  years  after  its  purported 
date ;  that  there  was  no  mark  on  it  showing  when,  or  by  whom  it  was  filed, 
or  that  it  was  ever  filed  ;  nor  is  there  any  mark  or  evidence  on  the  docu- 
ment to  show  that  the  power  of  attorney,  the  present  subject  of  discussion, 
was  the  paper  withdrawn  from  the  land  office  by  Robert  Hughes — as  he  was 
careful  not  to  leave  in  the  land  office  any  copy  of  the  paper  he  withdrew. 

I  have  requested,  in  the  progress  of  this  narrative,  that  honorable  Senators 
would  regard  attentively  the  man  Hewitson,  who  appears  to  have  been  one 
of  the  heaviest  suitors  in  Judge  Watrous'  court,  and  a  partner  of  League  and 
of  Hughes  in  the  subject-matter  of  the  litigation,  and  of  whose  use  by  the 
court,  in  support  of  perhaps  the  most  monstrous  of  its  frauds,  I  promised 
some  revelations.  He,  too,  is  now  called  in  by  Judge  Watrous,  through  his 
counsel,  to  perform  a  service  at  the  sacrifice,  as  the  sequel  will  show,  of  all 
that  honest  men  hold  most  dear — such  sacrifices  and  such  service,  however, 
as  seem  to  be  the  price  of  the  Judge's  favor. 


556  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

In  the  case  of  Ufford  and  Dykes,  a  verdict  was  rendered  February  27, 
1855  ;  the  23d  of  the  same  month,  and  the  same  year,  Hewitson's  deposition 
is  taken,  de  bene  esse,  at  Galveston,  to  prove  up  the  power  of  attorney.  The 
order  of  transfer  had  then  been  made  to  remove  the  Lapsley  cases  from 
Austin  to  New  Orleans.  The  power  to  Williams  was  common  to  both  suits. 
It  had  been  managed  to  get  it  into  the  Ufford  and  Dykes  case  without  dif- 
ficulty, through  the  favor  of  Judge  Watrous,  and  the  evident  collusion  of 
counsel.  In  the  Lapsley  cases,  however,  an  attempt  is  made  to  prove  it  up 
by  Hewitson's  deposition.  Why,  I  ask,  was  this  done  ?  Why  was  the  dis- 
crimination in  relation  to  the  proof  of  the  power  made  between  the  two 
suits,  .unless  for  the  palpable  reason  that  it  was  considered  that  the  power 
was  not  in  a  position  to  pass  the  review  of  the  tribunal  at  New  Orleans  ? 
Thus  again  is  betrayed  the  ill-concealed  concern  of  the  parties  in  relation 
to  this  power  of  attorney. 

The  deposition  of  Hewitson  appears  to  have  been  taken  at  Galveston.  It 
is  to  be  observed  that  the  Lapsley  cases,  in  which  it  was  intended  to  be  used, 
were  then  in  transit u,  in  obedience  to  the  order  of  transfer,  and  that  the 
transcript  was  in  the  pocket  of  Robert  Hughes  at  Galveston.  The  deposi- 
tion was  taken  before  Archibald  Hughes,  a  son  of  Robert  Hughes,  an  agent 
of  Lapsley,  Watrous,  and  others,  in  their  land  transactions,  deputy  marshal, 
then,  or  formerly,  deputy  clerk,  and  United  States  Commissioner  in  Judge 
Watrous'  court.  Thus,  before  this  creature  of  the  court,  without  notice  to 
the  counsel  of  Spencer,  then  in  Galveston,  and  selecting  the  time  when  the 
suits  were  in  transitu,  it  was  managed  to  take  this  deposition  of  a  confeder- 
ate in  the  land  transactions  both  of  court  and  counsel. 

The  introduction  of  this  deposition  was  made  with  an  adroitness  and 
secrecy  characteristic  of  the  parties  who  managed  it.  They  were  governed 
by  constant  policy  and  secrecy,  that  seem  to  have  regulated  all  their  move- 
ments. In  the  Lapsley  suit,  as  in  the  Phalen  suit  at  New  Orleans,  they 
showed  their  appreciation  of  the  maxims  of  the  policy  of  Reynolds,  who 
advised  that  the  cause  should  "  go  off  quietly  ";  that  "  the  least  possible 
notoriety  should  attend  it,"  etc. 

Thus  was  the  deposition  of  the  confederate  Hewitson,  on  which  it  was 
sought  to  rob  the  honest  settlers  of  their  land  and  homes,  taken  after  the 
transcript  had  been  ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  New  Orleans,  taken  with- 
out notice  to  the  opposite  parties,  and  taken  surreptitiously  before  a  creat- 
ure of  the  court,  and  a  man  in  intimate  relation  with  those  whose  interest 
it  was  to  betray  and  defeat  the  settlers  who  claimed  the  land.  Remarkable 
coincidence — this  testimony  of  Hewitson,  in  support  of  the  power  of  attor- 
ney, is  taken  at  Galveston  during  the  trial  of  the  Ufford  vs.  Dykes  case,  and 
perhaps  on  the  very  day  when  Hughes  so  magnanimously  furnished  Hale 
with  a  copy,  and  stipulated  that  no  exceptions  should  be  taken. 

In  my  opening  remarks  I  alluded  to  "  the  deep  secrecy  v  which  surrounded, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  movements  of  the  conspiracy,  a  sketch  of  which  I 
have  attempted  to  give  from  the  results  of  long  investigation,  and  by  the 
lights  of  some  newly  discovered  evidence  on  the  subject.  I  have  pointed 
out,  in  the  progress  of  the  narrative,  instances  of  the  secrecy  and  cunning  of 
the  management  of  these  parties.  Every  means  were  taken  to  conceal  their 
steps,  and  every  opportunity  was  seixed  to  take  the  opposite  parties  at 
advantage. 


Hurry  in  Transfer-Suit  at  Austin.  557 

The  order  of  transfer  from  Austin  appears  to  have  been  entered  at  the 
November  term,  1854.  The  transcript  was  taken  by  Robert  Hughes,  with 
Hewitson's  deposition,  which  was  sent  him  en  routed  New  Orleans,  where 
the  cases  appear  to  have  been  filed  in  April,  1855.  When  the  docket  was 
called  there,  it  appears  that  Hughes  was  anxious  to  have  the  cases  disposed 
of  with  dispatch,  and  to  take  advantage  of  the  supposed  absence,  at  that 
time,  of  a  defense.  But  in  this  he  was  disappointed  by  the  sudden  appari- 
tion in  court  of  a  poor  settler,  who  had  traveled  all  the  way  from  the  wil- 
derness, over  hundreds  of  weary  and  painful  miles,  to  confront  the  artful 
despoiler  of  his  home  and  to  demand  justice.  I  will  let  the  poor  man, 
Eliphas  Spencer,  tell  his  story  of  what  transpired  in  the  court  at  New 
Orleans,  as  it  is  related  in  the  printed  evidence  taken  by  the  committee  of 
the  House  in  the  Watrous  investigation.  He  says  : 

"  I  think  he  [Hughes]  said  he  would  like  to  have  them  [the  suits]  tried  at 
as  early  a  day  as  would  be  convenient  to  the  court,  for  he  thought  there 
would  be  no  defense,  and  they  could  not  take  up  much  of  the  time  of  the 
court  in  trying  them.  After  that  I  got  up  and  said  that  I  had  come  some  six 
hundred  miles  to  defend  my  land,  and  I  wished  that  time  should  be  given 
me  to  prepare  my  evidence,  etc.  Judge  Hughes  observed, '  Oh,  Mr.  Spencer, 
I  did  not  know  that  you  were  in  court,  or  any  one,  to  attend  to  the  suits.'  " 

In  confirmation  of  this  statement  of  Spencer  of  the  advantage  attempted 
to  be  taken  against  him,  there  is  found  an  admission  of  Hughes  himself, 
made  in  a  letter  to  Lapsley,  written  when  he  was  in  attendance  on  the  cases 
in  New  Orleans,  April,  1853  : 

"  I  will  press  the  cases  to  trial  with  the  utmost  rigor.  I  do  not  expect 
there  will  be  any  counsel  here  for  the  defendants." 

There  is  something  here  of  almost  pathetic  interest  to  claim  the  earnest 
attention  of  this  honorable  body.  This  poor  settler,  it  appears,  had  planted 
a  home  as  early  as  1847,  °n  what  was  then  the  extreme  frontier  of  Texas, 
and  had  lived  through  hardships  and  dangers  difficult  to  depict,  until  at  last 
he  had  secured,  as  he  fondly  imagined,  a  permanent  resting-place  for  his  life, 
and  had  commenced  to  gather  the  fruits  of  his  toils  and  privations  to  sus- 
tain his  wife  and  children.  This  land  was  included  in  the  La  Vega  tract, 
and  he  was  the  principal  defendant,  representing  in  the  business  the  othei 
settlers  who  had  planted  themselves  around  him.  He  was  sued  in  every 
shape,  and  it  would  seem  that  every  ingenuity  of  his  opponents  was  taxed 
to  betray  him.  It  appears  from  the  evidence  that  the  suit  instituted  against 
him  at  Galveston  was  removed  to  Austin,  without  any  order  of  transfer 
having  been  made  in  the  case  ;  that  he  had  no  lawyer  employed  to  attend 
to  it  at  Austin,  and  that  when  all  the  cases  were  removed  to  New  Orleans 
and  the  transcript  carried  there,  he  heard  for  the  first  time,  and  then,  too, 
not  from  those  who  were  prosecuting  and  attempting  to  betray  him,  of 
Judge  Watrous'  long-concealed  interest  in  the  suits,  and  their  removal,  on 
that  account,  to  New  Orleans.  No  sooner  is  he  made  aware  of  this — no 
sooner  does  he  perceive  the  long-matured  conspiracy  to  keep  him  in  igno- 
rance and  to  betray  him  and  his  co-suitors — than  the  poor  intended  victim 
is  suddenly  aroused,  hurries  to  New  Orleans,  six  hundred  miles  away,  and 
confronts  in  the  court-room  the  confederate  of  Judge  Watrous,  for  his  ruin, 


558  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

at  the  very  moment  that  he  is  saying  to  the  court  that  the  suits  would  not 
be  defended.  Well  might  Mr.  Hughes  exclaim,  "  Oh,  Mr.  Spencer !  "  at  the 
dramatic  surprise  ;  and  well  may  our  sympathies  be  prompted  by  the  appari- 
tion on  the  stage  of  the  poor  man  come  to  save  his  home  from  the  grasp  of 
the  spoiler  ;  and  yet  at  last,  by  the  renewed  acts  and  influences  of  corrupt 
and  powerful  men,  he  is  turned  from  it. 

It  has  been  shown  that  it  was  the  expectation  of  Hughes  to  have  the 
Lapsley  cases  dispatched,  and  to  use  the  deposition  of  James  Hewitson  as 
to  the  execution  of  the  power  of  attorney,  taken,  as  has  been  seen,  surrep- 
titiously, and  by  a  fraudulent  contrivance,  before  any  of  the  defendants  or 
their  counsel  should  be  present  to  protect  their  rights  on  the  trial  at  New 
Orleans.  Under  any  circumstances,  the  only  proper  course  would  have 
been  to  attach  the  power  of  attorney,  which  was  referred  to  in  the  de- 
position of  Hewitson,  and  made  a  part  of  it.  But  this  is  not  done  ;  it  is 
found  that,  after  the  lapse  of  a  year  from  the  filing  of  the  deposition,  when 
the  trial  of  the  case  comes  on,  it  has  not  even  been  filed.  It  was  used  in 
evidence  against  Spencer,  and  still  not  filed ;  but  a  copy  appears  to  have 
been  substituted  for  it. 

Let  me  for  a  moment  regard  the  scene  in  court,  in  which  Robert  Hughes, 
who  had  constituted  himself  the  exclusive  custodian  of  this  paper,  comes 
forward  to  sustain  it  by  his  testimony  as  a  witness.  Here  is  the  represent- 
ative of  Judge  Watrous,  by  his  own  evidence,  establishing  the  genuineness 
of  the  paper,  as  that  which  Hewitson  had  sworn  to,  and  which,  since  that 
time,  had  been  in  the  possession  of  said  Hughes.  He  produces  the  paper 
from  his  pocket,  without  any  indorsement,  without  any  file  mark,  and  iden- 
tifies it. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  defendants  in  the  Lapsley  cases  were  deprived 
of  opportunity  to  protect  their  rights  against  this  forged  document,  except 
upon  presentation  in  court. 

Judgment  had  been  rendered  in  the  case  of  Lapsley  against  Spencer  on 
the  30th  of  May,  1856,  and  six  days  thereafter,  the  following  entry  is  found 
in  one  of  the  Lapsley  cases  remaining  over,  showing  the  anxiety  of  the 
parties  for  an  opportunity  to  sustain  their  plea  of  forgery,  and  evidencing 
the  persistent  attempts  of  Hughes  to  deny  them  such  opportunity.  I  read, 
from  page  649,  testimony  in  the  Watrous  investigation  : 

Minutes,  April  Term,  1856. 

"NEW  ORLEANS,  Friday,  June  6,  1856. 
"JOHN  W.  LAPSLEY  \ 

vs.  !•  No.  2458. 

D.  R.  MITCHELL,  WARREN,  and  JAMES  DUNN.  ) 

"  The  defendants,  by  their  counsel,  this  day  suggested  to  the  court,  that 
heretofore,  to  wit :  on  or  about  the  25th  day  of  February,  1855,  the  plaintiff 
herein  took  the  deposition,  de  bene  esse,  of  one  James  Hewitson,  to  prove 
execution  of  a  certain  power  of  attorney  purporting  to  have  been  executed 
by  Thomas  Vega,  before  Juan  Gonzales,  regidor  of  Leona  Vicario,  with  Jos6 
Nazas  Ortez  and  J.  M.  McMoral  as  assisting  witnesses,  dated  the  5th  day  of 
May,  1832,  authorizing  Samuel  M.  Williams  to  sell  the  land  in  controversy 


Opinion  of  Mr.  Justice  Daniel,  on  Appeal.       559 

which  said  power  of  attorney  defendants  believe  to  be  a  forgery,  and  having 
so  filed  their  plea  by  their  attorney,  which  said  power  of  attorney  has  never 
been  filed  among  the  papers  of  said  cause,  although  the  same  constitutes  a 
part  of  the  deposition  of  the  said  Hewitson,  and  that  the  same  is  yet  in  the 
possession  of  the  plaintiff 's  attorney;  and  thereupon  moved  the  court  to 
require  and  cause  the  said  power  of  attorney  to  be  regularly  filed  among 
the  papers  of  said  cause,  or  to  be  deposited  with  the  clerk  in  his  special 
charge  and  keeping,  subject  to  the  inspecting  of  the  parties,  that  the  de- 
fendants may  have  an  opportunity  of  sustaining  their  plea  of  forgery  afore- 
said by  procuring  witnesses  to  inspect  said  power  of  attorney.  The  plaintiff 's 
counsel  being  present  in  court,  accepted  service  of  this  motion,  and  waived 
time  to  show  cause." 


Minutes,  April  Term,  1856. 

"  NEW  ORLEANS,  Monday,  June  7,  1856. 
"  JOHN  W.  LAPSLEY 

vs. 
D.  R.  MITCHELL  and  WARREN. 

"  The  rule  herein  taken  by  the  defendant  upon  the  plaintiff,  to  show  cause 
why  he  should  not  file  the  original  of  a  certain  power  of  attorney,  having 
been  argued  and  submitted  on  a  former  day,  and  the  court  having  consid- 
ered the  same,  doth  now  order  that  the  said  rule  be  discharged." 

In  the  course  of  the  debate  in  the  House,  with  respect  to  the  charges 
against  Judge  Watrous,  considerable  stress  appears  to  have  been  laid  on  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court,  of  Lapsley  vs.  Spencer,  by  which  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  power  of  attorney  in  that  case  was  settled.  From  the  dissent- 
ing opinion,  however,  of  Mr.  Justice  Daniel,  the  all-important  fact  is  de- 
veloped, that  the  question  of  fraud,  with  respect  to  the  power  of  attorney 
had  been  taken  from  the  jury  by  the  ruling  of  the  court.  He  says  : 

••  It  seems  to  me  that  there  was  error  in  the  instruction  of  the  court  to 
the  jury  :  that  there  was  no  fraud  in  the  transactions  by  which  the  alleged 
title  to  the  land  in  controversy  had  been  obtained,  or  transmitted  to  the 
plaintiff." 

This  fact  is  of  the  highest  importance.  The  opinion  of  Mr.  Justice 
Daniel  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  which  manifests  careful  and  special 
study  of  the  questions  connected  with  the  power  of  attorney,  contains  so 
clear  a  judgment  on  the  subject,  that  I  may  conclude  what  I  have  to  say  on 
it  by  quoting  a  portion  of  the  learned  judge's  remarks.  He  says  : 

"  In  the  next  place,  with  respect  to  the  deduction  of  title  from  La  Vega, 
to  whom,  it  is  said,  a  grant  was  made  by  the  government,  by  the  decrees 
first  examined.  The  first  step  in  the  deraignment  of  this  title  is  the  paper, 
styled  the  power  of  attorney,  from  La  Vega  to  Williams,  dated  May  5,  1832. 
The  authenticity  of  this  paper  rests  upon  no  foundation  of  legitimate  evi- 
dence. It  can  not  be  considered  as  possessing  the  dignity  and  verity  of  a 
record,  nor  of  a  copy  from  a  record.  It  is  not  shown  that  the  laws  of  Texas 
required  it  to  be  recorded ;  and  without  such  a  requisition  it  could  not  be 
made,  in  legal  acceptation,  a  record,  by  the  mere  will  or  act  of  a  private 


560  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

person.  This  paper  does  not  appear  to  have  been  placed  on  record  ;  and  if 
in  truth,  it  had  been  recorded  in  a  proper  legal  sense,  still  there  is  no  copy 
said  to  have  been  taken  from  a  record,  or  certified  by  any  legal  custodian 
of  the  record  or  of  the  original  document 

"  It  has  been  seen  that  this  document  is  neither  a  record  nor  a  copy  from 
a  record.  The  language  of  the  instrument,  and  that  of  the  certificate  of 
Gonzales,  alike  contradict  any  such  conclusion.  The  certificate  declares  it 
to  be  a  copy  of  a  private  paper,  and  nothing  more 

"  The  irregularities  connected  with  this  alleged  power  of  attorney  seem  to 
me  too  glaring,  and  too  obviously  liable  to  gross  abuse,  and  tend  too  strongly 
to  injury  to  the  rights  of  property,  to  be  tolerated  in  courts  governed  by 
correct  and  safe  rules  of  evidence." 

Judgment  was  rendered  in  New  Orleans  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff  in  the 
suit  of  Lapsley  vs.  Spencer,  as  I  have  stated,  on  the  3oth  May,  1856.  After 
the  decision  of  this  suit,  it  appears  that  in  another  of  the  Lapsley  cases 
remaining  on  the  docket,  viz. :  Lapsley  vs.  Mitchell  and  Warren,  a  commis- 
sion was  taken  out  by  the  defendant  to  take  the  testimony  of  Tomas  de  la 
Vega  of  the  La  Vega  grant,  and  of  Jos6  Cosme  de  Castenado,  the  custodian 
of  the  archives  at  Saltillo,  with  reference  to  the  power  of  attorney  hereto- 
fore so  frequently  referred  to,  which  purported  to  have  been  made  from  La 
Vega  to  Williams.  These  depositions  were  returned  in  March,  1857.  In 
that  of  La  Vega  the  deponent  denies  ever  having  signed  any  such  paper  as 
the  power ;  and  in  that  of  Castenado,  the  custodian  of  the  archives,  the  de- 
ponent swears  that  the  alleged  power  of  attorney  was — 

"  Signed  only  by  the  alcalde,  Don  Juan  Gonzales,  and  Don  Jos6  Maria  de 
Aguirre,  and  not  by  Don  Rafael  Aguirre  or  Don  Tomas  de  la  Vega,  or  the 
assisting  witnesses,  wherefore  the  said  document  can  be  of  no  effect ;  and  that 
in  verification  of  all  that  he  has  stated,  he  refers  to  the  original  documents, 
which  exist  in  the  archives  under  his  charge." 

This  wa.s  the  first  public  declaration  made  from  Saltillo  of  the  forgery  of 
the  document.  Now,  suddenly  the  case  assumes  a  serious  and  startling 
aspect,  and  strikes  dismay  and  terror  into  the  ranks  of  the  conspirators. 
Orders  had  been  left  at  the  court  at  New  Orleans,  that  immediately  on  the 
receipt  of  the  depositions  of  La  Vega  and  Castenado  there,  that  copies 
should  be  sent  to  Galveston.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  however,  that  the 
parties  claiming  under  the  power  of  attorney,  and  represented  there,  knew 
very  well  what  the  import  of  these  depositions  would  be.  Is  it,  indeed,  to 
be  supposed  that  they,  with  a  property  worth  $300,000  at  stake,  which  de- 
pended on  this  very  muniment  of  title,  should  have  neglected  wholly,  and 
for  so  long  a  time,  to  examine  the  archives  at  Saltillo,  and  inquire  what  was 
on  record  there  ? 

The  storm  had  burst,  and  the  conspirators,  in  dismay,  are  compelled  to 
face  the  loud  denunciations  of  their  guilt.  Now  they  have  to  meet  the  brunt 
of  the  battle.  The  day  of  discovery  and  retribution  has  come  ;  and  collect- 
ing together,  serrying  their  ranks,  and  summoning  all  their  resources,  they 
prepare  desperately  to  resist  the  judgment  that  has  overtaken  them. 

Now  it  is  that  Judge  Watrous  is  observed  to  call  to  his  aid  all  of  his  con- 
federates. Now  it  is  that  the  whole  corps  dramatique  is  summoned  on  the 


Leagues  Shielding  of  Judge  Watrous.  561 

stage  for  the  grand  catastrophe.  Now  it  is  that  the  judge  calls  upon  his 
confederates  to  stand  by  him,  and  to  redeem  the  prices  of  his  favor  to  them 
by  the  most  unscrupulous  of  means,  and  most  desperate  of  services. 

Thus  it  is  observed  that  the  first  step  of  the  startled  plotters  is  to  gather 
around  the  judge,  and  attempt  to  protect  the  great  head  and  front  of  the 
conspiracy.  It  is  observed  that  in  attempting  the  desperate  defense  they 
hesitate  at  nothing.  It  is  observed  that  in  seeking  to  cover  the  judge  they 
expose  themselves  to  new  discoveries  of  guilt,  and  sink  deeper  into  the 
mire  of  falsehood  and  fraud. 

It  will  be  instructive  to  note  the  parts  which  the  different  confederates 
of  Judge  Watrous  take,  and  the  length  to  which  they  go  in  seeking  to  estab- 
lish a  defense  for  him.  To  commence  with  League,  one  of  the  closest  of 
his  confederates  :  when  examined,  in  the  course  of  the  Watrous  investiga- 
tion, he  strives  to  make  it  .appear  that  when  the  copies  of  the  depositions 
taken  at  Mexico  were  received  at  Galveston,  he  had  repeated  conversations 
with  Robert  Hughes  in  relation  thereto ;  but  that  Judge  Watrous  discour- 
aged or  forbade  any  conversation  with  himself  on  the  subject.  I  will  here 
'read  some  of  the  passages  from  the  testimony  to  this  effect : 

"  Question  (by  the  chairman).  You  spoke  of  having  received  a  copy  of  a 
deposition  from  the  clerk  at  New  Orleans.  You  received  that  in  Galveston  ? 

"Answer.    Yes,  sir.     It  was  sent  to  Judge  Hughes,  not  me. 

"  Question.    Was  Judge  Hughes  in  Galveston  at  that  time  ? 

"Answer.     I  think  he  was. 

"  Question.    What  time  was  that  ? 

"Answer.     It  must  have  been  in  the  month  of  April,  1857. 

"  Question.  You  are  certain  that  that  communication  was  sent  to  Judge 
Hughes  ? 

"Answer.     I  think  it  was. 

"  Question.  Whom  did  you  consult  as  to  the  propriety  of  going  to  Mex- 
ico for  Gonzales  ? 

"Answer.  With  Judge  Hughes.  I  might  have  mentioned  it  to  Judge 
Watrous  ;  I  think  I  did.  He  called  ;  but  whenever  I  attempted  to  say  any- 
thing to  him,  he  would  reply,  '  Go  to  Judge  Hughes ;  I  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it /'" 


"  A  copy  of  the  depositions  taken  in  Mexico  was  sent  to  Judge  Hughes  , 
Judge  Hughes  sent  for  me  immediately,  and  read  it  over.  Some  of  it  was 
in  Spanish  ;  but  he  made  it  out."  .... 

"  Question.  Did  you  take  from  Judge  Hughes  any  copy  of  the  depositions 
taken  in  Mexico,  impeaching  the  power  of  attorney  ? 

"Answer.    I  took  the  substance,  but  not  an  exact  copy. 

"  Question.    You  noted  down  on  paper  the  substance  ? 

"Answer.    Yes,  I  noted  it  down,  and  submitted  it  to  my  Alabama  friends. 

••  Question.    Did  you  note  that  from  the  depositions  before  you  ? 

"Answer.     Judge  Hughes  noted  it. 

"  Question.  Judge  Hughes  put  upon  paper  the  substance  of  the  testimony 
taken  in  Mexico  ? 

"Answer.    Yes  ;  and  I  think  that  I  added  to  it  something. 
36 


562  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

"  Question.    How  much  space  did  the  statement  occupy  upon  paper  ? 

"  Answer.     I  can  not  recollect.     Not  a  great  deal. 

"  Question.    Did  you  take  that  part  to  Alabama  ? 

"Answer.     I  did." 

Now,  it  appears,  in  relation  to  the  testimony  of  Hughes  himself,  that  at 
the  time  of  the  alleged  conversation  at  Galveston,  referred  to  by  League, 
he  (Hughes)  was  absent  from  his  home  at  Galveston  ;  that  these  two  gentle- 
men could  never  have  compared  notes,  as  alleged,  at  the  time  of  receiving 
the  depositions ;  and  that  the  first  time  that  Hughes  had*  ever  seen  the 
depositions  was  in  August,  three  months  after  League  alleged  to  have  been 
in  conference  with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  power  of  attorney.  Here  is 
the  testimony  of  Hughes,  establishing  these  conclusions  beyond  a  doubt : 

"  Question.  When  was  Hale  employed  in  the  case  of  Lapsley  vs.  Spencer  ? 

"Answer.  I  do  not  know,  certainly  ;  I  was  absent  from  home  when  infor- 
mation was  received  of  the  taking  of  the  deposition  of  Tomas  de  la  Vega,  in 
Mexico ;  when  I  returned,  I  was  informed  of  what  had  occurred.  The 
deposition  was  shown  to  me,  and  I  was  informed  that  Mr.  Hale  had  been 
employed  to  assist  in  the  case.  It  was  a  short  time  after  it  had  been  taken 
—two  or  three  months — that  I  received  information  of  it."  .... 

"  Question.    When  did  you  first  see  the  deposition  of  Tomas  de  la  Vega  ? 

"  Answer.  I  saw  it  at  the  time  I  spoke  of,  when  I  returned  home  some 
time  last  summer,  and  when,  as  I  said  before,  Mr.  Hale  was  employed  as 
assistant  counsel ;  that  was  the  first  time  I  saw  it ;  that  was  a  week  or  ten 
days  before  the  election  on  the  first  Monday  in  August." 

,Mr.  League  has  unquestionably  committed  himself  in  that  part  of  his 
statement  which  I  have  quoted.  It  seems  to  be  a  strange  and  impossible 
hallucination,  that  he  should  mistake  conferences,  which  he  undoubtedly 
had  with  Judge  Watrous,  on  the  subject  of  these  depositions,  and  of  the 
best  means  to  defeat  them,  as  having  taken  place  with  Robert  Hughes,  un- 
less he  regarded  them  as  Siamese  twins. 

The  most  glaring  contradictions  appear  in  this  man's  (League's)  testimony, 
as  taken  from  day  to  day  before  the  committee,  exposing  his  desire  not  so 
much  to  develop  the  truth  as  to  shield  Judge  Watrous,  the  great  head  and 
director  of  the  conspiracy. 

In  further  contradiction  of  the  statement  he  had  made  of  conferences 
held  exclusively  with  Hughes,  it  appears  not  only  that  Hughes  could  not 
have  been  a  party  to  such  conferences,  but  that  League  did  actually  con- 
verse and  consult,  at  the  time  named,  personally,  fully,  and  intimately,  with 
Judge  Watrous  himself,  on  the  subject  of  the  depositions  taken  in  Mexico. 
The  fact  is  drawn  out  of  him,  on  an  examination  some  days  subsequent  to 
that  on  which  he  denied  having  conferred  with  the  judge  on  the  subject, 
that  he,  the  judge,  advised  that  he  should  go  and  consult  the  Alabama  par- 
ties relative  thereto. 

With  respect  to  this  advice,  I  may  make  a  single  suggestion.  There  is 
but  one  course  that  is  probable  that  honest  men  would  have  adopted,  in  an 
alleged  discovery,  such  as  was  communicated  to  Judge  Watrous  and  his 
confederates,  in  the  depositions  taken  at  Saltillo.  Supposing  that  these 
parties  had  no  previous  knowledge  of  the  fact  of  the  forgery  of  this  power 


Deceit  as  to  La  Vegds  Power  of  Attorney.      563 

of  attorney ;  would  they  not  naturally  and  immediately  have  sought  the 
archives  for  information  and  evidence,  where  the  original  must  be,  if  any 
such  existed  ?  This  would  have  shown  an  honesty  of  purpose.  It  is  now 
to  be  seen  what  course  they  do  adopt,  other  than  that  which  was  natural 
for  innocent  men  to  take  ;  and  I  beg  the  especial  attention  of  honorable 
Senators  to  this  point,  that  they  may  determine  whether  the  course  of  the 
parties  evidenced  or  not  an  honest  desire  to  arrive  at  the  truth.  League 
goes  to  see  the  Alabama  gentlemen,  at  the  suggestion  of  Judge  Watrous. 
He  sees  Lapsley  at  Selma ;  tells  him  of  the  discovery  made  in  the  deposi- 
tions taken  at  Saltillo  ;  and  the  consequence  is,  that  Lapsley  gives  him 
$2,500  to  enable  him  to  go  to  Mexico  and  "procure"  testimony  to  sustain 
the  alleged  power  of  attorney. 

Now,  it  is  in  evidence  that  Lapsley,  who  professes  to  be  very  careful  in 
his  negotiations,  had  exacted  from  League  a  warranty  of  title  against  the 
particular  risk  of  the  validity  of  this  power.  League  was  reputed  to  be 
worth  some  seventy-five  or  one  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  his  warranty 
was  the  only  security  the  parties  had  by  which  to  save  themselves.  He  goes 
to  Lapsley,  and  tells  him,  in  substance,  "News  has  reached  us  that  I  am 
liable  to  you  on  the  warranty."  What  does  Lapsley  say  ?  Does  he  say  : 
"  I  entered  into  the  transaction  believing  that  everything  was  bona  fide.  I 
will  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  it ;  and  must  look  to  your  warranty  "  ? 
No  such  thing.  He  says  :  "  I  release  you  from  your  warranty."  He  gives 
up  and  renounces  the  only  chance  which  he  and  the  parties  he  was  to  rep- 
resent had  to  save  themselves  ;  but  not  only  this,  he  gives  to  League  $2,500 
to  pay  his  mileage  to  Mexico  ! 

One  other  circumstance,  too,  is  suggestive,  in  relation  to  this  warranty 
against  the  power  of  attorney,  the  link  in  the  title  from  La  Vega.  In  Mr. 
Lapsley's  testimony,  it  appears  that  it  had  been  greatly  urged  by  Judge 
Watrous,  at  the  time  of  the  conveyance,  that  League  had  hesitated  to  sign 
the  warranty,  and  that  Judge  Watrous  had  encouraged  and  pressed  him  to 
do  it,  saying :  "  You  can  sign  it  with  perfect  safety,  Mr.  League,  because  I 
am  satisfied  myself  that  the  title  is  good."  Yet  the  warranty,  when  so 
urged,  and  about  which  so  much  was  then  manifested,  is  found  to  be  released 
at  the  very  time  that  the  validity  of  the  link  of  title  for  which  it  was  given, 
is  called  in  question  !  and  without  which,  Lapsley  said,  the  bargain  would 
fall  through. 

I  will  observe  here,  that  in  all  that  I  have  stated  of  the  circumstances 
surrounding  the  alleged  power  of  attorney  from  La  Vega  to  Williams,  to 
sell  the  land  in  controversy,  I  have  not  designed  making  any  attempt  to 
prove  this  document  a  forgery.  That,  I  think,  is  indubitable.  But  my  ob- 
ject has  been  to  show  the  part  taken  by  Judge  Watrous  and  his  agents  to 
foist  a  forgery  upon  the  poor  settlers  they  were  seeking  to  defraud.  To 
accomplish  this  object,  I  now  proceed  to  a  continuation  of  the  narrative, 
resuming  at  the  point  where  League  returns  to  Galveston,  having  been  fur- 
nished by  the  Alabama  parties  with  means  to  prosecute  their  designs  in 
Mexico. 

From  the  printed  testimony  in  the  Watrous  case,  it  appears  that  the  judge 
was  fully  acquainted  by  League  with  the  communications  and  results  of  his 
interview  with  the  Alabama  associates.  It  was  the  judge  who  suggested 


564  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

the  employment  of  the  services  of  William  G.  Hale  in  the  emergency.  They 
are  accordingly  secured  ;  and  no  sooner  so,  than  Hale  calls  to  his  aid  John 
Treanor,  to  undertake  the  most  unscrupulous  and  desperate  scheme  for  the 
fabrication  of  evidence  in  Mexico,  to  suit  their  purposes.  Here,  it  may  be 
observed,  are  again  introduced  upon  the  stage  the  two  parties  who  were 
united  as  principal  and  agent  in  the  Cavazos  case,  to  direct  the  suit  by  their 
affidavits  and  their  collusive  management,  in  which  it  appears  that,  by  the 
judge  lending  himself  to  the  scheme,  they  had  been  successful.  Treanor, 
the  man  branded  as  one  "without  character  or  standing,"  is  prepared  for  a 
trip  to  Mexico,  to  procure,  on  the  best  terms,  such  testimony  as  he  can,  to 
sustain  the  power  of  attorney ;  he  is  joined  by  League,  and  Francis  J.  Par- 
ker, a  clerk  of  Judge  Watrous'  court. 

It  will  be  profitable  to  review  the  antecedents  and  relations  of  this  man 
Parker,  as  it  will  be  found  that  he  figures  in  several  important  matters  of 
fraud  and  chicanery,  conducted  through  Judge  Watrous'  court.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  reference  was  made  to  an  order  entered  in  Judge  Watrous' 
court,  for  the  exclusion,  from  the  regular  panel  of  jurors,  of  the  citizens  of 
four  counties  lying  on  the  Rio  Grande.  From  the  marshal's  returns  in  the 
comptroller's  office,  it  appears  that  this  order  was  strictly  carried  out  until 
January,  1856,  when  it  is  discovered  that  it  was  violated  in  returning  Mr. 
Francis  J.  Parker  as  one  of  the  regular  panel,  at  Galveston,  and  that  he  was 
the.  only  citizen  from  the  Rio  Grande  summoned  in  the  face  of  the  order, 
and  with  regard  to  whom  the  marshal  had  departed  from  the  rule  of  the 
court. 

Now,  why  was  Mr.  Parker  "selected"?  Why  was  he  selected  "two  or 
three  times  "  ?  An  answer  may  be  suggested  by  slightly  reviewing  the  rela- 
tions of  this  man  to  Judge  Watrous,  who  was  deeply  interested,  at  least,  in 
important  questions  pending  in  his  court. 

Parker  was,  in  the  first  place,  the  deputy  clerk  of  the  United  States  court 
at  Brownsville,  over  which  Judge  Watrous  presided.  He  had  also  been 
appointed  by  the  judge  United  States  commissioner  for  Brownsville ;  and 
is  now  an  itinerant  commissioner  on  his  mission  to  procure  testimony  in 
Mexico  for  the  establishment  of  the  forged  power  of  attorney.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  F.  J.  Parker  was  selected  for  jury  service  in  this  court. 
Edwin  Shearer,  also  a  deputy  clerk,  had  been  placed  on  the  jury  in  the 
Ufford  and  Dykes  case. 

The  progress  of  this  man  Parker,  in  acts  of  service  for  Judge  Watrous,  is 
next  traced  in  his  participation  in  the  attempt  made  by  the  judge  to  prove 
up  the  forged  power  of  attorney  in  the  Lapsley  cases.  He  appears  to  have 
been  the  selected  custodian  of  this  precious  document,  and  to  have  accom- 
panied to  New  Orleans  the  witness  who  had  been  obtained  at  an  expense 
of  $6,000. 

Still  further  he  may  be  traced,  doing  Judge  Watrous'  work,  until  at  last 
he  comes  forward  as  a  witness  for  Judge  Watrous,  before  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  to  sustain  his  honor  in  his  act  of  corrupt  oppres- 
sion, depriving  Mussina  of  his  appeal  in  the  Cavazos  case. 

But  I  will  now  revert  to  the  course  taken  by  the  parties,  League,  Treanor, 
and  Parker,  in  their  mission  to  Mexico,  with  respect  to  the  power  of  attor- 
ney. The  three  proceeded  together  as  far  as  Monterey,  about  seventy  miles 


Inveigling  of  Old  Gonzales.  565 

from  Saltillo  ;  and  from  the  former  place,  as  if  the  movements  of  the  party 
were  again  determined  by  the  old  anxiety  to  avoid  notoriety  and  attention, 
Treanor  proceeds  alone  to  the  scene  of  operations.  On  reaching  Saltillo, 
it  might  be  supposed  that  he  would  at  once  have  consulted  the  archives  in 
relation  to  the  power  of  attorney.  But  instead  of  exhibiting  an  honest 
purpose,  by  proceeding  at  once  to  the  archives,  and  comparing  the  copy 
which  he  held  with  the  .original,  he  directs  his  steps,  first  to  the  house  of 
Gonzales,  a  former  alcalde  of  the  place,  an  old  man,  partially  blind,  and  he 
exhibits  the  important  document  to  him,  and  prompts  him  to  give  an  opin- 
ion of  its  genuineness.  A  quarter  of  a  century  had  elapsed  since  the  docu- 
ment purports  to  have  been  made.  The  old  man  naturally  suggests  that  he 
will  go  to  the  archives — of  course,  to  examine  the  original.  Mr.  Treanor's 
reply  is  that  he  does  not  wish  this  ;  and  suggests  as  a  .reason,  "  that  the 
proof  was  to  be  taken,  not  for  a  Mexican,  but  for  an  American  court." 
Subsequently,  he  (Treanor)  does  examine  the  archives ;  he  goes  there 
alone ;  and,  it  appears,  for  another  purpose  than  that  of  examining  the  orig- 
inal of  this  power.  And  in  answer  to  the  inquiry  if  he  had  found  anything 
there  corresponding  with  the  copy  or  testimonio  which  he  held,  and  whether 
he  compared  them,  replied,  "I  compared  them  not 'very  particularly,  but  I 
saw  they  were  very  nearly  equal"  Not  very  particularly  !  why  not  ?  The 
matter  of  this  power  of  attorney  was  the  sole  object  of  his  mission  to  Sal- 
tillo. "  Nearly  equal "  to  the  testimonio. 

Such  is  his  testimony  before  the  committee  of  investigation.  Strange, 
indeed,  that  Judge. Watrous  and  his  astute  counsel  did  not  think  proper  to 
ask  the  witness  (their  witness)  in  what  respect  the  original  and  the  testimonio 
differed. 

The  proofs  of  the  forgery  were  too  plain.  Treanor  did  not  dare  to  take 
the  deposition  of  old  Gonzales,  before  the  authorities  of  Saltillo,  as  in  such 
a  case,  according  to  the  law  of  Mexico,  the  officer  taking  the  deposition 
would  have  been  required  to  give  notice  to  La  Vega  and  other  parties, 
whom  it  was  his  object  to  keep  in  utter  ignorance  of  his  machinations. 

It  therefore  became  necessary  to  take  Gonzales  away.  But  it  was  found 
the  old  man  was  not  willing  to  leave.  Here  Hewitson,  who  resided  at  Sal- 
tillo, who  had,  by  a  deposition  of  his  own  at  Galveston,  sustained  this  forged 
document,  and  who,  it  has  been  shown,  was  a  general  partner  in  the  system 
of  fraud  dealt  out  through  the  machinery  of  Judge  Watrous'  court,  is  found 
to  intervene  to  effect  the  object  of  Treanor's  mission.  It  is  eventually,  by 
his  persuasions,  and  by  that  of  $500  in  money,  that  Gonzales  is  induced  to 
accompany  Treanor,  six  or  seven  days'  travel,  to  Rio  Grande  City. 

After  Gonzales  was  got  as  far  as  Rio  Grande  City,  his  deposition  was 
taken  ex  parte.  League  was  bent  upon  making  the  most  of  this  old  man's 
testimony,  to  obtain  which,  it  is  proved,  he  has  paid  him  at  least  $1,300, 
besides  his  expenses,  and  was  desirous  of  taking  the  old  man  to  New 
Orleans,  as  he  said,  to  testify  before  the  court  there.  Mr.  Treanor,  for  whose 
able  services  it  is  also  proved  that  League  paid  $1,300,  over  and  above  his 
expenses,  and  further  sums  not  revealed,  is  appointed  to  prevail  upon 
Gonzales  to  go  to  New  Orleans.  League  assists  in  the  persuasion  by  decoy- 
ing the  simple  old  man,  as  he  himself  states,  by  pictures  of  the  "  progress 
of  civilization,"  which  he  would  see  by  an  extension  of  his  travels  to  New 


566  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Orleans.  It  appears,  however,  that  the  payment  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
dollars  additional,  which  League  said  was  to  compensate  the  old  Mexican, 
who  was  a  tanner,  for  some  hides  left  in  his  vats,  proved  more  powerful  in 
inducing  him  to  go  to  New  Orleans  than  the  alluring  picture  of  "  civiliza- 
tion "  with  which  he  was  promised  to  be  amused.  In  his  testimony  before 
the  committee,  League  says  that  he  promised  the  old  man,  if  he  would  go 
to  New  Orleans,  to  show  him  "  a  steamboat  and  a  railroad."  By  a  very 
wonderful  coincidence,  just  as  he  was  using  this  persuasion,  "  the  steamboat 
came  puffing  up  toward  Rio  Grande  City."  "How  pretty!"  he  said  ;  "we 
can  go  on  that  boat  and  be  taken  to  New  Orleans."  But  old  Gonzales 
cared  more  for  the  hides,  either  absolutely  or  constructively,  in  his  vats, 
than  for  taking  "  pretty  "  tours  on  "  puffing  steamboats."  Mr.  League  then 
tries  another  temptation,  by  offering  him  seven  or  eight  hundred  dollars  in 
the  shape  of  compensation  for  his  hides  ;  and  "  by  that  means,"  says  Mr. 
League  in  his  testimony,  "we  got  him  to  New  Orleans." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  what  boldness  is  displayed  in  the  actions  oi 
League  and  Treanor,  in  attempting  to  assert  the  validity  of  this  power  oi 
attorney  on  the  personal  testimony  of  this  poor  old  man.  Who  is  Gonzales, 
that  his  deposition  should  have  such  value  ?  He  is  without  official  station  ; 
he  is  the  custodian  of  nothing  ;  without  judicial  favor,  his  oath  can  amount 
to  no  more  than  that  of  any  other  ordinary  person. 

League,  Treanor,  and  Parker  proceed  with  the  witness  to  Galveston. 
Thus,  it  appears,  he  is  brought  to  the  residence  of  Judge  Watrous,  Robert 
Hughes,  and  William  G.  Hale.  It  appears  that  Gonzales  is  not  sworn  at 
Galveston  ;  but  he  is  put  here  in  charge  of  Robert  Hughes,  who,  in  com- 
pany with  League  and  Treanor,  carries  him  to  New  Orleans.  In  the  testi- 
mony of  Mr.  League,  from  which  I  have  just  made  some  quotations,  he 
makes  the  profession  that  his  object  in  getting  Gonzales  to  New  Orleans 
was  to  introduce  him  before  the  court  as  a  witness.  But  this  is  not  done. 
The  witness  is  taken  before  a  commissioner,  and  makes  another  deposition  ; 
thus  leaving  without  explanation  the  cause  of  the  removal  of  Gonzales 
from  Saltillo,  for  the  purpose  of  taking  his  deposition. 

On  page  461  of  the  printed  testimony  in  the  Watrous  case  will  be  found 
the  deposition  of  the  witness  Gonzales.  On  the  examination  in  chief  he 
makes  out  a  pretty  good  story,  and  shows  evidence  of  careful  drilling.  But 
the  cross-examination  which  ensues  reveals  the  most  melancholy  and  pain-^ 
ful  case  of  depravity  that  is  conceivable. 

It  is  only  with  feelings  of  the  strongest  aversion  that  we  can  contemplate 
such  an  example  of  open  falsehood,  and  glaring  and  painful  contradictions 
in  the  testimony  of  a  sworn  witness.  It  is  only  on  the  cross-examination 
that  the  fact  is  drawn  out  from  the  old  man,  on  presentation  of  the  power 
of  attorney  to  him,  that  he  can  not  read  it.  His  sight  is  so  decayed  that  he 
has  to  acknowledge  that  he  could  not  read  the  writing,  unless  drawn  up  in 
letters  as  large  as  those  on  a  street  sign,  which  was  pointed  out  to  him  over 
the  way. 

It  is  to  this  trashy,  miserable  evidence  of  this  poor  old  blind  man,  who 
was  procured  as  a  witness  through  Judge  Watrous'  suggestions,  bribed  with 
money,  and  drilled  so  far  even  as  to  make  him  suppress  the  fact  of  the  decay 
of  his  sight ;  it  is  to  this  revolting  example  of  the  purchased  and  perjured 


Conclusive  Proof  of  Continued  Fraud.          567 

evidence  of  an  old  Mexican  dotard,  that  Judge  Watrous,  in  his  answer  to 
the  committee  of  investigation,  has  pointed  with  an  air  of  triumph  for  his 
vindication,  and  for  the  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  forged  power  of 
attorney,  and  as  "  placing  it  beyond  all  controversy  or  debate."  He  (Wat- 
rous) is  certainly  more  to  be  execrated  for  the  defiance  of  truth  and  of 
decency,  in  endeavoring  to  impose  such  a  conclusion  upon  the  committee, 
than  the  poor  Mexican  driveller,  who  was  seduced  and  moulded  to  his 
purpose  by  bribery. 

To  cap  the  climax  of  effrontery  exhibited  in  the  parade  made  of  old 
Gonzales'  testimony,  but  one  circumstance  was  wanting,  and  that  seems  to 
have  been  Supplied  by  that  useful  creature,  John  Treanor.  At  the  same 
examination  before  the  commissioner  at  New  Orleans,  he  is  actually  intro- 
duced to  testify  to  the  respectability  of  the  deponent,  Gonzales.  The 
further  wonder  appears  that  he  gets  his  information  from  Hewitson. 

And  as  to  Hewitson's  former  deposition,  to  the  genuineness  of  the  powei 
of  attorney,  a  few  words  just  here  may  dispose  of  the  question  of  veracity, 
generally,  of  his  statements.  He  had  sworn,  in  the  deposition  at  Galveston, 
that  Gonzales  was  dead.  Yet  it  appears  from  the  testimony  that  Gonzales 
and  himself  lived  in  the  same  town,  and  were  well  acquainted  with  each 
other,  "  acquaintances  of  long  standing  ! "  It  is  not  necessary  to  canvass 
the  truth  of  Mr.  Hewitson's  statement  after  this  revelation. 

However,  the  monstrous  contradiction  introduced  here  affords  another 
illustration  of  the  boldness  of  Judge  Watrous  and  his  confederates  in  press- 
ing the  ends  of  their  conspiracy.  In  1855,  Hewitson,  who  was,  as  I  have 
stated,  one  of  the  heaviest  suitors  in  Watrous'  court,  is  at  Galveston.  At 
that  time  the  Lapsley  cases  are  in  transitu,  and  are  filed  and  tried,  within 
sixty  days,  at  New  Orleans.  In  this  emergency,  it  suited  the  purposes  of 
Judge  Watrous  and  his  confederates,  that  Hewitson  should  come  forward 
and  swear  that  his  townsman  and  neighbor  was  dead.  Yet  a  little  while 
after,  it  suiting  their  purposes,  they  have  the  extreme  and  almost  incredible 
effrontery  to  introduce  the  formerly  dead  townsman  and  neighbor  as  a  liv- 
ing witness,  under  a  certificate  of  respectability  obtained  from  Hewitson 
himself.  Can  there  be  any  defiance  of  truth  more  extreme,  more  unblush- 
ing, and  more  revolting  in  its  shamelessness  than  this  ? 

So  far,  I  have  followed  with  patience  the  general  narrative  of  this  stu- 
pendous and  far-reaching  conspiracy,  through  its  windings  and  devices.  I 
have  done  this  to  show  the  ramifications  of  the  plot,  and  to  illustrate  the 
boldness  of  the  actors.  That  boldness  I  have  shown  to  be  especially  dis- 
played in  the  desperate  attempts  made  to  impose  upon  the  courts  a  forged 
power  of  attorney,  in  the  procurement  and  benefits  of  which  forgery  Judge 
Watrous  was  largely  interested. 

However,  there  is  one  simple  and  summary  view  of  the  whole  matter, 
that  to  my  mind  is  so  conclusive  of  the  fraud  of  the  parties  in  the  La  Vega 
land  transactions,  that  I  can  not  conceive  how  a  rational  mind  can  require 
further  proof  of,  or  remain  in  doubt  with  respect  to,  the  existence  of  cor- 
ruption among  the  parties  to  the  sale  of  this  land.  I  will  briefly  express 
this  view,  and  I  will  challenge  upon  it  the  judgment  of  this  honorable  body, 
whether  there  was  fairness  or  fraud  in  the  transaction. 

I  refer  to  the  circumstance  of  the  monstrous   inequality  between  the 


568  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

amount  of  purchase  money  to  be  paid  by  Judge  Watrous  and  his  partners 
for  these  lands,  and  their  actual  value  at  the  time  of  the  sale.     And  I  wt 
start  out  with  the  well-settled  principle  of  law,  that  a  purchaser,  with  a 
notice  of  fraud  in  the  sale  on  the  part  of  those  selling,  becomes  a  party  to 
the  fraud. 

Here,  then,  as  the  evidence  shows,  we  see  a  body  of  sixty  thousand  acres 
of  choice  land,  worth,  at  the  time  of  sale,  at  least  §100,000,  with  land  scrip 
to  the  amount  of  "  ten  or  twelve  thousand  acres,"  sold  for  the  paltry  sum 
of  $6,200.  This  scrip  had  a  cash  market  value  at  the  time  of  the  sale,  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  equal  to  the  whole  amount  of  the  purchase  money  ;  but,  located 
on  a  questionable  title,  its  market  value  was  much  more,  which  would  ren- 
der the  La  Vega  title  an  absolute  donation  to  these  parties.  These  lands 
were  in  the  hands  of  trustees,  Messrs.  M.  B.  Menard  and  Nathaniel  F.  Will- 
iams. The  latter  was  the  brother  of  Mrs.  St.  John,  the  party  for  whose 
benefit  the  sale  was  made  ;  the  other  was  one  of  the  large  land  operators  in 
Texas,  and  both  were  intimately  acquainted  with  the  value  of  property  of 
this  description.  The  title,  also,  had  been  derived  through  Samuel  M.  Will- 
iams, also  a  brother  of  Mrs.  St.  John,  who  was  the  actor  in  obtaining  the 
title,  and  who  knew  all  about  it.  If  there  was  any  defect  in  that  title,  he 
knew  of  it.  If  there  was  a  reason  for  selling  it  cheap,  he  knew  of  it. 

Further  :  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  shortly  previous  to  the  sale  of  this  land, 
the  case  of  Hancock  vs.  McKinney  had  been  decided  in  the  district  court  of 
the  State,  wherein  a  title,  exactly  similar  to  the  La  Vega  title,  as  admitted 
by  Judge  Watrous  himself,  had  been  adjudged  to  be  valid.  So  identical 
were  the  titles,  as  the  testimony  shows,  that  it  may  be  considered  that  the 
adjudication  was  upon  this  very  title,  purchased  from  Williams  by  Judge 
Watrous  and  his  partners. 

Yet,  under  all  these  circumstances,  this  large  body  of  land,  worth  $100,- 
ooo  at  least,  and  the  title  to  which  had  just  been  declared  valid  by  the  dis- 
trict court  of  the  State,  is  sold  by  gentlemen  who  are  acting  under  the 
obligations  of  a  trust,  and  who  are  well  acqua'.ited  with  the  value  of  the 
land,  for  a  few  cents  an  acre  !  .  I  ask,  do  not  all  these  circumstances  com- 
bine to  show  that  there  was  a  known  and  acknowledged  defect  in  the  title  ? 
They  irresistibly  point  to  the  fact  that  Williams  knew  that  there  was  no 
power  of  attorney  from  La  Vega  to  perfect  the  title.  They  incontestably 
prove  that  it  was  a  corrupt  and  speculative  sale  of  defective  title.  Let  me 
place  this  question  before  honorable  Senators  : 

Suppose  that  the  action  of  the  trustees,  Menard  and  Williams,  or  her 
other  agents  making  this  sale  and  conveyance,  had  been  called  into  ques- 
tion by  Mrs.  St.  John  (for  whose  benefit  the  sale  was  made) ;  suppose  she 
had  come  into  court  and  had  said  that  the  sale  was  not  fair,  and  moved  to 
set  it  aside :  is  there  any  court  of  equity  in  the  land  that  would  have  refused 
the  application  ?  No.  The  inequality  between  the  value  of  the  land  and 
the  amount  of  the  purchase  money  is  too  egregious  to  be  overlooked.  It  is 
the  very  sign  and  badge  of  fraud  to  the  transaction.  It  proves,  beyond  the 
shadow  of  a  doubt,  the  knowledge  of  the  parties  of  the  defects  of  the  title, 
and  existence  of  a  corrupt  conspiracy  to  supply  this  all-important  link,  and 
without  which  it  was  wholly  worthless,  as  subsequent  events  have  shown, 
by  a  forged  document,  and  by  using  Judge  Watrous'  court  to  sustain  such 
orged  muniment  of  title. 


The  Judje  Falsifying  the  Hecord.  569 

And,  in  this  connection,  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  Judge  Watrous  not 
alone  received  one-fourth  part  of  the  purchased  land  at  the  trifling  consid- 
eration named,  but  also,  on  a  credit  of  five  years,  and  to  this  day,  after  a 
lapse  of  eight  years,  has  not  paid,  or  been  required  to  pay,  one  cent. 

Moreover,  there  is  another  most  important  circumstance.  I  have  stated 
that  the  grant  in  the  Hancock  and  McKinney  case  and  the  La  Vega  grant 
were  identical.  The  position  of  Samuel  M.  Williams  was  the  same  in  both 
grants.  He  had  sold  the  Santiago  del  Valle  grant  (which  was  involved  in 
the  Hancock  and  McKinney  case),  as  the  agent  of  Santiago  del  Valle,  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  had  sold  the  La  Vega  grant  as  the  agent  of  La  Vega. 
Judge  Watrous  was  also  interested  in  the  Santiago  del  Valle  grant  to  the 
extent  of  some  four  or  five  thousand  acres  of  land.  He,  the  judge,  was  rep- 
resented by  Robert  Hughes,  who  argued  the  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Texas.  Now,  it  appears  that,  in  the  Hancock  and  McKinney  case,  as  in  the 
Lapsley  cases,  there,  was  no  power  of  attorney  from  Santiago  del  Valle  to 
Williams. 

In  the  case  of  Hancock  vs.  McKinney,  "  it  was  admitted  that  Williams 
had  authority  to  act  for  Del  Valle."  This  is  reported  from  the  case — 
7  Texas  Reports.  An  opportunity  to  explain  this  singular  admission  was 
offered  Hughes,  the  counsel  of  Judge  Watrous,  on  his  examination  as  a  wit- 
ness before  the  House  committee.  But  what  does  he  say  ? 

"  Question.    Was  the  power  of  attorney  from  Santiago  del  Valle,  author- 
izing Williams  to  sell,  in  the  Hancock  and  McKinney  case  ? 
"Answer.    I  do  not  know.     It  is  a  long  time  since  I  saw  that  record." 

Now,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  this  active  counsel  in  the  case  where  his 
client  and  patron,  Judge  Watrous,  was  interested  to  the  amount  of  four  or 
five  thousand  acres  of  the  most  valuable  land  (situated  immediately  oppo- 
site to  the  seat  of  government),  would  have  failed  to  recollect  the  existence 
of  this  all-important  link  in  the  chain  of  title?  Thus,  as  in  the  case  of 
Ufford  and  Dykes,  so  in  the  case  of  Hancock  vs.  McKinney,  it  is  managed 
to  obtain  the  admission,  and  to  avoid  all  question  as  to  the  authority  of 
Williams  to  sell  the  land. 

So,  it  appears,  that  of  the  parties,  Judge  Watrous  and  his  counsel,  Robert 
Hughes,  at  least,  went  into  the  La  Vega  land  speculation,  their  attention 
directed,  especially  directed,  to  the  power  of  attorney  from  La  Vega  to 
Williams,  which  they  had  to  look  to  as  the  principal  link  of  title. 

The  investigation  touching  the  official  conduct  of  Judge  Watrous,  which 
was  had  in  the  Thirty-fourth  Congress,  was  made  in  the  most  deliberate, 
painstaking,  and  thorough  manner.  Distinct  votes  were  taken  at  different 
stages  of  the  proceedings.  Nearly  the  whole  available  time  of  the  session 
was  devoted  to  the  examination  of  the  records  offered  in  support  of  the 
charges,  which  records  in  fact  composed  the  entire  evidence  in  the  cases. 

With  respect  to  the  charges  assigned  by  Spencer,  the  committee  found  a 
verdict  against  the  judge,  and  proclaimed  that  "  he  had  given  just  cause  of 
alarm  to  the  citizens  of  Texas  for  the  safety  of  private  rights  and  property, 
and  of  their  public  domain,  and  had  debarred  them  from  the  rights  of  an 
impartial  trial  in  the  federal  courts  of  their  own  district." 

This  judgment  was  followed  up,  and  in  its  conclusions  enforced  by  a 


570  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

moiety  of  the  present  Judiciary  Committee,  in  whose  elaborate  and  con- 
clusive report  the  following  finding  of  the  facts  is  included  : 

"  That  while  holding  the  office  of  District  Judge  of  the  United  States,  he 
engaged  with  other  persons  in  speculating  in  immense  tracts  of  land  situ- 
ated within  his  judicial  district,  the  titles  to  which  he  knew  were  in  dispute, 
and  where  litigation  was  inevitable. 

"  That  he  allowed  his  court  to  be  used  as  an  agent,  to  aid  himself  and 
partners  in  speculation  in  land,  and  to  secure  an  advantage  over  other  per- 
sons with  whom  litigation  was  apprehended.  That  he  sat  as  judge  on  the 
trial  of  cases  where  he  was  personally  interested  in  questions  involved,  to 
which  may  be  added  a  participation  in  the  improper  procurement  of  testi- 
mony to  advance  his  own  and  partner's  interests." 

Into  the  merits  of  the  legal  question,  with  respect  to  the  appeal  sought 
to  be  taken  by  Mussina  in  the  Cavazos  case,  I  do  not  propose  to  inquire. 
It  is  indispensable,  however,  to  insure  a  clear  understanding  of  the  case, 
and  to  complete  its  history,  to  notice  the  matter,  and  to  read  here  the  judg- 
ment pronounced  on  this  branch  of  the  Watrous  case  by  the  following  hon- 
orable gentlemen,  composing  a  moiety  of  the  House  Judiciary  Committee 
before  alluded  to  :  Messrs.  Henry  Chapman,  of  Pennsylvania ;  Charles  Bil- 
linghurst,  of  Wisconsin  ;  Miles  Taylor,  of  Louisiana,  and  George  S.  Hous- 
ton, of  Alabama : 

"And,  finally,  they  are  prevented  from  having  the  decision  against  them 
reviewed  in  the  appellate  court,  by  the  failure  of  the  judge  to  perform  his 
full  duty  to  them  in  facilitating  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  appeal,  given  to 
them  by  law,  from  motives  of  public  policy,  for  their  own  private  advan- 
tage." 

It  appears  that  Mussina  applied  to  the  Supreme  Court  for  a  rule  for  a 
mandamus  against  Judge  Watrous,  who  had,  as  he  conceived,  refused  or 
defeated  his  application  for  an  appeal,  which  was  within  the  time  prescribed 
by  the  law.  To  this  Judge  Watrous  answered,  and  sustained  his  answer  by 
the  testimony  of  Cleveland,  Parker,  Jones,  Love,  and  son.  It  is  revealed  in 
the  testimony  that  William  G.  Hale  was  here  in  Washington,  on  the  spot. 
Mr.  Love,  the  clerk  of  Judge  Watrous,  says  : 

"  Mr.  Hale  sent  from  Washington  city  a  copy  of  Mr.  Mussina's  affidavit 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States."  "  I  got  four  or  five  affi- 
davits, and  enclosed  them  to  Judge  Watrous.  All  of  us  [/.  <?.,  Cleveland, 
Parker,  Jones,  his  son,  and  himself,  all  creatures  of  the  court]  agreed  in 
making  the  affidavits  on  our  own  recollection." 

It  is  unnecessary  to  review  the  testimony  of  these  witnesses  before  the 
House  committee.  A  mere  inspection  of  it  will  present  the  contradictions 
with  which  it  abounds,  and  will  show  the  changes  and  shifting  of  the  wit- 
nesses, according  as  their  recollections  are  refreshed  from  time  to  time  by 
Judge  Watrous.  It  would  appear  that  on  this  testimony  and  the  statement 
of  Judge  Watrous,  the  rule  for  a  mandamus  was  denied.  In  a  further  part 
of  the  testimony  taken  in  the  Judge  Watrous  investigation,  it  is  shown  that 
the  Supreme  Court  would  not  permit  the  truth  of  a  judge's  return,  in  a  case 
of  this  nature,  to  be  questioned  ;  "  that  by  the  practice  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  it  did  not  allow  a  question  of  fact  to  be  raised  on  the  return  of  any 


Collusion  of  the  Court  with  Interested  Witness.     571 

of  the  judges  on  a  rule  nisi  for  a  mandamus,  but  took  the  judge's  return  as 
absolutely  true  in  relation  to  the  facts."  I  ask  honorable  Senators  to 
pause  here.  I  beg  them  to  consider  to  what  this  question  of  appeal  from 
Judge  Watrous'  court  has  reduced  itself.  I  ask,  has  Judge  Watrous  proved 
himself  the  man  of  truth  and  honor,  that  his  word  should  not  be  permitted 
to  be  questioned  ?  Is  he  the  man  whose  statement  should  not  be  gainsaid  ? 
Is  he  the  man  to  be  continued  in  a  position  where  his  statements  are  to 
govern  and  override  all  contradiction  ?  Is  he  the  man  to  remain  on  the 
bench  ? 

It  has  been  shown  now  what  steps  were  taken  by  Judge  Watrous  and  his 
court  officers  to  baffle,  and  finally  defeat,  the  appeal  of  Mussina. 

Thus  was  the  right  of  appeal,  a  right  so  absolutely  recognized  as  essential 
to  the  interests  of  justice,  and  so  important  with  reference  to  public  policy, 
denied  the  petitioner.  Such,  indeed,  was  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  series 
of  acts  of  collusion,  tyranny,  and  oppression  which  had  signalized  the  action 
of  the  judge  in  the  celebrated  Cavazos  case. 

As  to  the  final  act  of  collusion  on  the  part  of  Judge  Watrous  and  his  con* 
federates  in  preventing  Mussina's  appeal,  the  judgment  of  the  committee  in 
the  Thirty-fourth  Congress  is  so  strong  and  clear,  that  if  I  could  afford  the 
time,  I  might  comment  at  length  upon  the  deliberate  and  atrocious  circum- 
stances that  mark  this  last  act  in  the  Cavazos  case. 

But  even  apart  from  this,  there  appear  additional  reasons  why  an  appeal 
was  not  taken  in  the  Cavazos  case,  even  if  it  had  been  possible  ;  or  why  an 
attempt  was  not  made  at  an  earlier  day,  despite  of  the  machinations  to  pre- 
vent it.  There  were  reasons  to  esteem  the  record  as  partial,  collusive,  and 
false  ;  and  a  party  might  well  hesitate  to  risk  his  case  upon  such  a  record. 
He  might  well  fear  the  effect  of  a  made-up  record ;  and  one  made  up,  too, 
as  the  testimony  would  show,  under  the  eye  of  William  G.  Hale,  the  chief 
actor  in  the  scenes  we  have  described. 

But  J  conceive  a  special  and  particular  reason  to  prevent  a  party  from 
risking  his  rights  on  such  a  record  as  that  in  the  Cavazos  case.  I  allude 
here  to  one  of  the  most  open  and  barefaced  acts  of  collusion  possible  to  be 
imagined,  having  been  countenanced  by  the  judge,  and  put  falsely  upon  the 
record,  so  as  to  operate  to  the  particular  prejudice  and  detriment  of  Mus 
sina.  This  circumstance  alone  will  furnish  an  ample  explanation  of  Mr. 
Mussina's  much-accused  delay  in  taking  an  appeal. 

It  appears  that  by  collusion,  and  in  defiance  of  law  and  justice,  Robert 
H,  Hord  was  called  by  the  complainants,  and  made  a  witness  for  them,  on 
the  trial  of  the  Cavazos  case.  Thereupon,  having  been  sworn  on  his  voir 
dire  to  testify  as  to  his  interest,  the  solicitor  of  Jacob  Mussina,  one  of  the 
defendants,  put  the  following  questions  to  him  : 

"  Have  you,  or  have  you  not,  any  understanding  or  agreement  with  the 
complainants,  or  either  of  them,  or  their  agent  or  solicitors,  in  relation  to 
the  determination  of  this  cause,  or  of  any  of  the  matters  involved  therein, 
adverse  to  any  interest  or  right  claimed  by  Jacob  Mussina  in  any  property 
or  rights  involved  in  this  suit  ?  Are  you,  or  not,  interested  in  any  such  un- 
derstanding or  agreement  ?  " 

This  question  Mr.  Hord  refused  to  answer,  and,  thereupon,  the  court  de- 
cided "  that  the  question  need  not  be  answered." 


572  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

As  to  this  ruling  of  the  court,  the  committee  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Con- 
gress say  unanimously : 

"  The  court  permitted  Robert  H.  Hord,  counsel  for  defendants,  and  wit- 
ness covertly  interested,  to  testify  at  the  hearing  of  said  case,  and  sustained 
his  refusal  to  answer  the  following  proper  and  legal  question,  intended  to 
show  that  he  had  a  collusive  interest  adverse  to  Jacob  Mussina." 

And  a  moiety  of  the  committee  of  the  present  Congress  sustain  this  view 
by  the  following  declaration  of  judgment : 

"  The  refusal  of  the  judge  to  compel  the  witness  (Hord)  to  answer  the 
questions  propounded  to  him  by  Mussina's  counsel,  and  then  permitting 
the  witness  to  testify  to  a  fact  material  to  the  issue,  and  in  opposition  to 
Mussina's  interest,  was,  we  think,  in  violation  of  law. 

"  The  action  of  the  judge,  in  the  instance  spoken  of,  seems  to  be  subver- 
sive of  all  recognized  principle,  and  to  admit  of  no  excuse." 

The  testimony  of  Hord,  which  the  court  admitted,  was  of  great  importance. 
It  went  to  the  main  question  of  the  genuineness  of  the  title  of  complainants. 
His  testimony  was  important,  as  against  Mussina,  and  others  of  the  defend- 
ants :  and  it  further  appears  that  with  Mussina  he  had  held  the  most  confi- 
dential relations,  having  been  his  agent  and  attorney. 

It  appears  further,  from  the  testimony  before  the  committee,  that  long 
before  Mr.  Hord  was  thus  examined  as  a  witness,  he  had  made  a  collusive 
agreement  with  the  man  Treanor,  who  was  acting  as  the  agent  of  the  com- 
plainant, Cavazos,  and  who  now  called  him  as  a  witness.  It  is  shown  in  the 
testimony  that  Hord  held  an  instrument  of  writing,  purporting  to  be  a  sale, 
or  contract  of  sale,  to  himself  and  partner,  of  the  town  tract  of  Brownsville, 
which  was  the  principal  subject-matter  of  the  suit,  which  was  signed  by 
John  Treanor,  as  agent  for  Cavazos  and  wife  ;  and  the  suit  was  continued, 
and  Hord  offered  as  a  witness,  simply  to  carry  out  this  fraudulent  arrange- 
ment. 

This  revelation  is  not  only  important,  as  going  to  show  the  collusive 
interest  of  the  witness  Hord,  but  it  throws  further  light  upon  the  wretched 
system  of  fraud  to  which  Treanor,  this  useful  agent  and  witness  of  Judge 
Watrous,  was  a  party. 

It  would  seem  to  be  an  excess  of  oppression,  thus  through  collusive  man- 
agement to  use  a  party  as  a  witness  against  his  client  and  friend,  and  to 
deny  him  the  privilege  of  examining  such  witness  as  to  that  collusion.  But 
the  record  is  falsified  still  further  to  take  advantage  of  this  testimony  ;  and 
Mussina  is  to  be  bound  hand  and  foot,  so  as  to  preclude  all  possibility  of 
his  contesting  his  rights  upon  a  fair  and  honest  record.  Not  satisfied  with 
foisting  upon  the  case  the  testimony  of  Hord,  as  a  witness  of  the  complain- 
ant, the  "  statement  of  proceedings,"  which  is  signed  by  Love,  the  clerk  of 
the  court,  makes  it  appear  that  this  testimony  of  Hord  had  been  offered  by 
Mussina,  and  other  of  the  defendants.  Love,  in  his  testimony  before  the 
committee,  in  answer  to  the  question,  "  By  whom  was  the  original  statement 
of  proceedings  made  ?  "  says  :  ' 

"  I  do  not  know  certainly ;  but  I  believe  the  original  was  presented  to 
the  clerk  of  the  court  by  Mr.  Hale,  for  him  to  verify  by  the  indorsements 
on  the  papers  filed." 


Interested  Parties  Controlling  the  Court.          573 

Thus  is  falsehood  added  to  falsehood ;  thus  is  the  truth  of  the  record 
prostituted  to  collusive  designs  ;  and  at  last,  by  its  falsification,  is  Mussina 
left  without  anything  on  which  to  hang  even  a  hope  for  the  recovery  of  his 
rights. 

Indeed,  every  circumstance  about  the  record  was  calculated  to  inspire 
suspicion  of  its  integrity.  The  translations  of  some  of  the  most  important 
documents  in  the  case  had  been  made  by  Hale  ;  and  although  he  was  not 
sworn,  he  was  allowed  to  withdraw  the  original  documents  from  the  file ; 
the  translations  which  he  substituted  were  admitted  by  the  court ;  and  thus 
again  was  the  record  of  the  case  governed  by  this  colluding  and  unscru- 
pulous attorney,  who  holds  an  absolute  conveyance  for  the  larger  portion 
of  the  property. 

No  wonder  that  Mussina  was  unwilling  to  trust  to  the  integrity  of  the 
record  thus  made  up  under  the  eye  and  direction  of  his  adversary.  Nor 
does  he  appear  to  have  been  timorous  without  reason.  Sir,  it  appears  by 
the  testimony  before  the  late  investigating  committee,  that,  in  a  suit  which 
he  instituted  in  New  Orleans,  against  the  parties  who  had  colluded  in  Judge 
Watrous'  court,  to  despoil  him  of  his  rights,  a  false  record  was  sent  up  from 
Judge  Watrous'  court ;  false,  too,  in  the  most  important  and  vital  particu- 
lar. In  the  examination  of  the  record,  it  was  found,  that  an  affidavit  had 
been  falsified  by  striking  from  the  very  middle  of  it  an  important  portion  of 
the  evidence.  Against  men  who  dared  thus  to  do  an  open  act  of  infamous 
crime,  Mussina  had  to  contend  from  first  to  last.  Other  and  glaring  evi- 
dences of  collusion  are  to  be  seen  in  this  "  statement  of  proceedings,"  and, 
indeed,  throughout  the  record  as  sent  up  to  the  Supreme  Court. 

It  appears  that  the  judge's  partnership  speculations  were  of  the  most 
various  kinds.  He  not  only  was  interested  in  the  fraudulent  certificate 
business  ;  he  not  only  engaged  in  speculations  with  a  company  of  profes- 
sional dealers  in  real  estate  ;  but  he  had  other  partnerships  by  which  to  sus- 
tain his  fortunes.  He  taxed  his  ingenuity  in  contracting  partnerships  of 
every  description. 

The  testimony  shows  that  he  even  obtained  partners  in  the  ownership  he 
claimed  of  a  patent  for  curing  beef,  and  of  an  extensive  beef-curing  estab- 
lishment. 

But  it  is  found  that  he  went  into  another  partnership  of  much  more  ques- 
tionable honesty  than  the  beef-curing  speculation.  He  became  connected 
with  Dr.  Cameron  in  a  silver  mine  of  Mexico.  This  partner  was  a  principal 
litigant  in  his  court,  and  had  heavy  suits  pending  therein  to  large  tracts  of 
land  under  Mexican  grants ;  of  course  it  became  the  judge's  interest  that 
his  partner  should  harvest  his  means  ;  and  to  the  extent  of  this  interest,  he 
necessarily  vacated  his  office. 

I  must  here  advert  briefly  to  another  gigantic  speculation  with  which 
Judge  Watrous  is  shown  to  have  been  connected.  I  refer  to  what  is  known 
as  Peters  colony ;  which  was  a  contract  of  colonization  of  more  than  ten 
thousand  square  miles  of  land  in  Texas.  William  G.  Hale,  in  his  corre- 
spondence with  Judge  Watrous,  from  which  I  have  already  read,  makes  allu- 
sions to  the  progress  of  negotiations  on  the  subject.  In  his  letter,  dated 
March  14,  1847,  to  Judge  Watrous,  he  remarks,  "We  have  had  a  long  inter- 


574  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

view  with  Mr.  Hedgecoxe  (the  agent  of  Peters  colony  grant),  and  are  arrang- 
ing matters." 

It  further  appears  that  the  Hon.  Caleb  Gushing  was  employed  as  the 
attorney  for  this  association,  which  is  known  to  have  numbered  among  its 
members  men  of  the  highest  station  and  most  powerful  influence  in  the 
land  ;  and  that  when  elevated  to  the  high  office  of  Attorney-General  of  the 
United  States,  he  gave  an  extra-judicial  opinion  in  favor  of  the  claim  of  the 
company,  which  will  be  found  in  the  published  opinions  of  the  Attorney- 
Generals. 

It  was  this  former  attorney  for  the  association,  with  which  Judge  Watrous 
was  connected,  who  was  called  to  his  aid  when  pressed  by  the  Investigation 
before  the  committee  of  the  House,  and  who  acted  as  his  counsel  and  de- 
fender throughout  that  emergency.  I  mention  this  only  to  illustrate  the 
ramifications  and  varieties  of  the  influences  brought  to  sustain  Judge  Wat- 
rous whenever  occasion  required,  and  the  extent  of  which  baffles  imagina- 
tion, and  leaves  us  at  a  loss  what  to  conjecture. 

I  will  here  bring  to  the  notice  of  this  honorable  body  a  letter  addressed 
by  one  of  the  managers  of  Peters  colony  grant  to  Judge  Watrous  after  his 
elevation  to  the  bench  : 

"LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  January  15,  1847. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — I  am  just  in  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  226.  ultimo,  and 
upon  presenting  it  to  the  trustees  of  the  company  who  manage  its  affairs, 
they  instructed  me  to  say  to  you  that  the  transfer  of  their  cause  by  you  to 
Messrs.  Johnson  and  Hale,  meets  their  entire  approbation.  Relying  upon 
their  knowledge  of  your  own  ability  to  select  for  them,  they  have  addressed 
a  note  to  Messrs.  J.  and  H.,  but  if  it  should  not  reach  them,  please  do  us 
the  favor  to  say  to  them  that  their  selection  is  satisfactory,  and  that  we 
hope  they  will  investigate  the  matter  thoroughly  for  trial.  Our  agent  in 
the  grant,  upon  whom  the  process  will  be  served,  is  Mr.  Henry  O.  Hedge- 
coxe, McGarrah's  post-office,  Texas — the  county  I  do  not  know,  as  the 
grant  has  been  divided  within  a  year  into  three  counties.  If  they  require 
any  information  from  us,  we  shall  promptly  give  it  to  them.  I  am  pleased 
to  learn  that  you  have  received  and  accepted  the  appointment  of  judge  of 
the  Federal  court  of  Texas.  I  do  you  but  justice  when  I  say  that  I  believe, 
from  the  reputation  you  have  among  those  whom  I  know  to  be  competent 
to  decide,  that  you  deserved  the  appointment ;  and  I  am  also  satisfied  that, 
if  our  case  should  come  before  you,  we  shall  have  both  law  and  justice  ren- 
dered us,  so  far  as  it  is  dependent  on  your  decision. 

"  Please  accept  my  best  thanks  for  your  attention  and  communication, 
and  believe  me,  very  respectfully,  etc., 

"  To  Judge  J..  C.  WATROUS.  JNO.  J.  SMITH." 

The  fact  is  thus  revealed  that  Judge  Watrous  had  been  counsel  in  this 
case  before  going  on  the  bench,  and  that  in  assuming  the  judicial  office,  he 
had  turned  over  the  business  he  had  been  managing  to  Hale  and  Johnson, 
the  attorneys  he  had  imported  into  Texas  to  aid  in  the  accomplishment  ol 
his  purposes.  The  writer  of  this  letter,  one  of  the  persons  who  had  em- 
ployed the  judge  in  this  case,  congratulates  him  on  his  promotion  to  the 
bench  and  says : 


Judge  Watrous  the  Ruling  Conspirator.          575 

"  I  am  also  satisfied  that  if  our  case  should  come  before  you,  that  we 
shall  have  both  law  and  justice  rendered  to  us,  so  far  as  it  is  dependent 
upon  your  decision." 

Thus  writes  the  client  to  his  lawyer  who  had  been  made  judge,  and  whc 
is  congratulated  on  the  justice  with  which  he  will  decide  the  case  in  which 
he  had  been  counsel. 

It  may  well  be  imagined  what  influences  this  conspiracy  must  have  pos- 
sessed itself  of  and  wielded  for  evil,  when  it  is  seen  how  a  memorialist  who 
dared  to  ask  for  the  impeachment  of  Judge  Watrous  has  been  hunted,  tra- 
duced, and  threatened,  to  deter  him  from  the  prosecution  of  his  remedy  be- 
fore Congress.  Leading  presses  have  been  subsidized  to  devote  their  columns 
to  his  abuse,  and  to  the  circulation  of  absurd  slanders.  Great  influences 
must  certainly  have  been  employed  to  procure  this  wholesale  and  unquali- 
fied personal  abuse,  when  we  reflect  upon  the  indorsements  Mr.  Mussina 
has  received  with  respect  to  the  truth  and  justice  of  his  complaints.  The 
assertion  of  his  wrongs  has  been  sustained  by  the  unanimous  report  of  one 
committee  of  Congress  ;  the  findings  of  this  committee  have  again  been 
indorsed  by  a  moiety  of  the  present  House  Judiciary  Committee,  and  those 
of  this  committee  who  dissented  have  been  willing  to  admit  that  they  had 
not  examined  the  charges  assigned  by  Mussina  with  care.  With  such  in- 
dorsements of  his  verity,  and  the  fact  being  considered,  too,  that  the  judge 
he  accuses  had  been  previously  charged  by  the  sovereign  State  itself,  what 
influences  may  we  not  imagine  to  have  been  employed  to  so  pervert  the 
truth  ? 

In  the  history  I  have  stated  of  the  conspiracies,  collusions,  and  frauds  in 
which  Judge  Watrous  was  an  active  party,  I  have  not  attempted  to  compre- 
hend all  the  malfeasances  of  the  judge.  The  record  of  these  might  be 
greatly  extended.  But  I  have  only  intended  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  most 
prominent  and  notorious  of  his  misdeeds.  In  doing  this  I  think  I  may 
claim  that  I  have  not  indulged  in  mere  assertions,  nor  in  any  statements, 
unless  sustained  and  accompanied  by  the  evidence.  I  think  that  I  have 
not  commented  with  violence  upon  any  of  the  revelations  of  the  judge's 
offenses.  I  have  had  no  disposition  to  indulge  in  denunciations,  and  I  have 
sought  only  to  marshal  the  facts  for  the  calm  consideration  and  judgment 
of  this  honorable  body.  With  respect  to  the  malfeasance  of  the  judge  in 
the  cases  of  Mussina  and  Spencer,  I  have  been  governed  in  my  statements 
by  the  letter  of  the  testimony  taken  by  the  House  committee  in  the  inves- 
tigation of  his  conduct.  I  have  followed  this  testimony  strictly,  I  believe, 
and  with  no  other  anxiety  than  that  of  arriving  at  those  legitimate  conclu- 
sions of  fact  which  it  inevitably  leads  to  and  warrants. 

In  drawing  to  a  close  the  brief  history  I  have  attempted  to  narrate  of  the 
frauds  which  were  conceived,  set  on  foot,  and  promoted  by  Judge  Watrous 
and  his  confederates,  a  portion  of  whom,  at  least,  are  known,  it  will  be  well 
to  make  a  slight  review  of  the  principal  facts,  so  as  to  hold  clearly  in  the 
mind  correct  and  proportionate  ideas  of  the  vast  conspiracy,  of  the  details 
of  which  I  have  spoken  at  length. 

It  appears  that  the  company  was  organized  on  a  scale  of  most  extraordi- 
nary extent ;  and  that  its  ramifications,  as  far  as  known,  reached  from  State 
to  State,  to  the  most  distant  points  of  the  Union,  and  that,  as  far  as  they 


576  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

are  unknown,  they  may  well  be  imagined  to  extend  to  existing  sources  of 
power  anywhere  in  the  country.  The  objects  about  which  this  combina- 
tion was  employed  have  been  shown  to  have  been  of  the  most  comprehen- 
sive and  varied  character.  But  seldom,  indeed,  has  any  record  of  crime 
offered  more  convincing  proofs  of  guilt,  or  displayed  more  numerous  and 
more  ingenious  varieties  of  transgression,  than  that  written  in  the  history 
of  the  Watrous  conspiracy. 

Every  object  that  cupidity  could  devise,  or  that  fraud  could  suggest, 
seems  to  have  been  embraced  in  the  designs  of  this  stupendous  company. 

It  was  its  object  to  plunder  the  public  domain  of  Texas,  to  seize  upon  it 
by  fraud  and  forgery,  and  to  fasten  upon  whole  communities  the  most 
audacious  frauds  ever  sought  to  be  practiced  upon  State  or  people. 

It  was  its  object  to  deal  in  fraudulent  land  certificates,  and  to  sustain 
these  dealings  by  corrupting  and  seducing  the  courts,  thus  adding  crime  to 
crime.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  most  open  propositions  of  corruption 
were  made,  and  the  traffic  was  carried  on  with  the  direct  countenance  and 
assistance  of  Judge  Watrous,  whose  agent  explored  the  bar-rooms  and  grog- 
geries  of  the  State  for  customers. 

It  was  its  object  to  conceal  their  operations,  and  especially  to  remove 
them  from  the  action  of  Texan  juries.  For  this  service  it  has  been  shown 
how  the  machinery  of  Judge  Watrous'  court  was  employed,  and  how  in  that 
court  the  great  suit  of  Phalen  vs.  Herman,  seeking  to  substantiate  these 
worthless  certificates,  was  instituted,  and  removed  out  of  the  State  in  less 
than  seventy-two  hours,  and  that  done  out  of  term-time. 

It  was  its  object  to  plunder  private  property,  and  to  secure  to  its  mem* 
bers  vast  bodies  of  lands  in  Texas,  and  to  despoil  the  settlers  of  their  just 
and  hard-earned  rights. 

It  was  its  object  to  acquire  interests  in  land  within  the  jurisdiction  of 
Judge  Watrous'  court;  to  further  these  speculations  by  the  corrupt  use  of 
that  court;  and  through  its  protection  to  escape  responsibility  to  Texas 
juries. 

It  was  its  object  to  have  the  federal  court  absolutely  subservient  to  its 
designs  ;  and  for  this  purpose  servile  juries  were  sought  to  be  selected,  and 
an  order  made  by  Judge  Watrous  to  exclude  from  jury  duty  citizens  of  four 
counties,  which  counties  embraced  the  chief  portion  of  the  company's 
known  field  of  operations. 

It  was  its  object  to  impose  upon  the  courts  a  forged  muniment  of  title  to 
a  vast  estate,  and  to  sustain  the  forgery  by  perjured  and  purchased  testi- 
mony. The  whole  history  of  the  forged  power  of  attorney  is  overwhelming 
in  its  evidence  of  the  black  and  redoubled  crime  of  Judge  Watrous  and  his 
confederates,  in  seeking  to  sustain  a  forgery  of  the  most  monstrous  descrip- 
tion, by  devices  of  fraud,  by  bolder  acts  of  bribery,  and,  at  last,  by  direct 
subornation  of  perjury. 

It  was  its  object  to  betray  suitors  in  Judge  Watrous'  court,  by  collusion 
between  the  court  and  counsel,  and  between  opposite  counsel,  and  to  divide 
out  among  themselves  the  gains. 

It  was  its  object  to  oppose  all  unfriendly  parties  who  attempted  to  sue  in 
the  federal  court,  and,  through  the  favor  of  this  judge,  to  practice  revenge 
upon  them,  to  strip  them  of  their  rights  and  to  mock  them. 


Duty  of  the  Senate  as  to  Judge  Watrous.         577 

All  these  stupendous  and  vile  objects  were  sought  to  be  accomplished 
through  the  subserviency  of  Judge  Watrous'  court,  and  by  the  aid  of  the 
corrupt  appliances  he  possessed.  The  whole  conspiracy  centered  in  him  ; 
and  for  the  sum  of  all  its  wrongful  acts  he  is  to  be  held  responsible. 

How  shall  this  fearful  responsibility  be  exacted  ?  This  honorable  body 
can  not  do  it ;  it  can  not  administer  the  punishment,  or  series  of  punish- 
ments, that  the  black  record  calls  for.  But  although  it  can  not  visit  a 
felon's  doom  upon  the  culprit,  it  may  banish  him  from  the  offices  of  the 
State.  The  least  it  can  do  is  to  deprive  of  further  opportunities  of  further 
wrongs  a  judge  who  has  disgraced  his  station  and  defiled  his  ermine  and 
stricken  dismay  in  the  hearts  of  the  people.  This  is  all  that  is  asked  for  ; 
simply  that  Judge  Watrous'  opportunities,  as  a  judicial  officer,  of  continu- 
ing with  impunity  his  offenses,  may  be  limited  by  the  passing  of  the  bill  I 
have  offered.  And  in  making  this  least  request,  I  appeal  for  your  compli- 
ance in  the  name  of  a  noble,  outraged  people  ;  and  in  the  name  of  interests 
which  are  even  higher  in  their  appeal  to  you — those  of  the  honor  of  this 
Government  as  residing  in  the  character  of  our  federal  judiciary. 

Mr.  President,  I  shall  for  only  a  few  moments  longer  occupy  the  attention 
of  the  Senate.  This  has  been  a  most  extraordinary  case.  It  is  one  that 
appeals  to  the  integrity,  to  the  consideration,  and  to  the  reflection  of  the 
Senate.  These  disclosures  of  criminality,  the  evidence  furnished  by  his 
confederates,  the  extraordinary  character  of  his  judicial  decisions,  his 
tyranny,  his  unprecedented  despotism  in  judicial  action — all  these  things 
seem  to  present  it  as  the  only  alternative  that  we  should  get  rid  of  this  man 
in  some  way. 

Why,  sir,  the  temptations  of  twenty-four  million  acres  of  public  domain^ 
and  the  corrupting  influences  of  a  combination  so  extensive  and  extraordi- 
nary as  this  has  been,  are  calculated  to  engulf  all  the  interests  of  the  State. 
There  is  a  mode  of  remedy  that  has  heretofore  been  resorted  to,  and  can 
be  again.  By  consolidating  the  two  judicial  districts  of  Texas  into  one,  we 
can  get  rid  of  this  intolerable  incubus ;  we  can  divest  ourselves  of  this 
calamity.  Texas,  in  all  that  she  has  ever  felt  in  her  days  of  extreme  excite- 
ment to  the  present  day,  has  never  felt  so  keenly  the  afflictions  of  revolu- 
tion as  she  feels  this  moral  curse  and  this  judicial  iniquity  upon  her.  She 
has  passed  through  many  trials,  but  none  that  compare  to  this.  This  prom- 
ises an  interminable  duration  :  we  know  not  when  we  are  to  get  rid  of  it. 
Twenty-four  million  acres  of  land !  there  is  magic  in  its  sound — magic  in 
the  number  of  acres.  It  is  a  kingdom  ;  it  is  an  empire  worth  fighting  for ; 
and  it  will  be  fought  for;,  and  it  admits  of  divisions  and  subdivisions. 
Where  it  is  to  go,  through  what  ramifications  it  is  to  run,  no  one  knows. 
No  one  knows  the  artifice  that  is  now  used,  and  the  means  that  are  to  be 
employed  in  these  and  other  speculations  in  Texas  referred  to.  Sir,  rid  us  of 
this  man  ;  give  us  an  honest  judicial  officer.  The  people  of  Texas,  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  descent,  are  an  honest  people.  It  is  that  which  causes  them  to  feel 
this  curse  with  tenfold  wretchedness.  They  are  not  capricious.  No  other 
people,  with  the  manifest  outrages  that  have  been  there  committed,  would 
tolerate  this  man  to  sit  on  a  judicial  bench,  and  to  remain  in  a  position 
where  he  could  soil  his  ermine,  and  attach  infamy  to  his  office.  Sir,  our 
people  have  been  always  submissive  to  law,  or  enough  of  them  to  maintain 
37 


578  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

the  solidity  of  our  community ;  and  though  men  have  gone  there  in  other 
days — and  I  was  among  the  first  emigrants— who  may  not  have  lived  here 
under  the  most  favorable  and  delightful  circumstances,  yet  they  have  united 
all  their  energies,  they  have  made  themselves  a  people,  and  they  deserve  to 
be  considered  as  such. 

The  gentlemen  who  have  thought  proper  to  reflect  on  their  character, 
and  even  this  judge  himself,  would  find  that  they  themselves  would  come 
up  to  a  very  low  standard  of  Texan  morality.  I  insist  that  we  be  relieved 
from  this  judicial  monster,  that  has  disgraced  the  judicial  system  of  our 
Government  more  than  any  man  has  ever  before  done,  and  whose  crimes 
are  but  partially  exposed  to  the  public,  notwithstanding  he  has  sunk  deep, 
deep  in  the  slough  of  infamy.  I  wish  this  bill  read. 


SPEECH  REFUTING  CALUMNIES  PRODUCED  AND  CIRCULATED 
AGAINST  HIS  CHARACTER  AS  COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF  OF 
THE  ARMY  OF  TEXAS. 

Delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  February  28,  1859. 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Within  a  very  few  days,  Mr.  President,  my  political  life  will 
terminate.  Previous  to  that  event,  I  deem  it  due  to  myself,  and  to  the  truth  of 
history,  as  well  as  to  posterity,  that  I  should  be  indulged  in  vindicating  myself 
against  uncalled-for  charges  and  unjustifiable  defamation.  Were  it  necessary, 
in  retiring  from  official  position,  to  cite  illustrious  examples  for  such  a  course,  I 
could  cite  that  of  General  Washington,  who  felt  it  necessary,  with  his  large,  his 
immeasurable  renown,  to  offer  a  refutation  of  anonymous  calumnies  which  had 
been  circulated  against  him,  and  to  specify  the  particular  facts  in  relation  to 
them.  I  find,  too,  that  General  Jackson,  in  his  lifetime,  deemed  it  proper  to  file  • 
a  vindication  of  himself,  which  was  not  disclosed  until  after  his  decease.  Not 
wishing  to  place  myself  in  a  category  with  these  illustrious  men,  I  nevertheless 
feel  that  it  is  due  to  myself  that  I  should  vindicate  my  character  from  the  attacks 
that  have  been  made  upon  me.  Within  the  next  month,  I  shall  have  served 
my  country,  with  few  intervals,  for  a  period  of  forty-six  years.  How  that  service 
has  been  performed,  I  leave  to  posterity  to  determine.  My  only  desire  is,  that 
truth  shall  be  vindicated,  and  that  I  may  stand  upon  that  foundation,  so  far  as 
posterity  may  be  concerned  with  my  action,  that  they  may  have  an  opportunity 
of  drawing  truthful  deductions.  Either  of  the  illustrious  patriots  referred  to 
might  have  spared  much  of  their  world-renowned  distinction,  and  yet  have  had 
a  world-wide  fame  left.  More  humble  in  my  sphere  than  they  were,  more  cir- 
cumscribed than  they,  I  feel  that  it  is  the  more  necessary  for  me  to  vindicate 
what  may  justly  attach  to  me,  from  the  fact  that  I  leave  a  posterity,  and  from 
that  circumstance  I  feel  a  superadded  obligation.  Neither  of  those  illustrious 
men  left  posterity.  I  shall  leave  a  posterity  that  have  to  inherit  either  my  good 
name,  based  upon  truth,  or  that  which  necessarily  results  to  a  character  that  is 
not  unspotted  in  its  public  relations.  I  have  been  careless  of  replying  to  these 
things  for  years.  I  believe  no  less  than  ten  or  fifteen  books  have  been  written 


Calumnies  as  to  Battle  of  San  Jacinto.          579 

defamatory  of  me,  and  I  had  hoped,  having  passed  them  with  very  little  obser- 
vation, that,  as  I  approached  the  close  of  my  political  term,  and  was  about  to 
retire  to  the  shades  of  private  life,  I  should  be  permitted  to  enjoy  that  retirement 
in  tranquillity ;  that  my  defamers  would  not  pursue  me  there  with  the  rancor 
and  hatred  with  which  they  pursue  an  aspiring  politician  whom  they  wish  to  sink 
or  depress.  I  could  see  no  reason  for  their  continued  efforts  to  detract  from  my 
fairly-earned  reputation. 

Mr.  President,  these  were  fond  anticipations,  and  they  were  delightful  to 
cherish.  I  entertained  them  with  cordiality ;  they  were  welcome  to  my  heart. 
But  I  find  recently,  and  that  is  it  to  which  my  observation  is  immediately 
directed,  a  production  purporting  to  be  a  Texas  Almanac,  which  contains  what 
is  said  to  be  a  narrative  of  the  "  campaign  of  San  Jacinto."  It  has  a  name  at- 
tached to  it,  and  purports  to  be  taken  from  the  diary  of  a  gentleman  who  has  the 
prefix  of  "  Doctor  "  to  his  name,  to  give  it  weight  in  society.  The  individual  is 
unknown.  He  is  a  poor  dupe,  ignorant,  I  presume,  of  the  contents  of  the  paper 
which  bears  his  name.  It  is  possible  that  he  never  knew  a  word  it  contained. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  think  otherwise ;  for  one  avenue  to  his  understanding,  he 
being  profoundly  deaf,  has  for  many  years  been  closed,  and  he  has  given  a  posi 
tive  contradiction  to  the  parts  of  his  paper  that  were  considered  the  most  pointed 
and  important. 

The  object  was  to  assail  my  reputation,  and  to  show  that  the  battle  of  San 
Jacinto,  and  all  the  preceding  acts  of  generalship  connected  with  that  event,  had 
been  forced  upon  the  General,  and  that  really,  on  that  occasion,  he  had  acted 
with  a  delicacy  unbecoming  a  rugged  soldier.  This  is  the  design.  How  far  it 
will  be  successful,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say ;  but  it  is  strange  that  such  a  mass  of 
this  work  should  be  produced.  I  perceive  that  no  less  than  twenty-five  thousand 
copies  of  it  are  to  be  circulated  in  the  character  of  a  book.  It  would  be  rather 
imposing,  bound  in  cloth  or  leather,  but  in  paper  it  is  not  so  very  important ; 
but  still  there  is  something  very  ostensible  about  it. 

My  object,  on  this  occasion,  will  be  to  show  the  true  state  of  facts  connected 
with  that  campaign,  and  with  the  wars  of  Texas.  It  is  a  subject  which  I  had 
hoped  was  passed  by  forever,  and  would  never  again  come  under  review,  par- 
ticularly my  having  had  any  connection  with  it.  I  had  desired  that  it  would 
cease  forever,  so  far  as  I  was  concerned,  and  that  I  should  never  be  placed  in  a 
position  in  which  I  should  seem  to  be  fighting  my  battles  over  again.  They 
have  not  been  so  numerous,  or  so  illustrious,  that  I  should  recall  them  with  any 
more  pleasure  than  that  which  arises  from  having  rendered  yeoman  service  to 
my  country,  and  rendered  every  duty  that  patriotism  demanded.  I  had  hoped, 
therefore,  that  I  should  be  spared  this  occasion  of  presenting  myself  before  the 
public.  In  treating  of  the  subject  now,  I  will  speak  of  the  General  and  Com- 
mander-in-chief in  the  third  person,  for  I  do  not  like  the  pronoun  /,  so  often 
repeated  as  would  otherwise  be  necessary,  and  I  shall  give  it  that  character 
which  I  think  will  be  most  seemly  and  acceptable. 

It  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  announce  the  fact  that,  on  the  2d  of  March, 
1836,  the  declaration  of  Texan  independence  was  proclaimed.  The  condition  of 
the  country  at  that  time  I  will  not  particularly  explain ;  but  a  provisional  gov- 
ernment had  existed  previous  to  that  time.  In  December,  1835,"  when  the 
troubles  first  began  in  Texas,  in  the  inception  of  its  revolution,  Houston  was 
appointed  Major-General  of  the  forces  by  the  consultation  then  in  session  at 


580  Houston }s  Literary  Remains. 

San  Felipe.  He  remained  in  that  position.  A  delegate  from  each  municipality, 
or  what  would  correspond  to  counties  here,  was  to  constitute  a  Government, 
with  a  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  Council.  They  had  the  power  of 
the  country.  An  army  was  requisite,  and  means  were  necessary  to  sustain  the 
revolution.  This  was  the  first  organization  of  anything  like  a  Government, 
which  absorbed  the  power  that  had  previously  existed  in  committees  of  vigi- 
lance and  safety  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  When  the  general  was 
appointed,  his  first  act  was  to  organize  a  force  to  repel  an  invading  army  which 
he  was  satisfied  would  advance  upon  Texas.  A  rendezvous  had  been  established, 
at  which  the  drilling  and  organization  of  the  troops  was  to  take  place,  and  officers 
were  sent  to  their  respective  posts  for  the  purpose  of  recruiting  men.  Colonel 
Fannin  was  appointed  at  Matagorda,  to  superintend  that  district,  second  in  com- 
mand to  the  General-in-chief ;  and  he  remained  there  until  the  gallant  band 
from  Alabama  and  Georgia  visited  that  country.  They  were  volunteers  under 
Colonels  Ward,  Shackleford,  Duvall,  and  other  illustrious  names.  When  they 
arrived,  Colonel  Fannin,  disregarding  the  orders  of  the  Commander-in-chief, 
became,  by  countenance  of  the  council,  a  candidate  for  commander  of  the  volun- 
teers; Some  four  or  five  hundred  of  them  had  arrived,  all  equipped  and  disci- 
plined ;  men  of  intelligence,  men  of  character,  men  of  chivalry  and  of  honor. 
A  more  gallant  band  never  graced  the  American  soil  in  defense  of  liberty.  He 
was  selected  ;  and  the  project  of  the  council  was  to  invade  Matamoras,  under 
the  auspices  of  Fannin.  San  Antonio  had  been  taken  in  1835.  Troops  were  to 
remain  there.  It  was  a  post  more  than  seventy  miles  from  any  colonies  or  set- 
tlements by  the  Americans.  It  was  a  Spanish  town  or  city,  with  many  thou- 
sand population,  and  very  few  Americans.  The  Alamo  was  nothing  more  than 
a  church,  and  derived  its  cognomen  from  the  fact  of  its  being  surrounded  by 
poplars  or  cotton-wood  trees.  The  Alamo  was  known  as  a  fortress  since  the 
Mexican  revolution  in  1812.  The  troops  remained  at  Bexar  until  about  the  last 
of  December. 

The  council,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  Governor,  and  without  the  con- 
currence of  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  had  secretly  sent  orders 
authorizing  Grant  and  others  to  invade  Matamoras,  some  three  hundred  miles,  I 
think,  through  an  uninhabited  country,  and  thereby  to  leave  the  Alamo  in  a  de- 
fenseless position.  They  marched  off,  and  left  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  effect- 
ive men,  taking  some  two  hundred  with  them.  Fannin  was  to  unite  with  them 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos,  at  Copano,  and  there  the  two  forces  were  to  unite 
under  the  auspices  of  Colonel  Fannin,  and  were  to  proceed  to  Matamoras  and 
take  possession  of  it.  The  enemy,  in  the  meantime,  were  known  to  be  advanc- 
ing upon  Texas,  and  they  were  thus  detaching  an  inefficient  force,  which,  if  it 
had  been  concentrated,  would  have  been  able  to  resist  all  the  powers  of  Mexico 
combined.  The  Commander-in-chief  was  ordered  by  the  Governor  to  repair 
immediately  to  Goliad,  and  if  the  expedition  surreptitiously  ordered  by  the  council 
should  proceed  to  Matamoras,  to  take  charge  of  it.  Under  his  conduct  it  was 
supposed  that  something  might  be  achieved,  or  at  least  disaster  prevented. 

The  council,  on  the  7th  of  January,  passed  an  edict  creating  Fannin  and  John- 
son military  agents,  and  investing  them  with  all  the  power  of  the  country,  to 
impress  property,  receive  troops,  command  them,  appoint  subordinates  through- 
out the  country,  and  effectually  supersede  the  Commander-in-chief  in  his  au- 
thority. As  I  said  before,  he  was  ordered  to  repair  to  Copano.  He  did  so. 


Intrigues  of  Cabinet  Loyally  Met.  581 

While  at  Goliad,  he  sent  an  order  to  Colonel  Neill,  who  was  in  command  of  the 
Alamo,  to  blow  up  that  place  and  fall  back  to  Gonzales,  making  that  a  defensive 
position,  which  was  supposed  to  be  the  furthest  boundary  the  enemy  would  ever 
reach. 

This  was  on  the  I7th  of  January.  That  order  was  secretly  superseded  by  the 
council ;  and  Colonel  Travis,  having  relieved  Colonel  Neill,  did  not  blow  up  the 
Alamo,  and  retreat  with  such  articles  as  were  necessary  for  the  defense  of  the 
country  ;  but  remained  in  possession  from  the  I7th  of  January  until  the  last  of 
February,  when  the  Alamo  was  invested  by  the  force  of  Santa  Anna.  Sur- 
rounded there,  and  cut  off  from  all  succor,  the  consequence  was  they  were  de- 
stroyed ;  they  fell  victims  to  the  ruthless  feelings  of  Santa  Anna,  by  the  con- 
trivance of  the  council,  and  in  violation  of  the  plans  of  the  Major-General  for 
the  defense  of  the  country. 

What  was  the  fate  of  Johnson,  of  Ward,  and  of  Morris  ?  They  had  advanced 
beyond  Copano  previous  to  forming  a  junction  with  Fannin,  and  they  were  cut 
off.  Fannin  subsequently  arrived,  and  attempted  to  advance,  but  fell  back  to 
Goliad.  When  the  Alamo  fell,  he  was  at  Goliad.  King's  command  had  been 
left  at  Refugio,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  some  families,  instead  of  removing 
them.  They  were  invested  there ;  and  Ward,  with  a  battalion  of  the  gallant 
volunteers  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  was  sent  to  relieve  King ;  but  he  was  annihi- 
lated. Fannin  was  in  Goliad.  Ward,  in  attempting  to  come  back,  had  become 
lost  or  bewildered.  The  Alamo  had  fallen.  On  the  4th  of  March  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief was  re-elected  by  the  convention,  after  having  laid  down  his 
authority.  He  hesitated  for  hours  before  he  would  accept  the  situation.  He 
had  anticipated  every  disaster  that  befell  the  country,  from  the  detached  con- 
dition of  the  troops,  under  the  orders  of  the  council,  and  the  inevitable  destruc- 
tion that  awaited  them ;  and  to  this  effect  had  so  reported  to  the  Governor,  on 
the  4th  of  February. 

When  he  assumed  the  command  what  was  his  situation  ?  Had  he  aid  and 
succor?  He  had  conciliated  the  Indians  by  treaty  whilst  he  was  superseded  by 
the  unlawful  edicts  of  the  council.  He  had  conciliated  thirteen  bands  of 
Indians,  and  they  remained  amicable  throughout  the  struggle  of  the  revolution. 
Had  they  not  been  conciliated,  but  turned  loose  upon  our  people,  the  women 
and  children  would  have  perished  in  their  flight  arising  from  panic.  After  treaty 
with  the  Indians  he  attended  the  conventions,  and  acted  in  the  deliberations  of 
that  body,  signing  the  declaration  of  independence,  and  was  there  elected. 
When  he  started  to  the  army,  the  only  hope  of  Texas  remained  then  at 
Gonzales.  Men  with  martial  spirit,  with  well-nerved  arms  and  gallant  hearts, 
had  hastily  rallied  there  as  the  last  hope  of  Texas.  The  Alamo  was  known 
to  be  in  siege.  Fannin  was  known  to  be  embarrassed.  Ward,  also,  and 
Morris  and  Johnson,  destroyed.  All  seemed  to  bespeak  calamity  of  the  most 
direful  character.  It  was  under  those  circumstances  that  the  general  started  , 
and  what  was  his  escort  ?  A  general-in-chief,  you  would  suppose,  was  at  least 
surrounded  by  a  staff  of  gallant  men.  It  would  be  imagined  that  some  prestige 
ought  to  be  given  to  him.  He  was  to  produce  a  nation ;  he  was  to  defend 
a  people  ;  he  was  to  command  the  resources  of  the  country,  and  he  must  give 
character  to  the  army.  He  had,  sir,  two  aides-de-camp,  one  captain,  and  a 
youth.  This  was  his  escort  in  marching  to  the  headquarters  of  the  army,  as  it 


582  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

was  called.      The  provisional  government  had  become  extinct ;  self-comb astion 
had  taken  place,  and  it  was  utterly  consumed. 

The  general  proceeded  on  his  way  and  met  many  fugitives.  The  day  on 
which  he  left  Washington,  the  6th  of  March,  the  Alamo  had  fallen.  He  antici- 
pated it ;  and  marching  to  Gonzales  as  soon  as  practicable,  though  his  health 
was  infirm,  he  arrived  there  on  the  i  ith  of  March.  He  found  at  Gonzales  three 
hundred  and  seventy-four  men,  half  fed,  half  clad,  and  half  armed,  and  without 
organization.  That  was  the  nucleus  on  which  he  had  to  form  an  army  and  de- 
fend the  country.  No  sooner  did  he  arrive  than  he  sent  a  dispatch  to  Colonel 
Fannin,  fifty-eight  miles,  which  would  reach  him  in  thirty  hours,  to  fall  back. 
He  was  satisfied  that  the  Alamo  had  fallen.  Colonel  Fannin  was  ordered  to  fall 
back  from  Goliad,  twenty-five  miles  to  Victoria,  on  the  Guadaloupe,  thus  placing 
him  within  striking  distance  of  Gonzales,  for  he  had  only  to  march  twenty-five 
miles  to  Victoria  to  be  on  the  east  side  of  the  Colorado,  with  the  only  succor 
hoped  for  by  the  general.  He  received  an  answer  from  Colonel  Fannin,  stating 
that  he  had  received  his  order  ;  had  held  a  council  of  war,  and  that  he  had 
determined  to  defend  the  place,  and  called  it  Fort  Defiance,  and  had  taken  the 
responsibility  to  disobey  the  order. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  confirmation  of  the  fall  of  the  Alamo  reached 
the  general.  Was  it  policy  to  give  battle  there  against  an  overwhelming  force, 
flushed  with  victory  and  the  massacre  of  the  Alamo  ?  Was  it  wisdom  in  him 
to  put  upon  the  hazard  of  a  die  three  hundred  and  seventy-four  men,  in  the  con- 
dition in  which  his  troops  were,  against  ten  thousand  choice,  victorious  troops 
of  Mexico,  backed  by  a  nation  of  eight  million  people,  when  he  had  only  to  rely 
upon  the  voluntary  casualties  that  might  exist  to  sustain  him  ?  What  did  he  do 
when  he  first  went  there  ?  He  ordered  every  wagon  but  one  to  be  employed  in 
transporting  the  women  and  children  from  the  town  of  Gonzales,  and  had  only 
four  oxen  and  a  single  wagon,  as  he  believed,  to  transport  all  the  baggage  and 
munitions  of  war  belonging  to  Texas  at  that  point.  That  was  all  he  had  left. 
He  had  provided  for  the  women  and  children;  and  every  female  and  child  left 
but  one,  whose  husband  had  just  perished  in  the  Alamo ;  and,  disconsolate,  she 
would  not  consent  to  leave  there  until  the  rear-guard  was  leaving  the  place,  but 
invoked  the  murderous  hand  of  the  Mexicans  to  fall  upon  and  destroy  her  and 
her  children. 

Though  the  news  of  the  fall  of  the  Alamo  arrived  at  eight  or  nine  o'clock  at 
night,  that  night,  by  eleven  o'clock,  the  Commander-in-chief  had  everything  in 
readiness  to  march,  though  panic  raged,  and  frenzy  seized  upon  many ;  and 
though  it  took  all  his  personal  influence  to  resist  the  panic  and  bring  them 
to  composure,  with  all  the  encouragement  he  could  use,  he  succeeded.  An  ex- 
ample of  composure  himself,  he  at  last  got  the  excitement  allayed,  but  not  until 
twenty-five  persons  had  deserted  and  carried  panic  with  them  to  the  eastern 
section  of  the  country,  as  far  as  the  Sabine,  announcing  the  fall  and  massacre  ol 
the  Alamo,  and  the  massacre  of  the  troops.  He  fell  back,  but  fell  back  in  good 
order. 

An  incident  that  I  will  mention,  of  the  most  unpleasant  character,  occurred 
on  leaving  Gonzales.  On  that  night,  about  twelve  miles  from  there,  it  was  an- 
nounced to  the  general  that  the  Mexicans  would  suffer ;  that  a  barrel  of  gin 
and  a  barrel  of  wine  had  been  poisoned  with  arsenic,  and  that,  as  they  came  to 
consume  it,  it  would  destroy  them.  I  presume  no  man  ever  had  such  feelings 


Concentration  of  Forces  for  the  Battle.  583 

of  horror  at  a  deed  being  perpetrated  of  this  kind,  from  which  all  the  waters  of 
the  Jordan  could  not  cleanse  the  reputation  of  a  general.  But,  fortunately,  the 
rear-guard,  without  direction,  set  fire  to  the  place  on  leaving  it,  and  at  Peach 
creek,  fifteen  miles  from  that  place,  ere  day  dawned,  explosions  were  heard 
which  produced  some  excitement  in  camp,  where  it  was  supposed  to  be  the 
enemy's  artillery ;  but  the  general  rejoiced  in  it,  as  he  knew,  from  the  difference 
in  the  explosion,  that  it  was  not  artillery,  but  the  poisoned  liquor.  That  is  one 
incident  that  occurred,  among  other  distressing  events. 

At  Peach  creek,  fifteen  miles  from  Gonzales,  he  met  a  reinforcement  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  men;  but  out  of  these  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men,  ere  morning,  twenty-five  had  again  deserted,  owing  to  the  terrible  details 
that  were  brought  of  the  massacre  of  the  Alamo.  With  that  addition,  his  forc^ 
only  amounted  to  four  hundred  and  seventy-four  men  that  remained  with  him. 
The  next  day  he  met  a  detachment  of  thirty-five  men,  and  anticipating  that  he 
would  make  a  stand  at  the  Colorado,  as  he  found  it  impossible  to  make  a  stand 
at  Gonzales,  appointed  an  aide-de-camp,  Major  William  T.  Austin,  and  dis- 
patched him  for  artillery  to  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
him,  on  arriving  at  the  Colorado,  to  make  a  stand — for  he  had  not  a  single  piece 
of  ordnance,  not  a  cartridge,  or  a  ball.  The  aide-de-camp  departed  with  an  as- 
surance that  within  seven  or  eight  days  he  would  have  it  on  the  Colorado,  at 
Beason's.  In  the  meantime,  and  to  show  that  the  general  was  not  a  fugitive,  or 
that  he  was  not  disposed  to  expose  any  one  to  hazard,  he  was  informed  on  the 
Nevada,  fifteen  miles  from  the  Colorado,  that  a  blind  woman,  with  six  children, 
had  been  passed  by,  as  she  was  not  residing  on  the  road,  but  off  at  a  distance. 
He  immediately  ordered  two  of  his  aides-de-camp,  with  a  company  of  men,  to 
go  and  bring  her  up,  and  made  a  dilatory  march  until  she  joined  them  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Colorado.  He  then  halted  at  the  Colorado  for  days,  until  the 
last  hoof  and  the  last  human  being  that  was  a  fugitive  had  passed  over.  He  had 
permitted  none  to  remain  behind,  exposed  to  the  ruthless  enemy. 

There  he  remained,  until  the  news  of  Fannin's  disaster  came.  Fannin,  after 
disobeying  orders,  attempted  on  the  ipth  to  retreat,  and  had  only  twenty-five 
miles  to  reach  Victoria.  His  opinions  of  chivalry  and  honor  were  such  that  he 
would  not  avail  himself  of  the  night  to  do  it  in,  although  he  had  been  admonish- 
ed by  the  smoke  of  the  enemies'  encampment  for  eight  days  previous  to  attempt- 
ing a  retreat.  He  then  attempted  to  retreat  in  open  day.  The  Mexican  cavalry 
surrounded  him.  He  halted  in  a  prairie,  without  water;  commenced  a  fortifica- 
tion, and  there  was  surrounded  by  the  enemy,  who,  from  the  hill-tops,  shot  down 
upon  him.  Though  the  most  gallant  spirits  were  there  with  him,  he  remained 
in  that  situation  all  that  night,  and  the  next  day,  when  a  flag  of  truce  was  pre- 
sented; he  entered  into  a  capitulation,  and  was  taken  to  Goliad,  on  a  promise  to 
be  returned  to  the  United  States  with  all  associated  with  him.  In  less  than 
eight  days  the  attempt  was  made  to  massacre  him  and  every  man  with  him.  I 
believe  some  few  did  escape,  most  of  whom  came  afterward  and  joined  the 
army. 

The  general  fell  back  from  the  Colorado.  The  artillery  had  not  yet  arrived. 
He  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  check  given  to  General  Sesma,  opposite 
to  his  camp  on  the  west  side  of  the  Colorado,  would  induce  him  to  send  for  re- 
inforcements, and  that,  Fannin  having  been  massacred,  a  concentration  of  the 
enemy  would  necessarily  take  place,  and  that  an  overwhelming  force  would  soon 


584  ,  Houston's  Literacy  Remains. 

be  upon  him.  He  knew  that  one  battle  must  be  decisive  of  the  fate  of  Texas. 
If  he  fought  a  battle,  and  many  of  his  men  were  wounded,  he  could  not  trans- 
port them,  and  he  would  be  compelled  to  sacrifice  the  army  to  the  wounded. 
He  determined  to  fall  back,  and  did  so,  and  on  falling  back  received  an  accession 
of  three  companies  that  had  been  ordered  from  the  mouth  of  the  Brazos.  He 
heard  no  word  of  th*e  artillery,  for  none  had  reached  there,  nor  did  it  ever  start 
for  the  army,  and  it  was  years  before  he  knew  that  his  orders  had  been  counter- 
manded, and  his  aide-de-camp  withdrawn  from  him.  He  wishes  to  cast  no  re- 
flection upon  the  dead.  I  shall  not  enter  into  that,  but  the  general's  orders 
were  not  executed  ;  they  were  countermanded  ;  and  the  opportunity  of  obtaining 
artillery  was  cut  off  from  him.  He  marched,  and  took  position  on  the  Brazos, 
with  as  much  expedition  as  was  consistent  with  his  situation ;  but  at  San  Felipe 
he  found  a  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  in  the  troops.  The  Government  had  re- 
moved east.  It  had  left  Washington  and  gone  to  Harrisburg,  and  the  appre- 
hension of  the  settlers  had  been  awakened  and  increased  rather  than  decreased. 
The  spirits  of  the  men  were  bowed  down.  Hope  seemed  to  have  departed,  and 
with  the  little  band  alone  remained  anything  like  a  consciousness  of  strength. 

At  San  Felipe  objection  was  made  to  marching  up  the  Brazos.  It  was  said 
that  settlements  were  down  below,  and  persons  interested  were  there.  Oxen 
could  not  be  found  for  the  march,  in  the  morning,  of  a  certain  company.  The 
general  directed  that  they  should  follow  as  soon  as  oxen  were  collected.  He 
marched  up  the  Brazos,  and,  crossing  Mill  Creek,  encamped  there.  An  express 
was  sent  to  him,  asking  his  permission  for  that  company  to  go  down  the  Brazos 
to  Fort  Bend,  and  to  remain  there.  Knowing  that  it  arose  from  a  spirit  of  sedi- 
tion, he  granted  that  permission,  and  they  marched  down.  On  the  Brazos,  the 
efficient  force  under  his  command  amounted  to  five  hundred  and  twenty.  He 
remained  there  from  the  last  of  March  until  the  I3th  of  April.  On  his  arrival  at 
the  Brazos  he  found  that  the  rains  had  been  excessive.  He  had  no  opportunity 
of  operating  against  the  enemy.  They  marched  to  San  Felipe,  within  eighteen 
miles  of  him,  and  would  have  been  liable  to  surprise  at  any  time,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  high  waters  of  the  Brazos,  which  prevented  him  from  marching 
upon  them  by  surprise.  Thus,  he  was  pent  up.  The  portion  of  the  Brazos 
in  which  he  was  became  an  island.  The  water  had  not  been  for  years 
so  high. 

On  arriving  at  the  Brazos,  he  found  that  the  Yellow  Stone,  a  very  respectable 
steamboat,  had  gone  up  the  river  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  cotton.  She 
was  seized  by  order  of  the  general,  to  enable  him,  if  necessary,  to  pass  the  Bra- 
zos at  any  moment,  and  was  detained  with  a  guard  on  board.  She  remained 
there  for  a  number  of  days.  The  general  had  taken  every  precaution  possible 
to  prevent  the  enemy  from  passing  the  Brazos  below.  He  had  ordered  every 
craft  to  be  destroyed  on  the  river.  He  knew  that  the  enemy  could  not  have  con- 
structed rafts  and  crossed  ;  but,  by  a  ruse,  they  obtained  the  only  boat  that  was 
in  that  part  of  the  country  where  a  command  was  stationed.  They  came  and 
spoke  English.  The  boat  was  sent  over,  and  the  Mexicans  surprised  the  boat- 
men and  took  possession  of  it.  Those  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  retreated, 
and  thus  Santa  Anna  obtained  an  opportunity  of  transporting  his  artillery  and 
army  across  the  Brazos.  The  general  anticipated  that  something  of  the  kind 
must  have  taken  place,  because  his  intelligence  from  San  Felipe  was,  that  all 
was  quiet  there.  The  enemy  had  kept  up  a  cannonade  on  the  position  across 


Gen.  Rusk,  Superseded  as  Sec.  of  Warj  in  Camp.     585 

the  river,  where  over  one  hundred  men  were  stationed.  The  encampment  on 
the  Brazos  was  the  point  at  which  the  first  piece  of  artillery  was  ever  received 
by  the  army.  They  were  without  munitions  ;  old  horse-shoes,  and  all  pieces  of 
iron  that  could  be  procured  had  to  be  cut  up  ;  various  things  were  to  be  pro- 
vided ;  there  were  no  cartridges,  and  but  few  balls.  Two  small  six-pounders, 
presented  by  the  magnanimity  of  the  people  of  Cincinnati,  and  subsequently 
called  the  "  twin  sisters,"  were  the  first  pieces  of  artillery  that  were  used  in 
Texas.  From  thence,  the  march  commenced  at  Donoho's,  three  miles  from 
Grace's.  It  had  required  several  days  to  cross  the  Brazos  with  the  horses  and 
wagons. 

General  Rusk  had  arrived  in  camp  on  the  4th  of  April.  He  was  then  Secre- 
tary of  War — Colonel  Rusk — and  as  a  friend  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  he  was 
received.  He  was  superseded,  and  Mr.  Thomas  was  acting  Secretary  of  War. 
He  remained  with  the  army.  The  Commander-in-chief  camped  three  miles 
from  the  Brazos  timber,  and  with  unusual  vigilance  preserved  the  forces  together, 
only  a  few  deserting.  They  were  then  east  of  the  Brazos,  and  the  settlements 
were  east  of  them.  He  remained  only  that  night.  The  road  from  San  Felipe, 
situated  below  the  army  on  the  Brazos,  led  to  eastern  Texas  or  the  Sabine. 
The  road  to  Harrisburg  crossed  it  at  right  angles  going  south.  The  general 
had  provided  a  guide  acquainted  with  the  country,  as  it  was  a  portion  in  which 
he  had  never  been.  The  morning  came.  Arrangements  were  made  early. 
Some  embarrassments  arose  for  want  of  animals  for  artillery ;  but  soon  they 
were  in  readiness,  and  as  the  troops  filed  out  in  the  direction  of  Harrisburg, 
without  an  intimation  being  given  to  any  one,  two  companies  that  had  been 
stationed  at  San  Felipe,  and  below  that,  on  the  Brazos,  and  ordered  to  concen- 
trate at  Donoho's,  arrived.  The  officers  were  sullen  and  refractory ;  they  had 
"  not  eaten."  Some  conversation  took  place.  They  asked  if  no  fighting  was  to 
be  done.  They  were  told  fighting  was  to  be  done  ;  they  need  not  be  uneasy 
about  that ;  the  enemy  have  crossed  below.  At  that  moment  a  negro  came  up 
and  said  he  had  been  made  a  prisoner  by  the  enemy  and  was  released,  and  an- 
nounced the  fact  that  Santa  Anna  had  crossed  the  Brazos  and  was  marching 
to  Harrisburg.  These  companies  were  ordered  into  line.  One  of  them  obeyed  ; 
the  other  objected  to  going,  as  they  had  had  no  refreshments.  The  whole 
management,  and  the  entire  responsibility  of  every  movement  at  that  time,  de- 
volved upon  the  general.  He  told  the  refractory  captain,  whom  he  had  known 
for  many  years,  to  march  directly  to  the  Trinity  and  protect  the  women  and 
children  if  the  Indians  should  prove  turbulent ;  and,  at  all  events,  to  kill  beef  for 
them,  and  see  that  their  supplies  were  sufficient.  The  general  acted  upon  no 
orders  given  to  him  during  the  campaign ;  but  assumed  the  sole  responsibility 
of  all  his  acts. 

The  march  to  Harrisburg  was  effected  through  the  greatest  possible  difficul- 
ties. The  prairies  were  quagmired.  The  contents  of  the  wagons  had  to  be 
carried  across  the  bogs,  and  the  empty  wagons  had  to  be  assisted  in  aid  of  the 
horses.  No  less  than  eight  impediments  in  one  day  had  to  be  overcome  in  that 
way.  Notwithstanding  that,  the  remarkable  success  of  the  march  brought  the 
army  in  a  little  time  to  Harrisburg,  opposite  which  it  halted.  Deaf  Smith, 
known  as  such — his  proper  name  was  Erasmus  Smith — had  gone  over  by  rafts 
with  other  spies,  and,  after  crossing,  arrested  two  couriers  and  brought  them 
into  camp.  Upon  them  was  found  a  buckskin  wallet,  containing  dispatches  of 


586  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

General  Filosola  to  General  Santa  Anna,  as  well  as  from  Mexico,  and  thereby 
we  were  satisfied  that  Santa  Anna  had  marched  to  San  Jacinto  with  the  ttite  of 
his  army,  and  we  resolved  to  push  on.  Orders  were  given  by  the  general  im- 
mediately to  prepare  rations  for  three  days,  and  to  be  at  an  early  hour  in  readi- 
ness to  cross  the  bayou.  The  next  morning  we  find  that  the  Commander-in- 
chief  addressed  a  note  in  pencil  to  Colonel  Henry  Raguet,  of  Nacogdoches,  in 
these  words : 

"CAMP  AT  HARRISBURG,  April  19,  1836. 

"  Sir : — This  morning  we  are  in  preparation  to  meet  Santa  Anna.  It  is  the 
only  chance  of  saving  Texas.  From  time  to  time  I  have  looked  for  reinforce- 
ments in  vain.  The  convention  adjourning  to  Harrisburg  struck  panic  through- 
out the  country.  Texas  could  have  started  at  least  four  thousand  men.  We 
will  only  have  about  seven  hundred  to  march  with,  besides  the  camp  guard. 
We  go  to  conquer.  It  is  wisdom,  growing  out  of  necessity,  to  meet  the  enemy 
now ;  every  consideration  enforces  it.  No  previous  occasion  would  justify  it. 
The  troops  are  in  fine  spirits,  and  now  is  the  time  for  action." 

"  We  shall  use  our  best  efforts  to  fight  the  enemy  to  such  advantage  as  will 
insure  victory,  though  odds  are  greatly  against  us.  I  leave  the  result  in  the 
hands  of  a  wise  God,  and  rely  upon  His  providence. 

"  My  country  will  do  justice  to  those  who  serve  her.  The  rights  for  which  we 
fight  will  be  secured,  and  Texas  free." 

This  letter  was  signed  by  the  Commander-in-chief. 

A  crossing  was  effected  by  the  evening,  and  the  line  of  march  was  taken  up. 
The  force  amounted  to  a  little  over  seven  hundred  men.  The  camp  guard  re- 
mained opposite  Harrisburg.  The  cavalry  had  to  swim  across  the  bayou,  which 
is  of  considerable  width  and  depth  General  Rusk  remained  with  the  army  on 
the  west  side.  The  Commander-in-chief  stepped  into  the  first  boat  of  the 
pioneers,  swam  his  horse  with  the  boat,  and  took  position  on  the  opposite  side, 
where  the  enemy  were,  and  continued  there  until  the  army  crossed.  The  march 
was  then  taken  up.  A  few  minutes,  or  perhaps  an  hour  or  so  of  daylight  only 
remained.  The  troops  continued  to  march  until  the  men  became  so  exhausted 
and  fatigued  that  they  were  falling  against  each  other  in  the  ranks,  and  some 
falling  down  from  exhaustion.  The  general  ordered  a  halt  after  marching  a 
short  distance  from  the  road  to  secure  a  place  in  a  chaparral.  The  army  rested 
for  perhaps  two  hours,  when,  at  the  tap  of  the  drum  given  by  the  general,  they 
were  again  on  their  feet,  and  took  up  the  line  of  march  for  San  Jacinto,  for  the 
purpose  of  cutting  off  Santa  Anna  below  the  junction  of  the  San  Jacinto  and 
Buffalo  bayou.  It  was  necessary  for  Santa  Anna  to  cross  the  San  Jacinto  to 
unite  with  the  Mexicans  in  Nacogdoches  county,  and  incite  the  Indians  to  war. 
Santa  Anna  had  provided  a  boat  through  the  instrumentality  of  Texans  who 
had  joined  him,  and  was  in  readiness  to  cross.  He  had  marched  down  to  New 
Washington,  some  seven  or  eight  miles  below  the  San  Jacinto,  and  was  return- 
ing to  take  up  his  march  eastward.  After  sunrise  some  time,  the  army  having 
halted  to  slaughter  beeves  and  refresh,  the  signal  was  given  that  our  scouts  had 
encountered  those  of  the  enemy  ;  eating  was  suspended,  everything  packed,  and 
we  were  on  the  march.  We  marched  down  to  the  ferry  of  San  Jacinto,  and 
there  halted.  There  was  no  word  of  the  enemy.  About  half  a  mile  or  a  mile 
up  the  bayou,  where  the  timber  commenced,  we  fell  back  and  formed  an  en- 


Col.  Sherman's  Insubordination  in  Advancing.     587 

campment  in  the  timber,  so  as  to  give  security  from  the  brow  of  the  hill,  as  well 
as  the  timber  that  covered  it,  at  the  same  time  running  up  the  boat  which  he 
had  provided,  and  securing  it  in  the  rear  of  our  encampment. 

That  was  the  position  taken.  The  artillery  was  planted  in  front,  for  it  had 
never  been  fired,  and  the  enemy  were  really  not  apprised  that  we  had  a  piece. 
The  troops  were  secured  so  as  to  expose  none  but  the  few  artillerists  to  view. 
There  were  but  eighteen  of  them,  and  nine  were  assigned  to  each  piece.  The 
enemy,  within  about  three  hundred  yards,  I  think,  took  position  with  their  ar- 
tillery and  infantry,  and  opened  fire  from  a  twelve-pounder.  It  continued  until 
evening.  It  did  no  execution,  however,  with  the  exception  of  one  shot.  Colonel 
Neill,  of  the  artillery,  was  wounded,  though  not  mortally.  That  was  the  only 
injury  we  sustained.  At  length  Santa  Anna  ordered  his  infantry  to  advance. 
They  were  advancing,  when  our  artillery  was  ordered  to  fire  upon  them ;  but 
they  being  so  much  depressed,  it  passed  over  their  heads  and  did  no  injury  ;  but 
they  returned  in  such  haste  and  confusion  to  their  encampment  that  it  inspirited 
our  troops,  and  caused  the  welkin  to  ring. 

Upon  our  left  a  company  of  infantry  was,  by  Santa  Anna,  posted  in  an  island 
of  timber,  within  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards  of  our  encampment.  An  officer 
desired  the  general  to  let  him  charge,  which  was  readily  conceded.  He  wished 
to,  and  did,  make  the  charge  on  horseback,  though  not  in  accordance  with  the 
general's  opinion.  It  proved  a  failure;  which  will  be  explained  hereafter. 

The  enemy,  after  receiving  some  injury  from  the  discharge  of  our  artillery, 
fell  back  to  the  heights  of  San  Jacinto,  and  commenced  fortifying. 

In  the  evening  the  general  ordered  a  reconnoitering  party,  under  Colonel 
Sherman,  to  reconnoiter  ;  but  they  were  ordered  not  to  go  within  the  fire  of  the 
enemy's  guns,  or  to  provoke  an  attack  ;  but  if  he  could,  by  his  appearance,  decoy 
them  into  the  direction  of  a  certain  island  of  timber,  they  would  be  received 
there  by  the  artillery  and  infantry  that  had  been  ordered  to  be  in  readiness  to 
march  to  that  point.  No  sooner  was  he  out  of  sight  than  a  firing  commenced, 
with  a  view,  as  Sherman  himself  declared,  to  bring  on  a  general  action,  in  vio- 
lation of  the  general's  orders.  Confusion  was  the  result  of  it.  Two  men  were 
wounded  in  our  line.  A  confused  retreat  took  place  ;  and  the  consequence  was 
that  two  gallant  men  were  wounded,  and  one  subsequently  died  of  his  wounds. 
This  was  done  in  direct  violation  of  the  general's  orders ;  for  it  was  not  his  in- 
tention to  bring  on  a  general  action  that  day.  The  guards  that  night  were 
doubled.  The  next  day,  about  nine  o'clock,  troops  were  discovered  advancing 
along  the  prairie  ridge,  in  the  direction  of  the  Mexican  encampment,  which 
produced  some  excitement.  The  general,  not  wishing  the  impression  to  be  re- 
ceived that  they  were  reinforcements,  suggested  that  it  was  a  ruse  of  the  Mexi- 
cans :  that  they  were  the  same  troops  that  were  seen  yesterday ;  that  they  were 
marching  around  the  swell  in  the  prairie  for  the  purpose  of  display,  because  they 
were  apprehensive  of  an  attack  from  the  Texans.  He  sent  out  two  spies 
secretly — Deaf  Smith  and  Karnes— upon  their  track ;  with  directions  to  report 
to  him  privately.  They  did  so,  and  reported  that  the  reinforcement  which  the 
enemy  had  thus  received  amounted  to  five  hundred  and  forty. 

Things  remained  without  any  change  until  about  twelve  o'clock,  when  the 
general  was  asked  to  call  a  council  of  war.  .No  council  of  war  had  ever  been 
solicited  before.  It  seemed  strange  to  him.  What  indications  had  appeared 
he  did  not  know.  The  council  was  called,  however,  consisting  of  six  field  offi- 


588  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

cers  and  the  Secretary  of  War.  The  proposition  was  put  to  the  council,  "  Shall 
we  attack  the  enemy  in  position,  or  receive  their  attack  on  ours  ?  "  The  two 
junior  officers — for  such  is  the  way  of  taking  the  sense  of  courts  in  the  army — 
were  in  favor  of  attacking  the  enemy  in  position.  The  four  seniors  and  the 
Secretary  of  War,  who  spoke,  said  that  "  to  attack  veteran  troops  with  raw 
militia  is  a  thing  unheard  of;  to  charge  upon  the  enemy,  without  bayonets,  in 
an  open  prairie,  had  never  been  known ;  our  situation  is  strong ;  in  it  we  can 
whip  all  Mexico."  Understanding  this  as  the  sense  of  the  council,  the  general 
dismissed  them.  They  went  to  their  respective  places. 

In  the  morning  the  sun  had  risen  brightly,  and  he  determined  with  this  omen, 
"  To-day  the  battle  shall  take  place."  In  furtherance  of  that,  he  walked  to  the 
bayou  near  where  he  had  lain  on  the  earth  without  covering,  and  after  bathing 
his  face,  he  sent  for  the  Commissary-general,  Colonel  Forbes,  and  ordered  him 
to  procure  two  axes,  and  place  them  at  a  particular  tree,  which  he  designated 
in  the  margin  of  the  timber.  He  sent  for  Deaf  Smith,  and  told  him  at  his  peril 
not  to  leave  the  camp  that  day  without  orders  ;  that  he  would  be  wanted,  and 
for  him  to  select  a  companion  in  whom  he  had  unbounded  reliance.  His  orders 
were,  obeyed.  After  the  council  was  dismissed  the  general  sent  for  Deaf  Smith 
and  his  comrade,  Reeves,  who  came  mounted,  when  he  gave  them  the  axes  so 
as  not  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  troops.  They  placed  them  in  their  saddles, 
as  Mexicans  carry  swords  and  weapons,  and  started  briskly  for  the  scene  of 
action.  The  general  announced  to  them  :  "  You  will  be  speedy  if  you  return  in 
time  for  the  scenes  that  are  to  be  enacted  here."  They  executed  the  order,  and 
when  the  troops  with  the  general  were  within  sixty  yards  of  the  enemy's  front, 
when  charging,  Deaf  Smith  returned  and  announced  that  the  bridge  was  cut 
down.  It  had  been  preconcerted  to  announce  that  the  enemy  had  received  no 
reinforcement.  It  was  announced  to  the  army  for  the  first  time ;  for  the  idea 
that  the  bridge  would  be  cut  down  was  never  thought  of  by  any  one  but  the 
general  himself,  until  he  ordered  it  to  be  done,  and  then  only  known  to  Smith 
and  his  comrade.  It  would  have  made  the  army  polemics  if  it  had  been  known 
that  Vince's  bridge  was  to  be  destroyed,  for  it  cut  off  all  means  of  escape  for 
either  army.  There  was  no  alternative  but  victory  or  death.  The  general  who 
counsels  will  find,  that  in  the  "  multitude  of  counsel  there  is  confusion. "  It  has 
been  denied  that  the  bridge  was  cut  down  by  order  of  the  general.  It  was  said 
to  be  the  promptings  of  Deaf  Smith.  It  has  been  in  these  latter  days  that  these 
calumnies  are  circulated.  I  will  show,  I  think,  from  very  good  authority,  that 
it  has  remained  uncontradicted  for  nearly  twenty  years  ;  for  here  it  is.  It  was 
announced  in  the  official  report  of  the  battle,  in  which  the  commanding  general 
says: 

"  At  half-past  three  o'clock  in  the  evening  I  ordered  the  officers  of  the  Texan 
army  to  parade  their  respective  commands,  having,  in  the  meantime,  ordered 
the  bridge  on  the  only  road  communicating  with  the  Brazos,  distant  eight  miles 
from  our  encampment,  to  be  destroyed,  thus  cutting  off  all  possibility  of  escape." 

"  I  ordered  them  "  is  the  language  that  is  used  in  the  official  report  of  the 
general,  that  has  remained  uncontroverted  until  this  time.  It  will  be  discovered, 
from  incontestable  evidence  of  the  most  honorable  and  brave  amongst  men, 
that  the  individual  who  gave  origin  to  this  calumny,  was  the  very  identical  creat- 
ure who  proved  recreant  on  the  field.  The  Commander-in-chief,  however,  felt 
no  disposition  to  censure  any  one.  He  felt  that  there  should  be  an  amnesty  in 


Testimonies  as  to  S  tier  man's  Insubordination.     589 

consideration  of  the  glorious  results  of  the  battle.    He  wished  not  to  censure 
any  one,  but  gave  all  praise,  and  gave  some  too  much.     I  ask  the  Secretary  to 
read  this  letter. 
The  Secretary  read  as  follows : 

"WASHINGTON,  September  17,  1841. 

"  DEAR  SIR  : — You  wish  to  know  of  me,  what  I  know  of  the  conduct  of  Col- 
onel Sidney  Sherman,  before  and  after  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto.  On  our  march 
to  that  place,  Colonel  Sherman  often  asked  me. if  I  had  heard  you  speak  of  him. 
I  informed  him  that  I  had  heard  you  speak  of  him,  and  always  in  the  highest, 
terms  of  praise.  I  thought  he  looked  disappointed,  '  There  was  mutiny  and  dis- 
content in  the  army,  created,  as  I  believed,  by  those  who  wished  to  put  you 
down ;  and  I  believed  that  Colonel  Sherman  was  one  of  the  most  active  in 
creating  disturbance,  as  I  will  have  occasion  to  show. 

"  Various  councils  were  held  on  the  Brazos,  as  well  as  on  the  march  to  San 
Jacinto,  for  the  purpose  of  opposing  or  destroying  your  authority.  Colonel 
Sherman,  I  am  satisfied,  was  among  the  most  active  of  those  who  sought  to  de- 
stroy you.  On  the  2oth  of  April,  the  day  before  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  you 
gave  Colonel  Sherman  orders  to  charge  on  an  island  of  timber,  on  the  left  of  the 
artillery,  with  two  companies  of  his  regiment,  for  the  purpose  of  routing  some 
Mexicans  who  were  in  the  timber.  He  wished  you  to  let  him  charge  on  horse- 
back, which  you  reluctantly  granted.  As  he  approached  the  enemy  they  fired 
and  killed  one  horse  of  his  command,  and  the  whole  command  came  galloping 
back  to  the  camp.  In  the  evening,  when  the  enemy  had  withdrawn  to  where 
they  fortified,  at  his  request,  you  ordered  Colonel  Sherman  to  take  the  cavalry 
and  reconnoiter  the  enemy,  and  if  he  could  decoy  the  enemy's  cavalry  to  a  cer- 
tain island  of  timber,  that  the  artillery  and  infantry  should  be  there  to  sustain  him, 
but  by  no  means  to  approach  'within  gun-shot  of  the  enemy's  infantry  or  line. 

"  I  was  present  when  you  gave  the  orders  to  Colonel  Sherman,  and  soon  after 
he  came  to  me  and  asked  me  if  I  would  sustain  him,  as  he  had  determined  to 
bring  on  a  general  engagement,  contrary  to  your  orders.  At  the  same  time,  the 
officer  with  him  said  he  had  agreed  to  sustain  him  with  his  command.  I  replied 
that  I  knew  it  was  contrary  to  your  orders  to  him,  for  I  heard  you  give  them  to 
him  ;  but,  if  a  general  engagement  was  brought  on,  my  regiment  would  be 
under  arms,  and  I  would  support  him  ;  for  you  had  ordered  me  to  have  the  men 
under  arms.  He  departed,  saying  he  would  depend  on  me.  He  soon  com- 
menced firing  after  he  was  out  of  sight  of  our  camp ;  and,  as  it  had  not  been 
expected  from  the  orders  given  by  you  to  him,  there  was  great  stir  in  the  camp. 
I  started  with  my  command,  and  in  marching  a  short  distance,  I  saw  the  cavalry 
returning  with  two  wounded  men.  In  the  meantime,  Colonel  Wharton,  from 
you,  ordered  me  not  to  advance,  but  to  wait  further  orders.  You  afterward 
ordered  me,  with  my  command,  back  to  our  camp,  and  showed  evident  dissatis- 
faction with  Sherman  for  disobeying  your  orders,  in  attempting  to  bring  on  a 
general  engagement,  when  you  did  not  intend  it  should  be  done.  It  was  then 
late  in  the  evening  of  the  20th. 

"After  the  arrival  of  General  Cos'  command,  next  morning  (2ist),  and  1 
think  it  was  between  twelve  and  two  o'clock,  I  was  summoned  to  attend  a 
council  of  war.  I  attended  with  six  other  field  officers,  when  you  told  us  the 
object  of  our  being  called  together.  You  asked  the  council '  whether  we  should 
attack  the  enemy,  or  remain  in  our  position  and  [let}  the  enemy  attack  us* 


590  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

••  The  officer  lowest  in  rank  voted  first,  and  so  on,  until  all  voted.  Only  two 
out  of  the  seven  voted  for  attacking  the  enemy.  The  balance  voted  in  favor  of 
awaiting  the  attack  upon  us.  They  said  that  we  had  not  bayonets  to  charge 
with,  and  that  it  was  through  an  open  prairie  ;  that  our  position  was  strong, 
and  in  it  we  could  whip  all  Mexico. 

"  When  you  received  the  sense  of  the  council,  you  gave  no  opinion,  but  dis- 
missed the  members.  Soon  after,  I  was  riding  out  to  graze  my  horse  and  take 
a  look  at  the  enemy.  You  spoke  to  me,  and  asked  me  my  object  in  riding  out. 
I  told  you,  when  you  said,  '  Do  not  be  absent,  Colonel,  more  than  thirty  minutes, 
as  I  will  want  you.'  I  did  return  in  less  than  a  half  hour ;  you  requested  me  to 
see  my  captains  and  men,  and  ascertain  their  feelings  about  fighting.  I  reported 
favorably,  and  said  they  were  anxious  to  fight,  or  they  told  many  lies.  You 
ordered  the  troops  to  be  paraded ;  the  second  regiment,  called  Sherman's,  as  he 
was  Colonel,  and  myself  Lieutenant-Colonel.  Soon  after  you  ordered  the 
parade,  Colonel  Sherman,  in  company  with  Colonel  Burleson,  came  to  me,  and 
asked  me  if  I  intended  to  obey  your  orders,  and  if  I  did  not  think  it  would  be 
better  to  wait  until  next  morning,  just  before  day,  and  make  the  attack.  Sher- 
man went  on  to  say  that  whatever  I  said  should  be  done.  I  told  him  that  I 
would  fight,  if  you  said  so,  and  that  I  would  follow  you  to  h — 1,  if  you  would 
lead,  in  defending  Texas.  They  then  left  me.  When  Colonel  Sherman  and 
myself  were  mounted,  at  the  head  of  the  regiment,  he  asked  me  if  I  would  take 
command  that  day,  as  I  had  some  experience  in  fighting,  and  he  never  had  been 
in  a  battle.  I  thanked  him  kindly,  saying  that  I  would  do  so,  and  after  we  were 
ordered  to  advance,  he  rode  with  me  until  the  enemy  commenced  firing  upon  us. 
Colonel  Sherman  then  left  in  great  haste  for  a  small  island  of  timber,  about 
three  hundred  yards  distant,  in  the  rear  of  our  left  wing,  where  he  secured  him- 
self, and  remained  there  until  the  enemy  had  all  fled.  As  I  returned  from  the 
pursuit  of  the  enemy,  I  met  him  coming  up  with  some  stragglers. 

"  This  statement  is  made  principally  from  notes  taken  during  the  campaign, 
and  from  facts  within  my  recollection,  as  though  they  had  passed  yesterday.  I 
have  forborne  to  state  anything  about  Colonel  Sherman's  conduct  in  disposing 
of,  and  appropriating  the  spoils  privately  to  his  own  use ;  but,  should  it  be 
necessary  at  any  future  day  to  do  so,  I  am  fully  prepared. 

"  I  am  your  friend,  etc.,  JOSEPH  L.  BENNETT. 

"  General  SAM  HOUSTON,  Washington,  Texas." 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  Mr.  President,  this  is  one  of  the  gentlemen  who  have  been 
most  active  in  contributing  to  the  contents  of  this  almanac,  as  I  have  been  in- 
formed, and  one  to  whom  the  calumny  has  been  traced.  This  is  not  the  only 
evidence  that  I  have  in  relation  to  that  gentleman ;  and  I  will  make  one  state- 
ment, as  it  is  a  fact  that  is  important  in  relation  to  the  calumnies  to  which  I  am 
responding:  that  this  letter  has  been  in  the  possession  of  Colonel  Sherman 
since  1843.  He  was  furnished  with  a  copy  of  it;  and,  during  several  years  of 
Colonel  Bennett's  life,  he  never  called  for  explanation,  nor  did  he  ever  confront 
Colonel  Bennett  when  he  went  where  he  was,  but  slunk  from  his  presence,  and 
cowered  before  him.  Since  his  decease,  Sherman  has  been  busily  engaged  in 
propagating  every  slander  against  the  Commander-in-chief  that  malice  could 
devise;  and,  though  challenged  and  invited  to  publish  the  letter  of  Colonel 
Bennett,  he  has  thought  proper  to  rest  under  all  the  imputations  of  cowardice 
heaped  upon  him,  and  finds  consolation,  I  presume,  in  trying  to  place  others  JB 


Testimonies  to  Houston's  Strategy  and  Valor.       591 

his  own  category.  Now,  as  this  comes  in  at  this  particular  point,  I  have  another 
letter  that  I  think  proper  to  submit.  It  is  very  short,  and  I  asked  the  Secretary 
to  read  it. 

The  Secretary  read  it,  as  follows : 

"  WALKER  COUNTY,  November  2,  1857. 

"  GENERAL  HOUSTON  : — Seeing  that  you  have  been  attacked  by  persons  on 
pretense  that  they  have  been  in  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  and  wish  to  injure 
you  by  false  charges,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  give  you  a  statement  of  what  I  know 
to  be  correct. 

"  I  joined  the  army  on  the  Colorado,  and  in  its  march  to  San  Jacinto  I  joined 
Captain  Hayden  Arnold's  company,  of  the  second  regiment,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Sherman.  Captain  Arnold's  company  was  the  first  in  the  regiment  in 
the  charge  upon  the  enemy  in  battle.  I  was  the  fifth  or  sixth  man  from  Colonel 
Sherman.  While  we  were  advancing  upon  the  enemy's  lines,  and  before  any 
firing  had  taken  place,  Colonel  Sherman  called  out  in  an  audible  voice,  '  Halt.' 
At  that  moment  Lieutenant-Colonel  Bennett,  who  was  close  by,  hallooed  out, 
1  This  is  no  time  to  halt ;  push  on,  boys,  the  enemy  is  right  here  in  this  little  timber, 
push  on  ';  and  advanced  in  front  of  the  command.  In  casting  my  eye  on  Colonel 
Bennett  a  moment  afterward,  I  saw  General  Rusk  near  to  him.  Colonel  Sher- 
man halted  where  he  gave  the  order  '  to  halt,'  and  I  never  saw  him  again  until 
after  the  battle  was  over.  I  then  saw  him  coming  up  in  the  rear  with  some 
stragglers,  at  the  ravine  where  the  army  halted  in  pursuit,  and  the  place  from 
which  you  ordered  Captain  Turner's  company  back  to  guard  the  spoils. 

"  Your  obedient  servant,  PHILIP  MARTIN. 

•' General  SAM  HOUSTON,  Huntsville,  Texas" 

Mr.  HOUSTON.  This  evidence,  Mr.  President,  seems  to  account  for  the 
anxiety  that  Sherman  entertains  to  place  his  conduct  in  such  a  light  as  to  get 
rid  of  the  deserved  charge  of  cowardice,  and  ordering  a  halt  before  he  fled  from 
the  field,  and  attach  the  imputation  which  he  deserves,  to  the  Commander-in- 
chief.  This  is  the  gratitude  he  returns.  But,  Mr.  President,  it  is  proper  to  re- 
mark, that  previous  to  the  order  for  the  demolition  of  the  bridge,  and  during  the 
early  part  of  the  day,  two  officers  came  to  the  Commander-in-chief  and  asked 
him  if  it  would  not  be  well  to  construct  a  bridge  across  the  bayou,  immediately 
opposite  the  encampment,  which  was,  perhaps,  some  seventy  or  a  hundred  yards 
wide  at  tide-water.  The  general,  to  get  rid  of  them,  remarked,  "  Is  there 
material?"  and  told  them  to  see.  They  went,  and  after  returning,  reported 
that,  by  demolishing  Governor  Zavala's  house,  a  bridge  might  be  constructed. 
The  general  observed  to  them,  that  other  arrangements  might  suit  better,  and 
cast  them  off.  So  soon  as  the  general  supposed  the  bridge  was  destroyed,  or 
cut  down,  he  ordered  Colonel  Bennett  to  go  around  to  the  captains  and  men  of 
Sherman's  regiment,  to  see  what  their  spirits  were  ;  whether  they  were  cheerful, 
and  whether  he  thought  them  desirous  for  a  battle.  Colonel  Bennett  reported 
favorably.  They  were  ordered  to  parade.  The  plan  of  battle  is  described  in 
the  official  report  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  to  be  found  in  Yoakum's  History, 
one  of  the  most  authentic  and  valuable  books  in  connection  with  the  general 
affairs  of  Texas,  that  can  be  found  ;  in  which  nothing  is  stated  upon  individual 
responsibility ;  everything  in  it  is  sustained  by  the  official  documents.* 

With  the  exception  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  no  gentleman  in  the  army 
had  ever  been  in  a  general  action,  or  even  witnessed  one ;  no  one  had  been 


592  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

drilled  in  a  regular  army,  or  had  been  accustomed  to  the  evolutions  necessary  to 
the  maneuvering  of  troops.  So  soon  as  the  disposition  of  the  troops  was  made, 
according  to  his  judgment,  he  announced  to  the  Secretary  of  War  the  plan  of 
battle.  It  was  concurred  in  instantly.  The  Commander-in-chief  requested  the 
Secretary  of  War  to  take  command  of  the  left  wing,  so  as  to  possess  him  of  the 
timber,  and  enable  him  to  turn  the  right  wing  of  the  enemy.  The  General's 
plan  of  battle  was  carried  out.  About  all  the  silly  and  scandalous  charges  made 
against  the  general,  as  to  ordering  a  halt  during  the  action,  and  after  he  was 
wounded,  leaving  the  field,  I  will  examine  the  facts,  known  to  the  army,  and 
every  brave  man  in  it.  I  will,  as  authority,  refer  to  the  report  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  General  Rusk,  and  see  what  he  says  in  relation  to  that.  In  his  report 
to  the  President  ad  interim,  he  says  : 

"Major-General  Houston  acted  with  great  gallantry,  encouraging  his  men  to 
the  attack,  and  heroically  charged,  in  front  of  the  infantry,  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  enemy,  receiving  at  the  same  time  a  wound  in  his  leg." 

This  is  the  testimony  of  General  Rusk,  in  relation  to  one  of  the  calumnies 
that  have  been  brought  forward  and  paraded  by  the  maligners  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief. Again,  to  show  that  the  General  was  not  laggard  through- 
out the  action,  we  find  the  attestation  of  as  gallant  a  man  as  lives,  General  Ben- 
jamin McCulloch.  He  says : 

"  At  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto,  I  was  in  command  of  one  piece  of  artillery. 
The  fire  from  it  opened  upon  the  enemy  about  two  hundred  yards  distant.  We 
advanced  after  each  discharge,  keeping  in  advance  of  the  infantry,  until  we  were 
within  less  than  one  hundred  yards  of  their  breastworks,  at  which  time  I  had 
aimed  the  gun,  but  was  delayed  in  firing  for  a  moment  by  General  Houston, 
who  passed  across,  some  thirty  yards  in  front  of  the  gun,  and  was  at  that  time 
nearly  that  distance  in  advance  of  every  man  in  that  part  of  the  field.  After 
this,  I  saw  him  advancing  upon  the  enemy,  at  least  one-third  of  the  distance  be- 
tween the  two  armies,  in  front  of  Colonel  Burleson's  regiment,  when  it  was  not 
more  than  seventy  or  eighty  yards  from  the  enemy's  breastworks.  About  this 
time,  the  enemy  gave  way,  and  the  route  became  general. 

"  My  recollections  of  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto. 

"February  28,  1858.  BEN.  McCuLLOCH." 

Now,  I  merely  read  these  documents  to  show  the  refutation  which  is  given  to 
these  calumnies,  and  that  they  may  become  a  record,  and  placed  in  the  annals 
of  the  country  while  I  am  living,  and  not  leave  it  to  other  hands  to  finish  a  work 
which  Providence  has  accorded  to  me.  I  will,  in  concluding  this  point,  read  the 
testimony  of  General  Rusk,  to  show  that  the  Commander-in-chief  remained  on 
the  field,  and  continued-  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  until  his  horse,  pierced  with 
five  balls,  fell  under  him. 

Extract  from  a  letter  of  General  Rusk  to  William  B.  Stout,  relative  to  the 
conduct  of  General  Houston,  in  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  : 

"  As  to  the  halt  spoken  of,  I  know  of  none  ordered  by  General  Houston,  ex- 
cept at  the  bog,  or  quagmire,  after  the  Mexicans  were  defeated  and  in  full  retreat. 
At  that  point,  I  met  with  the  general  for  the  first  time  after  he  was  wounded. 
The  men  were  entangled  and  in  confusion ;  the  General  ordered  a  halt  to  form 
the  men." 


Rev.  Mr.  Perry's  Treason  and  Calumny.        593 

From  this  time  no  hostile  gun  was  fired.  The  last  detachment  of  the  enemy 
immediately  surrendered.  This  was  not  in  the  onset  of  the  .action  ;  but  when  it 
was  over.  Mr.  Sherman  displayed  his  prudence  in  the  onset  of  the  action,  and 
secured  his  person  beyond  the  reach  of  danger.  Thus  far,  Mr.  President,  I  have 
referred  to  documentary  evidence  that  may  be  relied  on,  to  establish  the  conduct 
of  the  general,  which  may  be  found  in  one  of  the  most  authentic  histories  of 
Texas ;  one  written  with  good  taste,  succinct  and  instructing  in  its  character, 
and  giving  a  good  idea  of  the  object  for  which  it  was  designed — Yoakum's  His- 
tory of  Texas.  It  is  a  work  with  which  the  Commander-in-chief  had  no  con- 
nection, never  having  seen  a  page  of  it  in  manuscript  in  his  life.  His  object  has 
not  been  to  write  history,  or  to  supervise  its  composition.  His  only  object  has 
been  to  vindicate  himself  against  the  calumnies  that  have  been  brought  forward, 
and  got  up  recently,  for  the  purpose  not  only  of  attacking  him,  but  assailing 
every  man  who  was  friendly  to  him,  and  that  by  individuals  whose  malignity  has 
been  bitter ;  whose  hostility  to  the  cause  of  Texas,  and  to  everything  like  the 
establishment  of  good  government,  has  been  notorious  and  proverbial  in  Texas. 
The  author  of  this  almanac,  Wilfard  Richardson — I  must  immortalize  him — if 
reports  be  true,  and  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  them,  had  he  been  assigned  to 
his  proper  place,  would  have  been  dignified  by  a  penitentiary  residence  before 
this  time,  owing  to  the  peccadilloes  with  which  he  was  charged.  Although  they 
have  been  smothered  and  done  away  with,  his  character  is  not  vindicated  to  the 
world.  He  still  goes  on  from  sin  to  sin,  from  abuse  to  slander.  Sir,  I  have  no 
disposition  to  animadvert  more ;  but  could  the  characters  of  these  individuals, 
and  the  motives  which  prompted  them,  be  known,  it  would  not  have  been  neces- 
sary for  me  to  occupy  the  time  of  the  Senate  on  this  occasion ;  or  to  give  a 
thought  to  what  has  transpired,  in  relation  to  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  of  Texas.  I  find,  however,  that  bitter,  that  undying  hostility  to  him,  that 
will  not  perish  even  with  his  life  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  the  very  creatures  that 
are  hunting  him  now,  would  hunt  him,  if  they  could,  beyond  the  grave.  No 
longer  than  last  night — and  I  regret,  exceedingly,  to  advert  to  it — I  received  a 
letter  from  a  respectable  gentleman  in  New  York,  containing  an  item  that  I  must 
pay  some  attention  to.  I  hate  these  trivial  things  ;  but  yet  they  bear  an  import 
with  them  that  seems  to  claim  my  attention.-  He  says  : 

"  PORT  CHESTER,  WESTCHESTER  COUNTY,  NEW  YORK,  ) 

"Febmary   24,  1859.  f 

"  MY  DEAR  GENERAL  :— Chagrined  and  mortified,  I  sit  down  to  tell  you 
of  the  burning  disgrace  that  has,  this  evening,  been  given  to  your  well-earned 
fame.  Reverend  James  H.  Perry,  D.D.,  of  New  York,  delivered  in  a  lecture  in 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  this  evening,  the  most  bitter  remarks  respect- 
ing your  bravery  and  honor  that  ever  passed  human  lips.  The  subject  was 
'  The  battle  of  San  Jacinto  ;  its  causes  and  consequences.'  Mr.  Perry  informed 
his  large  and  intelligent  audience  that  he  was  prompted  by  patriotic  motives  to 
enlist  in  the  Texan  cause;  that  he  visited  you  at  your  camp,  with  letters  of 
introduction,  and  was  admitted  a  member  of  your  staff.  Without  repeating  the 
details  of  the  battle,  in  which  he  took  occasion  to  say  that  every  advance  move- 
ment of  the  army  was  without  your  consent,  and  only  made  by  the  wiser  and 
more  patriotic  manifestations  of  the  army,  in  which  you  were  obliged  to  acqui- 
esce, he  closed  by  a  peroration  that  astonished  and  wounded  every  person 
38 


594  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

present.  He  said  :  '  I  wish  it  to  be  understood,  for  I  speak  what  I  do  know, 
that  the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  was  fought,  and  the  victory  was  achieved,  in  spite 
of  General  Houston,  and  the  wreath  that  now  encircles  his  brow  as  the  hero  of 
that  battle  has  not  in  it  one  green  leaf.' 

"  I  would  not,  my  dear  general,  call  your  attention  to  this  subject  but  for  the 
reason  that  the  details  of  the  lecture  are  to  be  given  elsewhere  at  the  North  ; 
and,  being  a  young  man  at  the  time  the  battle  was  fought,  my  whole  theory 
of  the  '  causes  and  consequences/  and  the  part  taken  by  yourself,  has  been  ut- 
terly destroyed,  so  far  as  the  reverend  doctor  could  do  it.  May  I  inquire  if  you 
remember  James  H.  Perry  as  your  aide-de-camp,  and  what  the  part  he  took  in 
the  battle  of  San  Jacinto  ?  Your  answer  will  not  only  gratify  me,  but  hundreds 
who  listened  to  the  defamations  of  your  honored  and  cherished  renown. 
"  I  am,  very  sincerely,  your  attached  friend, 

"  General  SAM  HOUSTON.  . . " 

Now,  Mr.  President,  for  twelve  years  this  gentleman  has  been  sedulously  en- 
gaged in  defaming  the  character  of  the  Commander-in-chief,  or  attempting  to 
do  it.  I  was  apprised  of  it  before.  Gentlemen  of  his  denomination,  of  high 
respectability,  assured  me  that  a  stop  would  be  put  to  it.  I  see  that  he  has 
broken  out  in  a  fresh  place.  .  It  is  necessary  that  I  should  give  some  of  my 
knowledge  of  his  character. 

He  came  to  the  camp  on  the  Colorado  with  letters  of  introduction  from  the 
President  and  other  members  of  the  Cabinet  to  the  Commander-in-chief,  recom- 
mending him  as  a  graduate  of  West  Point,  or  having  been  a  student  there. 
Being  a  good-looking  gentleman,  plausible  in  his  manner,  unembarrassed  by  dif- 
fidence, not  very  cultivated,  still  would  do  very  well  for  a  soldier  or  officer,  his 
appearance  being  fine,  the  general  appointed  him  a  member  of  his  staff.  Shortly 
after,  reports  came  on  very  detrimental  to  him.  The  general  was  not  apprised 
of  them,  and  ordered  him  to  drill  Colonel  Burleson's  regiment.  Colonel  Burleson 
objected  to  his  drilling  his  regiment,  for  the  reason  that  he  did  not  consider  him 
a  man  of  good  character  ;  that  he  hao\  come  to  New  Orleans  with  his  wife,  or 
some  other  woman,  as  was  reported,  and  taking  a  free  yellow  girl  from  the 
North,  he  had  attempted  to  dispose  of  her,  as  a  slave,  in  the  South,  and 
some  difficulties  originated  from  the  fact.  His  "  patriotism  "  that  he  speaks 
of,  which  caused  him  to  enlist  in  the  cause  of  Texas,  I  rather  suppose,  from  the 
influence  of  disagreeable  circumstances,  prompted  him  to  seek  a  refuge  in 
Texas.  He  came  there.  That  was  the  reverend  gentleman.  He  continued 
there,  in  his  position  as  staff  officer,  until  the  arrival  of  the  army  on  the 
Brazos. 

An  order  was  given  by  the  general  that  no  one  should  communicate  from 
camp  without  the  communication  passing  the  general's  eye ;  and  whenever  an 
express  was  to  leave  camp  the  letters  were  to  be  brought  to  him,  so  that  he 
might  know  that  nothing  detrimental  to  the  army  should' go  out,  or  that  any- 
thing necessary  to  be  concealed  would  be  disclosed  to  the  world.  An  express 
was  about  to  start.  A  letter  of  Major  Perry,  that  then  was,  was  brought  to  the 
general.  It  was  sealed.  He  opened  it,  and  found  it  contained  the  grossest  def- 
amation and  slander  of  himself;  he  sent  for  Major  Perry;  he  gave  the  letter  to 
the  Assistant  Inspector-General,  and  told  him  to  read  it  to  Major  Perry ;  it  was 
so  done.  Major  Perry,  when  asked  by  the  Commander-in-chief  what  he  thought 
of  it,  observed,  it  was  stronger  than  he  imagined,  and  may  be  it  was  wrong.  He 


Slanders  as  to  Houston's  Private  Habits.         595 

then  said,  "  Go  to  your  duty,  sir  ;  I  do  not  care  for  all  the  spies  in  the  world  if 
they  will  tell  the  truth." 

Perry  remained  in  camp,  still  attached  to  the  staff,  and  when  they  arrived  at 
Harrisburg  he  passed  over  Buffalo  bayou  with  the  spies.  On  the  march  to  San 
Jacinto  he  was  taken  under  suspicious  circumstances — having  left  the  line  of  the 
Texans.  He  was  taken  by  Captain  Karnes  and  private  Seacrist,  of  the  spies, 
and  brought  to  the  general.  They  reported  that  he  had  changed  his  horse's 
caparison,  also  his  musket  for  an  escopet,  and  they  believed  he  had  communica- 
tion with  the  enemy.  The  general  ordered  him  to  be  disarmed  and  sent  to 
the  guard  fire.  Karnes  said,  "  General,  are  you  not  going  to  execute  him  ?" 
"  No,  Karnes,"  replied  the  general,  "  I  have  no  leisure  at  this  time  to  look  into 
the  matter."  "  Sir,"  said  he,  "  if  we  had  known  that  you  would  not  have  in- 
stantly executed  him,  you  would  never  have  been  troubled  with  him  ;  he  is  a 
traitor  and  a  spy." 

That  was  on  the  2oth.  He  remained  under  guard  until  the  morning  of  the 
2 1 st.  He  sent  the  general  a  message,  which  is  not  precisely  recollected.  The 
general  gave  orders  to  restore  his  arms,  giving  him  an  opportunity  to  wipe  off 
the  stigma  that  he  had  placed  upon  his  character,  and  gave  him  leave  to  go  into 
the  battle  ;  whether  he  did  or  not  is  not  known  to  me.  When  I  heard  of  his  con- 
duct, the  general  might  have  apprehended  that  he  would  have  been  the  first  ob- 
ject for  him  to  assassinate ;  but  he  defies  a  traitor,  a  spy,  or  an  assassin,  if  he 
can  confront  him.  This  is  the  Rev.  James  H.  Perry,  D.D.  His  letter  from  the 
Brazos  shall  be  published  after  I  return  to  Texas.  It  shall  appear  in  the  New 
York  Herald.  It  will  vindicate  all  I  have  said. 

He  says,  in  his  letter  from  camp,  that  the  general  was  not  in  the  habit  of 
drinking  ardent  spirits,  but  was  a  confirmed  opium-eater.  I  believe  there  never 
was  one  of  them  cured,  and  the  general  looks  very  little  like  an  opium-eater. 
His  correspondent  was  the  notorious  Robert  Potter,  of  North  Carolina,  who  was 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  Texas.  The  general  had  no  hand  in  making  him  so. 
He  was  the  gentleman  with  whom  the  reverend  doctor  corresponded.  He 
acknowledges  himself  his  spy  and  pimp  upon  the  general,  and«they  were  a  most 
worthy  pair. 

These  are  some  of  the  circumstances  that  I  have  felt  it  my  duty  to  state 
in  vindication  of  the  Commander-in-chief.  I  think  it  is  a  duty  that  a  man  owes, 
after  he  has  passed  his  life  pretty  much  in  the  service  of  his  country,  and  is  about 
to  retire  from  that  service,  that  he  should  do  a  little  redding  up,  and  arranging 
of  matters  which  posterity  may  not  so  well  comprehend  without  explanation.  I 
will  call  the  attention  of  the  honorable  Senate  to  one  fact ;  and  I  will  ask,  why 
was  the  council  called,  and  why  was  it  desired  ?  Because  the  indications  were 
clear  that  the  Commander-in-chief  intended  that  day  to  engage  the  enemy ;  that 
his  arrangements,  though  silent,  indicated  his  purpose.  There  were  persons 
who  censured  his  conduct  from  time  to  time,  and  charged  him  with  cowardice. 
He  was  charged  with  retreating  from  Gonzales,  and  from  the  Colorado,  and 
under  a  pressure  of  circumstances  crossing  the  Brazos,  with  a  design  to 
cross  the  Trinity,  and  go  east.  Why  did  they  not  then  call  a  council  to 
counteract  his  designs  ?  Why  did  they  not  interpose  to  prevent  these  things  if 
they  believed  them  ?  No  council  of  war  was  asked  for  until  on  the  eve  of  battle, 
and  the  gentleman  who  was  the  first  to  flee  from  the  field,  and  who  was  charged 
with  appropriating  the  spoils  privately,  was  most  active  in  that  council.  The 


596  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

spoils  are  a  matter  of  some  import.  Is  it  supposable  that  Santa  Anna,  with  his 
Mexican  ostentation,  would  march  at  the  head  of  the  finest  army  ever  marshaled 
in  Mexico  and  not  have  with  him  plate  and  jewels  becoming  the  condition  of  a 
man  whose  sway  was  absolute,  and  whose  expectation  on  his  return  was  to  as- 
sume the  imperial  purple  and  the  scepter  of  the  Mexican  monarchy  ?  What  ever 
became  of  these  spoils  ?  The  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Texas  army  decreed 
the  spoils  to  the  army.  Nor  did  he  ever  receive  the  value  of  one  cent.  Colonel 
Sherman  was  appointed  president  of  the  board  to  manage  and  distribute  the 
spoils  to  the  troops.  Colonel  Bennett  has  thrown  some  light  upon  that  subject, 
and  had  he  been  called  on  by  Colonel  Sherman,  after  he  charged  him  with  ap- 
propriating them,  it  appears  from  his  letter  that  he  could  have  given  much 
insight  into  the  affair.  Not  one  dollar's  worth  of  the  plate  was  ever  produced, 
but  the  stragglers  who  lagged  behind  had  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  concealing 
them  until  a  better  time  was  afforded  to  them  to  carry  them  away. 

They  have  charged  the  Commander-in-chief  with  having  more  troops  than  he 
reported.  Seven  hundred  on  the  Colorado  was  the  number,  according  to  the 
statement  of  Colonel  Burleson,  as  he  supposed.  The  General-in-chief  never  re- 
ported more  than  six  hundred  and  thirty-two  ;  his  efficient  force  never  exceeded 
over  seven  hundred  troops  at  any  one  point.  At  all  events,  such  was  the  result 
of  the  campaign  that  all  the  wisdom  of  man  could  not  have  rendered  it  more 
successful  and  beneficial  to  the  country.  Had  he  been  drawn  into  action  by  in- 
discretion, and  the  attempt  to  force  a  battle,  the  bridge  at  Vince's  would  not 
have  been  cut  down,  which  prevented  the  escape  of  the  enemy ;  the  enemy 
would  have  escaped  •  Santa  Anna  would  have  reached  his  reserve  force  of  four 
thousand  men  on  the  Brazos.  But  by  cutting  off  their  retreat,  by  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief's own  design  of  destroying  the  bridge,  and  leading  his  troops 
into  action  at  the  proper  time,  he  secured  for  Texas  all  that  wisdom  and  valor 
could  have  done,  whether  he  exercised  them  or  not. 

The  Commander-in-chief  is  charged  with  receiving  orders  from  the  Secretary 
of  War  to  march  upon  Harrisburg.  He  never  received  an  order  from  the  Sec- 
retary of  War.  By  reference  to  this  volume,  containing  the  historical  facts,  it 
will  be  seen  that  he  never  intimated  that  he  would  march  toward  the  Trinity, 
but  gave  orders  to  the  troops  to  unite  at  Donoho's.  That  indicated  his  design 
to  advance  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy  to  Harrisburg.  He  was  resolved  never  to 
pass  the  Trinity  ;  and  if  he  were  to  perish,  it  should  be  west  of  that  boundary. 
Would  he  have  submitted  to  the  orders  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  was  sus- 
pended, or  any  one  in  his  place,  unless  it  was  under  the  written  order  that  would 
vindicate  him  to  the  world  and  to  posterity  ?  No  written  order  is  pretended  for 
anything  he  had  done  ;  and  the  Secretary  of  War,  acquiescing  in  his  com- 
petency and  his  ability  to  command,  never  interfered  with  his  designs  in  the 
smallest  punctilio. 

Thus  has  it  been,  Mr.  President,  that  I  have  been  driven  to  this  recourse.  I 
had  no  design,  indeed  I  had  no  wish,  but  to  pass  from  public  life  quietly  and 
without  interference.  I  know  that  I  have  not  presented  the  facts  in  that  suc- 
cinct and  lucid  manner  that  I  ought  to  have  done  ;  yet  I  have  presented  such 
points  as  I  think  essential,  though  they  are  documentary,  and  more  than  I  would 
have  desired,  to  vindicate  the  Commander-in-chief  in  the  position  he  has  taken, 
and  to  show  to  the  world  that  these  calumnies,  so  recently  circulated,  are 
prompted  by  the  deepest  malignity,  and  by  persons  whose  vices,  could  they  be 


Houston's  Sagacity  in  Sparing  Santa  Anna.       597 

known,  would  sink  them  below  the  observation  of  all  the  virtuous  and  wise.  This 
individual  in  the  North  who  is  seeking  to  illumine  the  world  with  his  lectures, 
will  find  a  new  subject  furnished  him  on  this  occasion. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  notwithstanding  the  various  slanders  that  have  been  cir- 
culated about  the  Commander-in-chief,  it  is  somewhat  strange  that  the  only 
point  about  which  there  has  been  no  contestation  for  fame  and  for  heroic 
wreaths,  is  in  relation  to  the  circumstances  connected  with  the  capture  of  Gen- 
eral Santa  Anna.  When  he  was  brought  into  the  camp  and  the  interview  took 
place,  the  Commander-in-chief  was  lying  on  the  ground.  He  did  not  lie  as 
generals  usually  lie,  for  they  have  comforts.  The  night  before  the  battle  he  had 
lain  on  the  cold  ground,  without  a  blanket,  his  saddle  for  his  pillow,  with- 
out covering,  in  the  bleak  norther  that  blew  that  night.  He  was  no  better 
off  after  the  battle.  Nor  had  he  ever  had  a  tent  or  canopy  over  his  head  that  he 
could  claim,  as  General-in-chief,  save  the  blue  canopy  of  heaven.  He  had  not 
one  dollar  in  his  pocket,  nor  a  military  chest,  for  he  never  received  one  while  in 
command  of  the  army.  His  personal  and  moral  influence  in  the  army  held  it 
together ;  for  there  was  no  Government,  and  all  of  hope  that  remained  was  cen- 
tered in  him,  as  the  Government  expressed  it,  for  there  were  no  other  means. 
But,  sir,  when  Santa  Anna  was  taken  and  brought  into  camp,  the  general  was 
dozing,  after  having  had  a  sleepless  night  from  suffering ;  his  wound  was  severe. 
Looking  up  he  saw  Santa  Anna,  who  announced  to  him  in  Spanish  :  "  I  am 
General  Antonio  Lopez  de  Santa  Anna,  President  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico, 
and  a  prisoner  at  your  disposition."  Calmly  and  quietly  it  was  received.  The 
hand  was  waved  to  a  box  that  stood  by,  and  there  Santa  Anna  was  seated. 
After  some  time,  with  apparent  emotion,  but  with  great  composure  to  what  I 
had  expected,  under  the  circumstances,  he  proposed  a  negotiation  for  his  libera- 
tion. He  was  informed  that  the  general  had  not  the  power ;  that  there  was  an 
organized  civil  government,  and  it  must  be  referred  to  them.  Santa  Anna  in- 
sisted upon  negotiation,  and  expressed  his  great  aversion  to  all  civil  government. 
The  general  assured  him  that  he  could  not  do  it.  He  then  observed  to  the 
general  something  like  this  :  That  he  could  afford  to  be  generous  ;  that  he  was 
very  fortunate  ;  born  to  no  common  destiny  ;  that  he  had  conquered  the  Napo- 
leon of  the  West. 

The  Commander-in-chief  adverted  to  his  conduct  at  the  Alamo,  as  well  as  the 
massacre  of  Fannin  and  his  men  at  Goliad.  The  first  he  sought  to  justify  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  war.  The  second  he 
excused  himself  for,  assuring  the  general  that  he  was  not  aware  of  any  capitula- 
tion between  General  Urea  and  Colonel  Fannin,  and  if  he  lived  to  regain  power, 
he  would  make  an  example  of  Urea. 

The  Commander-in-chief  after  awhile  asked  him  if  he  wanted  refreshment 
It  was  ordered.  He  was  asked  if  he  wished  his  marquee,  if  he  desired  his  camp 
baggage,  if.  he  wished  his  aide-de-camp.  He  expressed  great  pleasure  at  the 
proposition,  but  looked  doubtful  as  to  whether  it  could  be  so.  They  were 
ordered.  Colonel  Almonte  went  and  selected  his  baggage.  His  keys  were 
never  asked  for ;  no  search  was  made.  He  was  treated  as  a  guest.  No  indig- 
nity was  offered  him  by  the  Commander-in-chief.  To  be  sure,  there  was  some 
turbulence  of  feeling  in  camp,  but  no  rude  manifestations.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances it  was  that  Santa  Anna  was  received.  Propositions  were  made  to 
the  Commander-in-chief  that  he  should  be  executed,  but  they  were  repelled  in  a 


598  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

becoming  manner.  No  one  has  sought  to  claim  the  honor  of  saving  him  on 
that  occasion ;  and  did  the  general  feel  a  disposition  to  claim  any  renown,  dis- 
tinction, or  fame,  for  any  one  act  of  his  life,  stripped  of  all  its  policy,  he  might 
do  it  for  his  conduct  on  that  occasion. 

But,  sir,  there  was  reason  as  well  as  humanity  for  it.  While  Santa  Anna  was 
held  a  prisoner  his  friends  were  afraid  to  invade  Texas,  because  they  knew  not 
at  what  moment  it  would  cause  his  sacrifice.  His  enemies  dared  not  attempt 
a  combination  in  Mexico  for  invasion,  for  they  did  not  know  at  what  moment 
he  would  be  turned  loose  upon  them.  So  that  it  guaranteed  peace  to  Texas  so 
long  as  he  was  kept  a  prisoner ;  and  for  that  reason,  together  with  reasons  of 
humanity,  his  life  was  preserved.  It  is  true,  he  had  forfeited  it  to  the  laws  of 
war.  Retaliation  was  just ;  but  was  it  either  wise,  or  was  it  humane,  that  he 
should  have  perished  ? 

The  Commander-in-chief,  on  that  occasion,  was  not  aware  that  he  had  the 
approval  of  Holy  Writ  for  the  course  he  adopted — though  he  subsequently  became 
apprised  of  the  fact ;  for  we  find  that,  after  Elisha  had  smitten  the  Syrians  and 
conducted  them  into  the  midst  of  Samaria,  and  had  ordered  their  eyes  to  be 
opened,  the  King  of  Israel,  Jehoram,  said  to  the  prophet :  "  My  father,  shall  I 
smite  them  ?  shall  I  smite  them  ?  "  And  he  answered  :  "  Thou  shalt  not  smite 
them  ;  wouldst  thou  smite  those  whom  thou  hast  taken  captive  with  thy  sword 
and  with  thy  bow  ?  Set  bread  and  water  before  them,  that  they  may  eat  and 
drink,  and  go  to  their  master."  Sir,  that  sanctioned  the  course  of  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief on  that  occasion  ;  and  though  he  was  not  as  familiar  with  the 
subject  as  he  ought  to  have  been,  yet,  when  apprised  of  it  afterward,  he  was 
rejoiced  to  know  that  he  had  the  authority  of  Holy  Writ  for  his  conduct. 

I  should  not  have  felt  it  necessary  to  reply  to  the  attacks  that  have  been  made 
upon  me,  were  it  not  that  I  am  to  leave  a  progeny,  that  might,  at  some  future 
time,  be  called  on  to  know  why  a  response  was  not  given  to  these  fabrications, 
and  the  denial  given  to  them.  There  is  not  one  word  of  truth  contained  in  all 
the  calumnies  in  this  book,  or  of  others,  except  one,  and  that  is,  that  the  Com- 
mander-in-chief never  communicated  his  counsel  to  any  one.  That  is  true,  and 
it  is  the  only  truth  in  this  or  other  books  on  the  "  campaign  of  San  Jacinto." 
How  could  the  general  permit  his  designs  to  be  known  when  mutiny  and  sedi- 
tion were  rife  in  camp,  and  when  combinations  were  formed  to  thwart  every 
measure  that  wisdom  and  prudence  could  devise,  up  to  the  very  hour  that  the 
troops  were  formed  for  battle  ? 

The  truth  of  history  has  been  perverted,  and  the  opposite  has  been  asserted. 
Contributions  of  material  have  been  made  to  this  almanac ;  it  was  concocted 
and  arranged,  and  then  given  to  the  world  in  such  a  shape  that  the  dissemina- 
tion of  the  calumny  throughout  the  United  States  must  affect  the  individual  to 
whom  it  was  directed,  and  make  some  impression  upon  him,  and  destroy  his 
reputation. 

Good  reasons  have  actuated  me  on  this  occasion.  The  character  of  the  indi- 
viduals who  have  propagated  these  slanders  against  the  Commander-in-chief  are 
such  as  are  not  known  to  the  public  at  large,  and  might  have  weight  in  society 
that  would  poison  the  true  source  of  history,  and  subserve,  to  some  extent,  their 
unworthy  ends ;  when,  if  their  characters  were  known,  truth  would  receive  no 
detriment  from  their  statements. 

I  regret,  Mr.  President,  that  I  could  not  have  prepared  my  matter  more  at 


Appeal  against  the  Cry  for  "Disunion"         599 

leisure  ;  for  it  is  but  a  few  days  past  since  I  contemplated  addressing  the  Senate 
on  this  subject.  I  should  then  have  done  it  with  more  pleasure,  and  with  less 
detention  of  the  honorable  body  ;  but  this  is  the  last  occasion  on  which  I  ever 
expect  that  my  voice  will  be  heard  in  this  Chamber  ;  never  again  shall  I  address 
the  President  of  this  body. 

Mr.  President,  in  retiring  from  the  duties  which  have  sat  lightly  upon  me  in 
this  Chamber  since  I  have  been  associated  with  it,  though  changes  have  taken 
place,  and  successive  gentlemen  have  occupied  the  seats  in  the  Senate.  I  have 
believed,  and  felt  it  my  duty,  to  cultivate  the  relations  of  good  feeling  and  friend- 
ship with  each  and  every  gentleman,  and  I  hope  the  same  cordial  respect  will 
continue  to  obtain  in  this  body.  I  know  the  high  and  important  duties  that  de- 
volve upon  Senators,  and  I  have  confidence  that  their  attention  and  their  great 
abilities  will  be  called  to  the  discharge  of  those  duties ;  that  they  will,  on  great 
national  subjects,  harmonize  so  as  to  give  vigor  to,  and  cement  our  institutions  ; 
and  that  they  will  keep  pace  in  their  efforts  to  advance  the  country  with  the 
progress  that  seems  to  invite  it  onward.  My  prayers  will  remain  with  them, 
that  light,  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  patriotism  may  guide  them,  and  that  their 
efforts  will  be  perpetually  employed  for  blessings  to  our  country ;  that  under 
their  influence  and  their  exertions  the  nation  will  be  blessed,  the  people  happy, 
and  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union  secured  to  the  latest  posterity.  [Applause  in 
the  galleries.] 


ADDRESS  AT  THE   UNION   MASS   MEETING,  AUSTIN,  TEXAS, 
ON  THE   220   OF  SEPTEMBER,  1860. 

LADIES  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  had  looked  forward  and  with  many  pleasing  anticipations  to  this  occa- 
sion, as  I  always  do  to  a  meeting  with  my  fellow-citizens,  hoping  that  no 
untoward  circumstance  would  arise  to  prevent  my  giving  full  utterance  to 
my  sentiments  on  the  political  topics  of  the  day ;  but  ill-health  has  over- 
taken me,  and  I  have,  against  the  advice  of  my  physician,  arisen  from  a 
sick-bed  to  make  my  apology  for  not  being  able  to  fill  my  appointment ; 
but  being  here,  I  will  endeavor  to  say  a  few  words  in  behalf  of  the  Union, 
and  the  necessity  of  union  to  preserve  it,  which  I  trust  will  not  fall  unheeded. 
The  condition  of  the  country  is  such,  the  dangers  which  beset  it  are  so  nu- 
merous, the  foes  of  the  Union  so  implacable  and  energetic,  that  no  risk 
should  be  heeded  by  him  who  has  a  voice  to  raise  in  its  behalf ;  and  so  long 
as  I  have  strength  to  stand,  I  will  peril  even  health  in  its  cause. 

I  had  felt  an  interest  in  this  occasion,  on  many  accounts.  It  is  said  a 
crisis  is  impending.  The  clamor  of  disunion  is  heard  in  the  land.  The 
safety  of  the  Government  is  threatened  ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  time 
had  come  for  a  renewal  of  our  vows  of  fidelity  to  the  Constitution  and  to 
interchange,  one  with  the  other,  sentiments  of  devotion  to  the  whole  coun- 
try. I  begin  to  feel  that  the  issue  really  is  upon  us,  which  involves  the  per- 
petuity of  the  Government  which  we  have  received  from  our  fathers.  Were 
we  to  fail  to  pay  our  tributes  to  its  worth,  and  to  enlist  in  its  defense,  we 
would  be  unworthy  longer  to  enjoy  it. 

It  has  been  my  misfortune  to  peril  my  all  for  the  Union.    So  indissolubly 


600  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

connected  is  my  life,  my  history,  my  hopes,  my  fortunes,  with  it,  that  when 
it  falls,  I  would  ask  that  with  it  might  close  my  career,  that  I  might  not 
survive  the  destruction  of  the  shrine  that  I  had  been  taught  to  regard  as 
holy  and  inviolate,  since  my  boyhood.  I  have  beheld  it,  the  fairest  fabric 
of  Government  God  ever  vouchsafed  to  man,  more  than  a  half  century. 
May  it  never  be  my  fate  to  stand  sadly  gazing  on  its  ruins  !  To  be  deprived 
of  it,  after  enjoying  it  so  long,  would  be  a  calamity,  such  as  no  people  yet 
have  endured. 

Upwards  of  forty-seven  years  ago,  I  enlisted,  a  mere  boy,  to  sustain  tne 
National  flag  and  in  defense  of  a  harassed  frontier,  now  the  abode  of  a  dense 
civilization.  Then  disunion  was  never  heard  of,  save  a  few  discordant  notes 
from  the  Hartford  Convention.  It  was  anathematized  by  every  patriot  in 
the  land,  and  the  concocters  of  the  scheme  were  branded  as  traitors.  The 
peril  I  then  underwent,  in  common  with  my  fellow-soldiers,  in  behalf  of  the 
Union,  would  have  been  in  vain,  unless  the  patriotism  of  the  nation  had 
arisen  against  these  disturbers  of  the  public  peace.  With  what  heart  could 
these  gallant  men  again  volunteer  in  defense  of  the  Union,  unless  the  Union 
could  withstand  the  shock  of  treason  and  overturn  the  traitors  ?  It  did 
this;  and  when  again,  in  1836,  I  volunteered  to  aid  in  transplanting  Amer- 
ican liberty  to  this  soil,  it  was  with  the  belief  that  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union  were  to  be  perpetual  blessings  to  the  human  face, — that  the  success 
of  the  experiment  of  our  fathers  was  beyond  dispute,  and  that  whether  un- 
der the  banner  of  the  Lone  Star  or  that  many-starred  banner  of  the  Union, 
I  could  point  to  the  land  of  Washington,  Jefferson,  and  Jackson,  as  the  land 
blest  beyond  all  other  lands,  where  freedom  would  be  eternal  and  Union 
unbroken.  It  concerns  me  deeply,  as  it  does  every  one  here,  that  these 
bright  anticipations  should  be  realized ;  and  that  it  should  be  continued 
not  only  the  proudest  nationality  the  world  has  ever  produced,  but  the 
freest  and  the  most  perfect.  I  have  seen  it  extend  from  the  wilds  of  Ten- 
nessee, then  a  wilderness,  across  the  Mississippi,  achieve  the  annexation  of 
Texas,  scaling  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  its  onward  march,  sweeping  the  val- 
leys of  California,  and  laving  its  pioneer  footsteps  in  the  waves  of  the  Pa- 
cific. I  have  seen  this  mighty  progress,  and  it  still  remains  free  and  inde- 
pendent. Power,  wealth,  expansion,  victory,  have  followed  in  its  path,  and 
yet  the  aegis  of  the  Union  has  been  broad  enough  to  encompass  all.  Is  not 
this  worth -perpetuating?  Will  you  exchange  this  for  all  the  hazards,  the 
anarchy  and  carnage  of  civil  war  ?  Do  you  believe  that  it  will  be  dissevered 
and  no  shock  felt  in  society  ?  You  are  asked  to  plunge  into  a  revolution  ; 
but  are  you  told  how  to  get  out  of  it  ?  Not  so  ;  but  it  is  to  be  a  leap  in  the 
dark — a  leap  into  an  abyss,  whose  horrors  would  even  fright  the  mad  spirits 
of  disunion  who  tempt  you  on. 

Our  forefathers  saw  the  danger  to  which  freedom  would  be  subjected, 
from  the  helpless  condition  of.  disunited  States ;  and,  to  "form  a  more  per- 
fect Union,"  they  established  this  Government.  They  saw  the  effect  of 
foreign  influence  on  rival  States,  the  effect  of  dissensions  at  home,  and  to 
strengthen  all  and  perpetuate  all,  to  bind  all  together,  yet  leave  all  free, 
they  gave  us  the  Constitution  and  the  Union.  Where  are  the  evidences 
that  their  patriotic  labor  was  in  vain  ?  Have  we  not  emerged  from  an 
infant's  to  a  giant's  strength  ?  Have  not  empires  been  added  to  our  do- 


No  Holy-Ground  or  Memories  Sacred  to  Disunion.     601 

main,  and  States  been  created?  All  the  blessings  which  they  promised 
their  posterity  have  been  vouchsafed  ;  and  millions  now  enjoy  them,  who 
without  this  Union  would  to-day  be  oppressed  and  down-trodden  in  far-off 
foreign  lands  ! 

What  is  there  that  is  free  that  we  have  not  ?  Are  our  rights  invaded  and 
no  Government  ready  to  protect  them  ?  No  !  Are  our  institutions  wrested 
from  us  and  others  foreign  to  our  taste  forced  upon  us  ?  No  !  Is  the  right 
of  free  speech,  a  free  press,  or  free  suffrage  taken  from  us  ?  No  !  Has  our 
property  been  taken  from  us  and  the  Government  failed  to  interpose  when 
called  upon  ?  No,  none  of  these  !  The  rights  of  the  States  and  the  rights 
of  individuals  are  still  maintained.  We  have  yet  the  Constitution,  we  have 
yet  a  judiciary,  which  has  never  been  appealed  to  in  vain — we  have  yet  just 
laws  and  officers  to  administer  them  ;  and  an  army  and  navy,  ready  to  main- 
tain any  and  every  constitutional  right  of  the  citizen.  Whence  then  this 
clamor  about  disunion  ?  Whence  this  cry  of  protection  to  property  or  dis- 
union, when  even  the  very  loudest  in  the  cry,  declared  under  their  Senato- 
rial oaths,  but  a  few  months  since,  that  no  protection  was  necessary  ?  Are 
we  to  sell  reality  for  a  phantom  ? 

There  is  no  longer  a  holy  ground  upon  which  the  footsteps  of  the  dema- 
gogue may  not  fall.  One  by  one  the  sacred  things  placed  by  patriotic 
hands  upon  the  altar  of  our  liberties,  have  been  torn  down.  The  Declara- 
tion of  our  Independence  is  jeered  at.  The  farewell  counsels  of  Washington 
are  derided.  The  charm  of  those  historic  names  which  make  glorious  our 
past  has  been  broken,  and  now  the  Union  is  no  longer  held  sacred,  but 
made  secondary  to  the  success  of  party  and  the  adoption  of  abstractions. 
We  hear  of  secession — "peaceable  secession."  We  are  to  believe  that  this 
people,  whose  progressive  civilization  has  known  no  obstacles,  but  has 
already  driven  back  one  race  and  is  fast  Americanizing  another,  who 
have  conquered  armies  and  navies, — whose  career  has  been  onward  and 
never  has  receded,  be  the  step  right  or  wrong,  is  at  last  quietly  and 
calmly  to  be  denationalized,  to  be  rent  into  fragments,  sanctioned  by  the 
Constitution,  and  there  not  only  be  none  of  the  incidents  of  revolution, 
but  amid  peace  and  happiness  we  are  to  have  freedom  from  abolition  clam- 
or, security  to  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  a  career  of  glory  under  a  South- 
ern Confederacy,  which  we  can  never  attain  in  our  present  condition ! 
When  we  deny  the  right  of  a  State  to  secede,  we  are  pointed  to  the  resolves 
of  chivalric  South  Carolina  and  other  States  ;  and  are  told,  "  Let  them  go 
out  and  you  can  not  whip  them  back."  My  friends,  there  will  be  no  neces- 
sity of  whipping  them  back.  They  will  soon  whip  themselves,  and  will  not 
be  worth  whipping  back.  Deprived  of  the  protection  of  the  Union,  of  the 
aegis  of  the  Constitution,  they  would  soon  dwindle  into  petty  States,  to  be 
again  rent  in  twain  by  dissensions  or  through  the  ambition  of  selfish  chief- 
tains, and  would  become  a  prey  to  foreign  powers.  They  gravely  talk  of 
holding  treaties  with  Great  Britain  and  other  foreign  powers,  and  the  great 
advantages  which  would  arise  to  the  South  from  separation  are  discussed. 
Treaties  with  Great  Britain  !  Alliance  with  foreign  powers  !  Have  these 
men  forgotten  history  ?  Look  at  Spanish  America  !  Look  at  the  condition 
of  every  petty  State,  which  by  alliance  with  Great  Britain  is  subject  to  con 
tinual  aggression  !  And  yet,  after  picturing  the  rise  and  progress  of  Aboli- 


602  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

tionism,  tracing  it  to  the  Wilberforce  movement  in  England,  and  British 
influence  in  the  North,  showing  that  British  gold  has  sustained  and  encour- 
aged Northern  fanaticism,  we  are  told  to  be  heedless  of  the  consequences 
of  disunion,  for  the  advantages  of  British  alliance  would  far  over-estimate 
the  loss  of  the  Union  ! 

How  would  these  seceding  States  be  received  by  foreign  powers  ?  If  the 
question  of  their  nationality  could  be  settled  (a  difficult  question,  I  can 
assure  you,  in  forming  treaties),  what  do  you  suppose  would  be  stipulations 
to  their  recognition  as  powers  of  the  earth  ?  Is  it  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  England,  after  starting  this  Abolition  movement  and  fostering  it,  will 
form  an  alliance  with  the  South  to  sustain  slavery  ?  No  ;  but  the  stipula- 
tion to  their  recognition  will  be,  the  abolition  of  slavery.  Sad  will  be  the 
day  for  the  institution  of  slavery,  when  the  Union  is  dissolved,  and  with  war 
at  our  very  doors,  we  have  to  seek  alliances  with  foreign  powers.  Its  per- 
manency, its  security,  are  coequal  with  the  permanency  and  the  security  of 
the  Union  under  the  Constitution. 

When  we  are  rent  in  twain,  British  Abolition,  which  in  fanaticism  and 
sacrificial  spirit,  far  exceeds  that  of  the  North  (for  it  has  been  willing  to 
pay  for  its  fanaticism,  a  thing  the  North  never  will  do),  will  have  none  of 
the  impediments  in  its  path,  now  to  be  found.  England  will  no  longer  fear 
the  power  of  the  mighty  nation  which  twice  has  humbled  her,  and  whose 
giant  arm  would,  so  long  as  we  are  united,  be  stretched  forth  to  protect  the 
weakest  State,  or  the  most  obscure  citizen.  The  State  that  secedes,  when 
pressed  by  insidious  arts  of  abolition  emissaries,  supported  by  foreign  pow- 
ers, when  cursed  by  internal  disorders  and  insurrections,  can  lay  no  claim 
to  that  national  flag,  which  when  now  unfurled,  ensures  the  respect  of  all 
nations  and  strikes  terror  to  the  hearts  of  those  who  would  invade  our 
rights.  No  !  Standing  armies  must  be  kept — armies  to  keep  down  a  ser- 
vile population  at  home,  and  to  meet  the  foe  which  at  any  moment  may  cross 
the  border,  bringing  in  their  train  ruin  and  desolation.  Do  you  wish  to 
exchange  your  present  peaceful  condition  for  the  day  of  standing  armies, 
when  all  history  has  proved  that  a  standing  army  in  time  of  peace  is  dan- 
gerous to  liberty  ?  Behold  Cuba,  with  her  20,000  lazy  troops,  eating  the 
substance  of  the  people  and  ready  at  the  beck  of  their  masters  to  inflict 
some  new  oppression  upon  a  helpless  people  ;  and  yet,  without  a  standing 
army,  no  State  could  maintain  itself  and  keep  down  its  servile  population. 

It  is  but  natural  that  we  all  should  desire  the  defeat  of  the  Black  Repub- 
lican candidates.  As  Southern  men,  the  fact  that  their  party  is  based  upon 
the  one  idea  of  opposition  to  our  institutions,  is  enough  to  demand  our 
efforts  against  them  ;  but  we  have  a  broader,  a  more  national  cause  of  op- 
position to  them.  Their  party  is  sectional.  It  is  at  war  with  those  princi- 
ples of  equality  and  nationality  upon  which  the  Government  is  formed,  and 
as  much  the  foe  of  the  Northern  as  of  the  Southern  man.  Its  mission  is  to 
engender  strife,  to  foster  hatred  between  brethren,  and  to  encourage  the 
formation  here  of  Southern  sectional  parties  equally  dangerous  to  Southern 
and  Northern  rights.  The  conservative  energies  of  the  country  are  called 
upon  to  take  a  stand  now  against  the  Northern  sectional  party,  because  its 
strength  betokens  success.  Defeat  and  overthrow  it,  and  the  defeat  and 
overthrow  of  Southern  sectionalism  is  easy. 

I  come  not  here  to  speak  in  behalf  of  a  united  South  against  Lincoln. 


Sectionalism  not  to  be  Met  l)y  Sectionalism.        603 

I  appeal  to  the  nation.  I  ask  not  the  defeat  of  sectionalism  by  sectional- 
ism, but  by  nationality.  These  men  who  talk  of  a  united  South,  know  well 
that  it  begets  a  united  North.  Talk  of  frightening  the  North  into  measures 
by  threats  of  dissolving  the  Union  !  It  is  child's  play  and  folly.  It  is  all 
the  Black  Republican  leaders  want.  American  blood,  North  nor  South, 
has  not  yet  become  so  ignoble  as  to  be  chilled  by  threats.  Strife  begets 
strife,  threat  begets  threat,  and  taunt  begets  taunt,  and  these  disunionists 
know  it.  American  blood  brooks  no  such  restraints  as  these  men  would 
put  upon  it.  I  would  blush  with  shame  for  America,  if  I  could  believe  that 
one  vast  portion  of  my  countrymen  had  sunk  so* low  that  childish  threats 
would  intimidate  them.  Go  to  the  North,  and  behold  the  elements  of  a 
revolution  which  its  great  cities  afford.  Its  thousands  of  wild  and  reckless 
young  men,  its  floating  population,  ready  to  enter  into  any  scheme  of  ad- 
venture, are  fit  material  for  demagogues  to  work  upon.  To  such  as  these, 
to  the  great  hive  of  working  population,  the  wily  orator  comes  to  speak  in 
overdrawn  language  of  the  threats  and  the  words  of  derision  and  contempt 
of  Southern  men.  The  angry  passions  are  roused  into  fury,  and  regardless 
of  consequences  they  cling  to  their  sectional  leaders.  As  well  might  the 
Abolitionists  expect  the  South  to  abandon  slavery,  through  fear  that  the 
North  would  go  out  of  the  Union  and  leave  it  to  itself.  No,  these  are  not 
the  arguments  to  use.  I  would  appeal  rather  to  the  great  soul  of  the  na- 
tion than  to  the  passions  of  a  section.  I  would  say  to  Northern  as  well  as 
Southern  men,  "  Here  is  a  party  inimical  to  the  rights  of  the  whole  country, 
such  a  party  as  Washington  warned  us  against.  Let  us  put  it  down  ";  and 
this  is  the  only  way  it  can  be  put  down. 

The  error  has  been  that  the  South  has  met  sectionalism  by  sectionalism. 
We  want  a  Union  basis,  one  broad  enough  to  comprehend  the  good  and 
true  friends  of  the  Constitution  at  the  North.  To  hear  Southern  disunion- 
ists talk,  you  would  think  the  majority  of  the  Northern  people  were  in  this 
Black  Republican  party ;  but  it  is  not  so.  They  are  in  a  minority,  and  it 
but  needs  a  patriotic  movement  like  that  supported  by  the  conservatives  of 
Texas,  to  unite  the  divided  opposition  to  that  party  there  and  overthrow  it. 
Why,  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey  alone,  the  conservatives 
had  a  majority  of  over  250,000  at  the  last  Presidential  election,  and  in  the 
entire  North  a  majority  of  about  270,000.'"  Because  a  minority  at  the  North 

*  In  the  six  Northern  States — New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont, 
Maine,  and  Wisconsin — where  elections  have  been  held,  the  Republicans  have  gained  over 
the  State  elections  of  1856,  37,145.  Leaving  out  Connecticut,  where  the  gain  is  37,715,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  Black  Republicans  had  not  organized  for  the  State  election  in  1856,  there 
has  been  a  falling  off.  As  compared  with  the  Presidential  vote  of  1856,  they  stand  : 

1856.  1860. 

Republican 265,357  I  Republican 254,875 

Opposition 186,121  |  Opposition 215,670 

Black  Republican  majority  in  1856 79,236 

"  "  "  1860 39,205 

Opposition  gain 40,031 

Popular  vote  of  1856 451,478 

1860 .' 470,545 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  on  a  gain  in  the  popular  vote  of  19,067,  the  Black  Republicans  fell 
off  40,031. 


604  Houston's  Literary  JRemams. 

are  inimical  to  us,  shall  we  cut  loose  from  the  majority,  or  shall  we  not 
rather  encourage  the  majority  to  unite  and  aid  us  ? 

I  came  not  here  to  vindicate  candidates  or  denounce  them.  They  stand 
upon  their  records.  If  they  are  national,  approve  them ;  if  they  are  sec- 
tional, condemn.  Judge  them  by  the  principles  they  announce.  Let  past 
differences  be  forgotten  in  the  determination  to  unite  against  sectionalism. 
I  have  differed  with  all  three  of  the  candidates  ;  but  whenever  I  see  a  man 
at  this  crisis  coming  boldly  up  to  the  defense  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
country,  and  ready  to  maintain  the  Union  against  its  foes,  I  will  not  permit 
old  scores  to  prejudice  me  against  him.  Hence  I  am  ready  to  vote  the 
Union  ticket,  and  if  all  the  candidates  occupy  this  national  ground,  my 
vote  may  be  transferred  to  either  of  them.  This  is  the  way  to  put  Mr.  Lin- 
coln down.  Put  him  down  constitutionally,  by  rallying  the  conservative 
forces  and  sacrificing  men  for  the  sake  of  principles. 

But  if,  through  division  in  the  ranks  of  those  opposed  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  he 
should  be  elected,  we  have  no  excuse  for  dissolving  the  Union.  The  Union 
is  worth  more  than  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  if  the  battle  is  to  be  fought  for  the 
Constitution,  let  us  fight  it  in  the  Union  and  for  the  sake  of  the  Union. 
With  a  majority  of  the  people  in  favor  of  the  Constitution,  shall  we  desert 
the  Government  and  leave  it  in  the  hands  of  the  minority  ?  A  new  obliga- 
tion will  be  imposed  upon  us,  to  guard  the  Constitution  and  to  see  that  no 
infraction  of  it  is  attempted  or  permitted.  If  Mr.  Lincoln  administers  the 
Government  in  accordance  with  the  Constitution,  our  rights  must  be  re- 
spected. If  he  does  not,  the  Constitution  has  provided  a  remedy. 

No  tyrant  or  usurper  can  ever  invade  our  rights  so  long  as  we  are  united. 
Let  Mr.  Lincoln  attempt  it,  and  his  party  will  scatter  like  chaff  before  the 
storm  of  popular  indignation  which  will  burst  forth  from  one  end  of  the 
country  to  the  other.  Secession  or  revolution  will  not  be  justified  until 
legal  and  constitutional  means  of  redress  have  been  tried,  and  I  can  not 
believe  that  the  time  will  ever  come  when  these  will  ptove  inadequate. 

These  are  no  new  sentiments  to  me.  I  uttered  them  in  the  American 
Senate  in  1856.  I  utter  them  now.  I  was  denounced  then  as  a  traitor. 
I  am  denounced  now.  Be  it  so !  Men  who  never  endured  the  privation, 
the  toil,  the  peril  that  I  have  for  my  country,  call  me  a  traitor  because  I  am 
willing  to  yield  obedience  to  the  Constitution  and  the  constituted  authori- 
ties. Let  them  suffer  what  I  have  for  this  Union,  and  they  will  feel  it  en- 
twining so  closely  around,  their  hearts  that  it  will  be  like  snapping  the 
cords  of  life  to  give  it  up.  Let  them  learn  to  respect  and  support  one  Gov- 
ernment before  they  talk  of  starting  another.  I  have  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve that  plotting  the  destruction  of  the  Government  is  treason  ;  but  these 
gentlemen  call  a  man  a  traitor  because  he  desires  to  sustain  the  Govern- 
ment and  to  uphold  the  Constitution. 

Who  are  the  people  who  call  me  a  traitor  ?  Are  they  those  who  march 
under  the  national  flag  and  are  ready  to  defend  it  ?  That  is  my  banner  ! 
I  raised  it  in  Texas  last  summer,  and  when  the  people  saw  shining  amid  its 
stars  and  stripes,  "  THE  CONSTITUTION  AND  THE  UNION,"  they  knew  it  was 
no  traitorous  flag.  They  rallied  to  it ;  but  these  gentlemen  stood  aloof. 
I  bear  it  still  aloft ;  and  so  long  as  it  waves  proudly  o'er  me,  even  as  it  has 
waved  amid  stormy  scenes  where  these  men  were  not,  I  can  forget  that  I 
am  called  a  traitor. 


The  "Southern  Constitutional  Party  "  Inconsistent.     605 

Let  those  who  choose,  add  to  my  watchword,  "  the  enforcement  of  the 
laws."  If  they  maintain  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  the  enforcement 
of  the  laws  must  follow. 

But,  fellow-citizens,  we  have  a  new  party  in  our  midst.  They  have  de- 
serted the  old  Democracy,  and,  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Yancey,  have  started 
what  they  call  a  Southern  constitutional  party.  They  say  that  they  could 
not  get  their  constitutional  rights  in  the  national  Democracy  ;  and  because 
the  platform  was  adopted  which  they  all  indorsed  and  under  which  they  all 
fought  in  1856,  they  seceded.  It  will  be  recollected  that  I  objected  to  that 
platform  in  1856  ;  but  I  was  declared  to  be  wrong.  They  all  denounced  me 
then  ;  but  now  they  suddenly  see  that  the  platform  won't  do,  and  they  secede 
to  get  their  constitutional  rights.  They  are  the  keepers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion ;  they  don't  want  anything  but  the  Constitution,  and  they  won't  have 
anything  but  the  Constitution.  They  have  studied  it  so  profoundly  that 
they  claim  to  know  better  what  it  means  than  the  men  who  made  it.  They 
have  nominated  Southern  constitutional  candidates,  and  have  men  travel- 
ing about  the  country  expounding  the  Constitution  ;  and  yet  there  is  scarcely 
one  of  them  but  will  tell  you  that,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Mr.  Lin- 
coln may  be  elected  in  the  mode  pointed  out  by  the  Constitution  and  by  a 
constitutional  majority,  they  will  not  submit.  You  hear  it  from  the  stump, 
you  read  it  in  their  papers  and  in  their  resolutions,  that  if  Mr.  Lincoln  is 
elected  the  Union  is  to  be  dissolved.  Here  is  a  constitutional  party  that 
intends  to  violate  the  Constitution  because  a  man  is  constitutionally  elected 
President.  Here  is  a  constitutional  party  that  proclaims  it  treasonable  for 
a  man  to  uphold  the  Constitution.  If  the  people  constitutionally  elect  a 
President,  is  the  minority  to  resist  him  ?  Do  they  intend  to  carry  that 
principle  into  their  new  Southern  Confederacy  ?  If  they  do,  we  can  readily 
conceive  how  long  it  will  last.  They  deem  it  patriotism  now  to  overturn 
the  Government.  Let  them  succeed,  and  in  that  class  of  patriots  they  will 
be  able  to  outrival  Mexico. 

But  who  are  the  teachers  of  this  new-fangled  Southern  constitutional 
Democracy  ?  Are  they  not  men  like  Yancey  and  Wigfall,  who  have  been 
always  regarded  as  beyond  the  pale  of  national  Democracy  ?  Transplants 
from  the  South  Carolina  nursery  of  disunion.  Whenever  and  wherever 
the  spirit  of  nullification  and  disunion  has  shown  itself,  they  and  their  coad- 
jutors have  been  found  zealously  at  work.  They  have  been  defeated  time 
and  again  ;  but  like  men  who  have  a  purpose,  they  have  not  ceased  their 
efforts.  No  sacrifice  of  pride  or  dignity  has  been  deemed  too  great  if  it 
assisted  in  the  great  purpose  of  disunion.  What  if  they  assailed  the  Com- 
promise of  1850.  They  indorsed  it  in  the  platform  of  1852.  From  non- 
intervention they  turn  to  intervention !  From  the  peculiar  advocates  of 
State  Rights,  denying  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Supreme  Court,  they  become 
the  advocates  of  the  Supreme  Court  as  an  arbiter,  and  shout  for  the  Dred 
Scott  decision.  Anything  for  disunion  !  They  can  as  readily  dissolve  the 
Union  upon  one  issue  as  another.  At  the  Nashville  Convention  they  deter- 
mined to  dissolve  it  unless  the  Missouri  Compromise  line  was  extended  to 
the  Pacific.  In  1854  they  deemed  the  existence  of  this  line  a  cause  of 
separation,  and  demanded  its  repeal.  The  admission  of  Kansas  was  the 
next  ultimatum,  and  now  it  is  the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Should  they 


606  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

fail,  it  will  then  be  the  adoption  of  the  Slave  Code  and  the  repeal  of  the 
laws  making  the  Slave  Trade  piracy. 

These  men  of  convenient  politics  intend  to  hang  the  peaceable  and  law- 
loving  citizens  of  the  country  if  they  take  office  under  Lincoln.  You  are  to 
have  no  postmasters,  no  mails,  no  protection  from  the  United  States  army, 
no  officers  of  the  Government  in  your  midst,  for  fear  of  these  Southern 
constitutional  Democrats.  One  of  them,  Col.  Wigfall,  your  illustrious 
Senator,  said  upon  the  northern  line  of  Virginia  some  time  since,  that  if 
Lincoln  was  elected  I  would  be  one  of  the  men  who  would  take  office,  and 
have  to  leave  Texas  to  keep  from  being  "  tarred  and  feathered."  And  this 
is  the  kind  of  talk  by  which  men  are  to  be  driven  into  resisting  the  consti- 
tuted authorities,  and  yielding  their  liberties  into  the  hands  of  these  South- 
ern constitutional  Democrats.  Now  let  me  ask  whether  the  most  humble 
citizen,  who  deems  it  his  duty  to  obey  the  laws,  has  not  an  equal  claim  to 
consideration  with  these  men  ?  Whenever  the  time  comes  that  respect  for 
the  Constitution  of  our  fathers  leads  to  the  scaffold  or  the  block,  he  who 
falls  a  martyr  in  its  defense  will  have  a  prouder  fate  than  those  who  survive 
its  destruction  to  share  the  ruin  that  will  follow. 

What  .do  these  men  propose  to  give  you  in  exchange  for  this  Govern- 
ment ?  All  are  ready  to  admit  their  ability  to  pull  down,  but  can  they 
build  up  ?  I  have  read  of  the  glory  of  a  Southern  Confederacy,  and  seen 
the  schemes  of  rash  enthusiasts  ;  but  no  rational  basis  has  been  presented— 
none  that  would  sustain  a  government  six  months.  They  take  it  for  granted 
that  because  the  Union  has  self-sustaining  powers,  they  need  but  call  a 
Southern  Convention,  secede,  set  up  for  themselves,  and  all  will  go  on 
smoothly.  But  where  are  their  Washingtons,  their  Jeffersons,  and  Madi- 
sons  ?  Where  is  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  and  patriotism  which  brought  the 
Union  into  existence,  and  maintained  it  amid  privation  and  danger  ?  Look 
at  the  men  who  are  crying  out  disunion,  and  then  ask  yourselves  whether 
they  are  the  men  you  would  choose  to  create  a  new  government  ?  Do  they 
combine  that  wisdom,  prudence,  and  patriotism  which  would  inspire  you 
with  confidence  and  lead  you  to  trust  the  destinies  of  a  nation  in  their 
hands  ?  Where  are  the  proofs  of  their  patriotism  ?  Point  to  one  of  them, 
leading  this  secession  movement,  who  has  ever  raised  his  arm  or  bared  his 
bosom  to  the  foe,  in  defense  of  the  honor  of  his  country,  save  Jefferson 
Davis ;  and  even  he,  whose  chivalrous  bearing  in  battle,  does  not  excuse 
trifling  with  the  safety  of  the  Union,  is  thrown  in  the  background  by  the 
impetuous  Yancey,  Wigfall,  Keitt,  and  Rhett. 

If  the  wisdom  of  the  past  century  combined  has  not  sufficed  to  perfect 
this  Government,  what  hope  can  we  have  for  another  ?  You  realize  the 
blessings  you  have :  give  them  up  and  all  is  uncertainty.  Will  you  have 
more  protection  to  your  property — more  rights,  and  have  them  better  pro- 
tected ?  We  now  have  all  that  we  ever  could  have  under  any  government, 
and  notwithstanding  all  the  complaints  we  hear,  they  are  as  perfect  as  at 
any  time  since  the  formation  of  the  Government.  Because  we  carry  the 
question  of  niggerism  into  national  politics,  and  it  engenders  bad  feeling, 
it  is  no  reason  for  believing  that  our  rights  are  invaded.  We  still  have  the 
institution  of  slavery.  All  the  legislation  on  the  subject  for  the  past  twenty 
vears  has  been  to  secure  it  to  us,  so  long  as  we  may  want  it.  It  is  our  own, 


The  People's  Misfortunes  made  Political  Capital.     607 

•and  the  North  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  North  does  not  want  it,  and 
we  have  nothing  to  do  with  that.  Their  customs  are  their  own.  They  are 
guaranteed  to  them  just  as  ours  are  to  us.  We  have  the  right  to  abolish 
slavery — they  have  the  right  to  establish  it.  It  is  our  interest  to  have  it. 
Climate,  soil,  association — all  make  the  institution  peculiarly  suited  to  us. 
If  it  were  to  their  interest,  the  people  of  the  North  would  have  it.  Even  in 
Massachusetts,  as  I  told  them  a  few  years  since  in  Boston,  they  would  have 
it  yet,  but  for  the  fact  that  it  would  not  pay.  Now,  when  the  "  cotton 
States  "  are  "  precipitated  into  a  revolution,"  and  the  Southern  Confederacy 
is  formed,  is  the  idea  of  State  Rights  to  be  maintained,  or  is  there  to  be  a 
centralized  government,  forbidding  the  States  to  change  their  institutions, 
and  giving  peculiar  privileges  to  classes  ?  I  warn  the  people  to  look  well 
to  the  future.  Among  the  unsatisfied  and  corrupt  politicians  of  the  day, 
there  are  many  who  long  for  title  and  power.  There  are  wealthy  knaves 
who  are  tired  of  our  simple  republican  manners  ;  and  they  have  pliant  tools 
to  work  upon  in  the  forum  and  with  the  pen.  So  long  as  the  Union  lasts, 
the  masses  need  not  fear  them — when  it  falls,  aristocracy  will  rear  its  head. 

Whenever  an  encroachment  is  made  upon  our  constitutional  rights,  I 
am  ready  to  peril  my  life  to  resist  it ;  but  let  us  first  use  constitutional 
means.  Let  us  resist,  as  our  fathers  did,  with  right  on  our  side.  They 
exhausted  all  legal  means  of  remedy  first.  When  submission  to  tyranny  or 
revolution  was  all  that  was  left  them,  they  tried  revolution.  It  was  the 
same  in  Texas.  The  people  fought  to  uphold  the  Constitution  of  1824. 
When  it  was  again  violated,  they  sent  petitions  to  the  Central  Government. 
Their  agent  was  imprisoned,  and  an  army  was  sent  to  disarm  them.  Then 
they  raised  the  standard  of  revolution.  In  the  share  I  have  borne  in  these 
things  I  claim  nothing  more  than  the  right  to  love  my  country  in  propor- 
tion as  I  have  done  my  duty  to  it ;  but  I  may  ask,  what  higher  claim  have 
these  men,  who  would  inaugurate  revolutions  before  their  time  ? 

My  weak  condition  warns  me  against  giving  vent  to  feelings  which  will 
come  up  when  I  behold  the  efforts  of  whipsters  and  demagogues  to  mislead 
the  people.  Here  in  Texas  they  convert  the  misfortunes  of  the  people  into 
political  capital.  Property  has  been  burned  in  some  instances,  and  here 
and  there  a  case  of  insubordination  has  been  found  among  the  negroes. 
Occasionally  a  scoundrel  has  attempted  to  run  a  negro  off  to  sell  him  ;  and 
all  these  things  are  charged  to  abolitionism.  Terrible  stories  are  put  afloat 
of  arms  discovered,  your  capitol  in  flames,  kegs  of  powder  .found  under 
houses,  thousands  of  negroes  engaged  in  insurrectionary  plots,  wells  poi- 
soned, and  hundreds  of  bottles  of  strychnine  found.  Town  after  town  has 
been  reported  in  ashes,  and  by  the  time  the  report  has  been  found  to  be 
false,  some  new  story  to  keep  up  the  public  excitement  has  been  invented. 
The  people  of  the  South  have  been  filled  with  horror  by  these  accounts,  , 
and  instead  of  Texas  being  looked  upon  as  the  most  inviting  spot  on  earth, 
they  turn  from  it  as  from  a  land  accursed.  Who  will  buy  land  here,  so 
long  as  these  things  continue  ?  What  Southern  planter  will  emigrate  with 
his  slaves  to  such  a  country  ?  If  there  was  a  cause  for  it,  we  could  bear 
it  without  a  murmur  ;  but  there  has  been  no  cause  for  the  present  state  of 
feeling.  We  all  know  how  every  occurrence  has  been  magnified  by  the 
f^sunion  press  and  leaders  and  scattered  abroad,  and  for  no  other  purpose 


608  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

than  to  arouse  the  passions  of  the  people  and  drive  them  into  the  Southern 
Disunion  movement ;  for  if  you  can  make  the  people  believe  that  the  ter- 
rible accounts  of  abolition  plots  here  are  true,  they  will  be  ready  for  any- 
thing, sooner  than  suffer  their  continuance.  Who  are  the  men  that  are  cir- 
culating these  reports,  and  taking  the  lead  in  throwing  the  country  into 
confusion  ?  Are  they  the  strong  slave-holders  of  the  country  ?  No ; 
examine  the  matter  and  it  will  be  found  that  by  far  the  large  majority  of 
them  never  owned  a  negro,  and  never  will  own  one.  I  know  some  of  them 
who  are  making  the  most  fuss,  who  would  not  make  good  negroes  if  they 
were  blacked.  And  these  are  the  men  who  are  carrying  on  practical  aboli- 
tionism, by  taking  up  planters'  negroes  and  hanging  them.  They  are  the 
gentlemen  who  belong  to  the  duelling  family  that  don't  fight  with  knives, 
but  choose  something  that  can  be  dodged.  Some  of  them  deserve  a  worse 
fate  than  Senator  Wigfall  would  visit  on  me ;  and,  sooner  or  later,  when 
the  people  find  out  their  schemes,  they  will  get  it.  Texas  can  not  afford  to 
be  ruined  by  such  men.  Even  the  fact  that  they  belong  to  the  Simon  Pure 
Constitutional  Democracy  will  not  save  them. 

I  look  around  me  and  behold  men  of  all  parties.  I  appeal  to  you,  old 
line  Whigs,  who  stood  by  him  of  the  lion  heart  and  unbending  crest,  gal- 
lant Henry  Clay.  I  ask  you,  did  you  ever  hear  from  his  lips  a  word  dis- 
loyal to  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  ?  Did  he  ever  counsel  resistance 
to  the  laws  ?  Gallantly  he  led  you  on,  inspired  you  with  devotion  to  his 
fortunes  and  principles.  When  defeat  overwhelmed  you  and  him,  did  he 
ever  seek  to  plunge  the  country  into  a  revolution  ?  In  all  that  glorious 
career  did  Henry  Clay  ever  utter  a  word  of  treason  ?  No !  There  was  a 
broad  spirit  of  nationality  pervading  his  life.  While  unbending,  so  far  as 
his  political  views  were  concerned,  there  was  a  conservatism  in  his  character 
which  elevated  his  patriotism  above  considerations  of  party  and  made  him 
a  man  for  the  whole  country.  You  may  say  I  was  opposed  to  Clay  while 
he  lived.  True,  I  was  on  questions  of  ordinary  politics ;  but  the  barriers  of 
party  never  divided  us  when  the  good  of  the  country  was  at  stake.  There 
were  national  issues  when  his  great  mind  bent  all  its  energies  for  but 
one  end,  and  that  the  glory  and  perpetuity  of  the  Union.  There  were 
common  sentiments,  which  had  come  down  from  the  patriots  of  the 
revolution  and  the  founders  of  our  Government,  to  which  he  and  I  could 
subscribe.  Whenever  these  were  at  issue,  I  beheld  him  the  champion  of 
the  Union  driving  back  its  foes  by  the  power  of  his  eloquence.  Would  that 
the  tones  of  that  voice  of  his  could  once  more  fall  upon  the  ear  of  the  people 
and  thrill  the  national  heart.  Treason,  secession,  and  disunion  would  hide 
themselves  as  of  yore.  He  was  the  Ajax  whose  battle-axe  glistened  aloft 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight  for  the  compromise  of  1850.  Whenever  we  saw 
his  helmet  plumes  proudly  waving,  we  knew  that  the  battle  was  going  well. 
Old  Whigs  recollect  who  were  his  foemen  then  !  Behold  them  now  swelling 
the  ranks  of  disunion  !  With  the  memory  of  your  gallant  leader  before 
you,  will  you  go  with  them  ?  I  stood  with  Clay  against  Yancey  and  his  co- 
adjutors. The  same  illustrious  Wigfall,  who  now  denounces  me  as  a  traitor 
upon  my  native  soil,  then  proclaimed  Houston  and  Rusk  as  traitors  for 
their  support  of  that  measure.  But  the  people  condemned  them,  just  as 
they  will  condemn  them  now.  The  conservatism  of  the  land  rose  against 


Appeal  to  Old  Whigs  and  Democrats.  609 

them  just  as  it  is  rising  now.  They  were  rebuked,  and  the  country  had 
peace  until  the  Nebraska  and  Kansas  bill  came — that  charmer,  which  was  to 
bring  peace,  security,  and  power  to  the  South.  Scarce  a  ripple  was  seen 
on  the  popular  current  when  it  came.  I  saw  the  storm  gathering  as  it 
passed  and  strove  to  arrest  it.  Would  that  I  could  have  been  successful ; 
but  yet  you  cast  me  off.  I  do  not  taunt  you  with  the  results.  My  last  pre- 
diction has  been  fulfilled.  It  has  broken  up  the  party.  Those  who  de- 
nounced me  as  a  traitor  for  voting  against  it,  were  the  first  to  deny  the 
bargain  they  had  made  and  to  break  with  their  Northern  friends  in  refer- 
ence to  its  construction,  when  its  construction  was  as  well  known  at  the 
time  of  its  passage  as  then.  I  proclaimed  my  opposition  to  it  on  account 
of  the  power  it  conferred  on  the  Territories.  And  yet  the  men  who  then 
denounced  me,  now  denounce  their  Northern  friends  for  holding  them  to 
the  bargain.  They  denounced  me  for  voting  with  the  Abolitionists ;  but 
it  was  forgotten  that  the  illustrious  men  of  the  South  stood  side  by  side 
with  Seward,  Hale,  Giddings,  and  the  rest,  against  Henry  Clay,  in  the  battle 
for  the  compromise.  I  saw  then  how  extremes  could  meet.  Their  affilia- 
tions were  so  close  that  I  was  reminded  of  the  Siamese  twins ;  and  yet  they 
were  never  branded  as  traitors. 

I  have  appealed  to  the  old  Whigs.  Let  me  now  invoke  the  shade  of 
Andrew  Jackson  and  ask  Democrats  whether  the  doctrines  which  in  these 
latter  days  are  called  Southern  Constitutional  .Democracy,  were  democracy 
then  ?  Men  of  1832,  when  flashed  that  eagle  eye  so  bright,  when  more 
proudly  stood  that  form  that  never  quailed,  as  when  repelling  the  shock  of 
disunion  ?  Jackson  was  the  embodiment  of  Democracy  then.  He  came 
forth  in  the  name  of  the  people  and  fought  these  heresies  which  are  now 
proclaimed  here  as  democracy.  Democrats,  you  remember !  Whigs,  you 
remember!  how  Clay  and  Webster  aided  Jackson  to  put  down  nullification 
and  secession  !  Will  you  stand  back  now,  when  both  are  openly  avowed 
by  sectionalists  North  and  South  ? 

I  invoke  the  illustrious  name  of  Jackson  and  bid  you  not  prove  recreant 
to  his  memory.  To  those  who  plot  the  ruin  of  their  country,  North  or 
South,  that  name  brings  no  pleasant  remembrances ;  but  to  the  national 
men  of  long  service,  to  the  young  men  who  have  been  reared  to  love  that 
name,  I  appeal.  The  same  issue  is  upon  you  that  was  upon  him.  He  stood 
with  the  Constitution  at  his  back  and  defied  disunion.  Let  the  people  say 
to  these  abolition  agitators  of  the  North,  and  to  the  disunion  agitators  of 
the  South,  "  You  can  not  dissolve  this  Union.  We  will  put  you  both  down  ; 
but  we  will  not  let  the  Union  go  !" 

Now,  mark  me,  I  do  not  call  all  those  Democrats  who  are  in  the  ranks  of 
this  Southern  Constitutional  party.  I  do  not  proclaim  their  candidates  to 
be  disunionists.  You  have  their  records  and  present  declarations,  and  can 
iudge  for  yourselves.  There  are  good  and  loyal  men  to  be  found  in  this 
party,  and  I  would  not  charge  them  wrongly. 

No,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  do  not  say  that  all  these  Southern  Constitutional 
Democrats  are  disunionists;  but  I  do  say,  that  all  the  Southern  disunionists 
are  Southern  Constitutional  Democrats. 

I  can  speak  but  little  longer ;  but  let  my  last  words  be  remembered  by 
39 


610  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

you.  When  I  look  back  and  remember  the  names  which  are  canonized  as  the 
tutelar  saints  of  liberty,  and  the  warnings  they  have  given  you  against  dis- 
union, I  can  not  believe  that  you  will  be  led  astray.  I  can  not  be  long 
among  you.  My  sands  of  life  are  fast  running  out.  f  As  the  glass  becomes 
exhausted,  if  I  can  feel  that  I  leave  my  country  prosperous  and  united,  I 
shall  die  content.  To  leave  men  with  whom  I  have  mingled  in  troublous 
times,  and  whom  I  have  learned  to  love  as  brothers — to  leave  the  children 
of  those  whom  I  have  seen  pass  away,  after  lives  of  devotion  to  the  Union — 
to  leave  the  people  who  have  borne  me  up  and  sustained  me — to  leave  my 
country,  and  not  feel  that  the  liberty  and  happiness  I  have  enjoyed  would 
still  be  theirs,  would  be  the  worst  pang  of  death.  I  am  to  leave  children 
among  you  to  share  the  fate  of  your  children.  Think  you  I  feel  no  interest 
in  the  future  for  their  sakes  ?  We  are  passing  away.  They  must  encounter 
the  evils  that  are  to  come.  In  the  far  distant  future,  the  generations  that 
spring  from  our  loins  are  to  venture  in  the  path  of  glory  and  honor.  If 
untrammeled,  who  can  tell  the  mighty  progress  they  will  make  ?  If  cast 
adrift — if  the  calamitous  curse  of  disunion  is  inflicted  upon  them,  who  can 
picture  their  misfortunes  and  shame  ? 


PART     Y. 

LAST  STATE  PAPERS  AS  GOVERNOR  OF  TEXAS. 


MESSAGE  TO  THE   LEGISLATURE  OF  TEXAS. 

AUSTIN,  January  13,  1860. 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES: 

A  PRESS  of  public  business,  which  has  not  allowed  time  for  the  preparation 
of  this  communication,  has  prevented  me  from  presenting  at  an  earlier 
period,  to  the  Representatives  of  the  people,  that  information  respecting-  the 
condition  of  our  State  affairs  and  the  policy  which  will  actuate  my  administra- 
tion, expected  at  my  hands. 

In  the  short  period  which  has  elapsed  since  my  inauguration  it  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  a  critical  knowledge  of  the  workings 
of  the  different  departments  of  government,  so  as  to  recommend  such  modi- 
fications and  improvements  as  may  be  necessary  to  effect  the  purposes  of 
economy  and  reform,  and  I  can  therefore  but  commend  the  application  of  those 
principles,  which  should  extend  to  and  influence  all  the  avenues  of.  government, 
affecting  the  discharge  of  official  duty,  of  whatever  grade,  and  controlling  the 
operations  of  government,  legislative  and  administrative. 

The  office  of  the  Executive  falls,  into  my  hands  at  a  peculiar  period  in  our 
history  as  a  State.  Contemplating  alone  the  vastness  of  its  extent,  the  diversi- 
fied interests  of  its  people,  and  the  character  of  its  resources,  yet  undeveloped, 
there  is  enough  to  demand  continued  labor  and  attention,  in  order  to  apply  the 
benefits  of  government  with  sound  discretion,  and  a  proper  regard  to  the  rela- 
tive demands  of  each  interest  ;  but  apart  from  these,  a  considerable  portion  of 
our  State  bordering  on  the  Rio  Grande  River  is  in  a  state  of  tumult  and  war, 
our  frontier  is  unprotected  and  harassed  by  Indians,  and  our  Treasury,  which 
we  have  hitherto  regarded  as  of  exhaustless  capacity,  considering  the  probable 
expenses  of  government,  is  without  a  dollar  subject  to  appropriation,  beyond  the 
amount  necessary  to  defray  the  current  expenses  of  government  for  the  present 
year. 

Difficulties  like  these  impelled  immediate  action.  The  peace  and  security  of 
the  State  being  a  paramount  object,  my  attention  has  first  been  directed  toward 
quieting  the  disorders  upon  the  Rio  Grande,  and  providing  for  the  defense  of 
our  settlements  against  Indian  depredations.  With  a  due  regard  for  the  dig- 
nity of  the  State,  should  be  united  a  desire  to  maintain  peace  within  our  limits. 
The  bloodshed,  the  ravages,  the  desolation  of  an  intestine  war  are  to  be  con- 
sidered; nor  should  we  lose  sight  of  the  immense  cost  of  prosecuting  it.  If,  by 
the  use  of  those  means  known  to  humanity  and  the  laws  of  nations,  such  dis- 
turbances can  be  quelled,  all  the  considerations  mentioned  demand  their  exer- 
cise. 

Possessed  of  no  information  going  to  show  the  cause  of  the  disorders  existing 

(611) 


612  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

upon  the  Rio  Grande,  the  Executive  could  but  act  upon  the  fact  of  their  exist- 
ence ;  and  accordingly  on  the  28th  of  December  I  issued  a  proclamation,  which 
was  printed  in  the  English  and  Spanish  languages,  for  circulation  in  that 
region  ;  and  a  copy  of  the  same  is  herewith  submitted.  This  course  is  not  only 
justified  by  precedent,  but  it  is  founded  upon  the  principles  of  justice  and  hu- 
manity. Without  assuming  to  know  the  origin  of  the  disorders,  it  warns  the 
offenders  against  the  law  of  consequences  of  further  rebellion,  and  exhorts  a  re- 
turn to  duty.  If  productive  of  the  desired  end,  the  saving  of  blood  and  treasure 
which  would  accrue  would  be  considerations  which  should  far  outweigh  the 
promptings  of  revenge,  or  the  appeals  of  hostility  against  a  race  already  degen- 
erate from  oppression.  If  such  means  fail,  the  law  must  be  vindicated,  and  the 
offenders  taught  subordination  by  force. 

The  first  official  information  received  by  the  Executive  from  the  seat  of  these 
disorders  was  the  communication  of  Capt..W.  G.  Tobine,  herewith  submitted, 
bearing  date  at  Ramireno,  near  Brownsville,  December  16,  1859,  and  received 
by  hands  of  Capt.  A.  C.  Hill.  I  was  gratified  to  learn  from  that  dispatch  that 
the  Federal  Government  had  interposed  to  restore  order  in  that  region,  and 
that  Major  Hientzleman,  an  officer  of  discretion  and  valor,  had  assumed  the 
control  of  military  operations.  Whatever  complaints  may  be  made  against  the 
Federal  Government  on  account  of  the  removal  of  the  troops  from  that  portion 
of  our  border,  its  promptitude  in  affording  relief  at  this  time  is  deserving  of  con- 
sideration. Satisfied  from  the  report  of  Capt.  Tobin  that  a  sufficient  force  was 
on  the  spot  to  quell  the  disturbance,  and  that  the  Federal  arm  would  be  still 
further  extended  at  the  call  of  its  officer  commanding  the  troops  there,  I  dis- 
patched Capt.  Hill  with  an  escort  of  twenty  men,  with  instructions  to  Major 
John  S.  Ford,  acting  as  commander  of  the  Texas  forces,  by  virtue  of  an  prder 
from  my  predecessor.  In  that  communication  I  stated  that,  "as  the  manage- 
ment of  military  operations  has  been  assigned  by  the  Federal  Government  to  its 
officers,  if  troops  are  desired  from  Texas,  it  is  proper  that  a  requisition  should 
be  made  by  an  officer  of  the  Federal  Government  in  command  of  the  United 
States  forces  at  that  station."  Should  such  a  requisition  be  made,  I  am  satis- 
fied that  citizen  soldiery  of  the  country  will  respond  with  alacrity  to  the  call. 

On  the  loth  of  January  the  report  of  Major  John  S.  Ford  was  received,  dated 
at  Ringgold  barracks,  December  29,  1859,  giving  an  account  of  the  engagement 
at  Rio  Grande  City,  in  which  the  followers  of  Cortinas  were  completely  routed 
-  and  dispersed.  The  entire  forces  on  this  occasion  were  under  the  command  of 
Major  Hientzleman,  to  whom  great  credit  is  given  for  the  disposition  made  of 
the  troops.  Our  rangers  behaved  on  this  occasion,  as  on  the  former  occasion, 
with  that  bravery  which  is  a  part  of  the  Texan  character,  and  the  Federal 
troops  likewise  acted  with  great  gallantry.  So  signal  was  the  rout  of  the  oppos- 
ing forces  that  I  think  their  uniting .  again  is  improbable.  The  report  of  Major 
Ford  is  herewith  submitted. 

On  the  nth  inst.  I  received  dispatches  from  Major  Wm.  G.  Tobin,  dated 
Ringgold  barracks,  January  3d,  1860,  showing  the  organization  of  the  Texas 
forces,  and  the  result  of  the  elections  held  accordingly  ;  also  a  letter  from  Major 
Hientzleman,  in  reply  to  Major  Tobin,  in  which  it  is  shown  that  in  the  opinion 
of  that  officer  the  forces  of  Cortinas  "  entirely  dispersed,"  and  that  a  force  of  the 
United  States  troops  were  on  the  march.  All  of  these  documents  are  respect- 
fully submitted. 


Mexican  and  Texan  Border  Disorders.          613 

I  have  every  reason  to  hope  that  ere  this  time  the  disorders  have  been 
quelled,  and  that  the  emergency  which  has  called  our  citizens  from  their  homes 
no  longer  exists. 

Unable  to  form  any  correct  conclusion  as  to  the  origin  of  these  disorders,  it 
has  been  impossible  for  me  to  lay  before  your  honorable  body  the  information 
which  would  otherwise  be  expected  at  my  hands.  Not  only  the  Legislature, 
but  the  people  of  our  entire  State,  on  whom  may  fall  the  burthen  of  taxation  to 
meet  the  cost  of  sustaining  troops  in  the  field,  have  a  right  to  know  the  entire 
facts  connected  with  the  disturbance.  If  the  causes  are  local  in  their  nature,  as 
I  have  supposed,  or  if  a  premeditated  invasion  was  contemplated,  it  is  equally 
important  for.  our  peace  and  safety  that  the  truth  should  be  placed  before  the 
country.  Actuated  by  this  motive,  I  determined  to  send  commissioners  with- 
out delay  to  Brownsville,  and  accordingly,  on  the  2d  of  January,  Messrs.  Angel 
Navarro,  of  Bexar,  and  Robert  H.  Taylor,  of  Fannin  County,  were  commissioned 
for  that  purpose,  and  proceeded  at  once  on  their  mission.  These  gentlemen 
both  possess  a  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language,  and  represent  different  sec- 
tions of  the  State.  From  the  tenor  of  their  instructions,  herewith  submitted,  it 
will  be  seen  that  all  necessary  discretion  is  given  to  them  with  reference  to  the 
State  troops  in  that  vicinity.  If,  after  a  conference  with  the  Federal  officer 
commanding,  their  services  are  deemed  necessary,  as  soon  as  their  report 
reaches  th*  Executive  it  will  be  submitted  to  the  Legislature  for  its  considera- 
tion. 

In  whatever  light  we  may  view  these  disorders  upon  the  Rio  Grande,  they 
may  readily  be  traced  to  the  insecure  condition  of  our  border  arising  from  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Federal  troops.  Mexico  is  in  a  continued  state  of  anarchy ; 
her  population  feel  none  of  the  influences  of  a  stable  government.  Lawless 
chieftains  plunder  them  with  impunity,  and  light  the  torch  of  civil  war  at 
pleasure  Riot,  murder,  and  revolution  reign  above  law  and  order.  Separated 
from  Mexico  as  we  are  by  a  narrow  river  alone,  and  a  continual  intercourse 
going  on  between  its  people  and  ours,  it  is  but  natural  that  the  unhappy  influ- 
ences of  her  condition  should  extend  to  our  border.  To  prevent  these  influences 
operating  upon  the  turbulent  portion  of  our  own  population,  as  well  as  to  check 
any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  of  Mexico  to  aid  them  in  setting  the  laws  at 
defiance,  the  presence  of  the  Federal  troops  is  absolutely  necessary ;  and  in  my 
opinion  <\he  disturbances  may  be  attributed  to  the  insecurity  arising  from  their 
removal,  which  left  no  check  against  the  influences  of  civil  war  in  Mexico.  I 
have  full  confidence  that  the  Federal  Government  will  not  only  guard  against 
such  exigencies  in  the  future,  but  will,  as  it  should,  recognize  as  valid  the  acts 
of  its  military  officer  on  the  Rio  Grande  in  assuming  the  control  of  our  State 
troops,  and  reimburse  Texas  for  the  cost  of  pay  and  subsistence. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  no  appropriation  had  been  made  by  the 
Legislature  to  provide  for  the  defense  of  our  frontier,  and  the  condition  of 
the  Treasury  warranted  but  little  hope  of  relief  from  that  quarter,  I  could 
not  disregard  the  claims  of  our  frontier  citizens  to  protection  from  maraud- 
ing bands  of  Indians  which  infest  our  border,  and  accordingly  at  once  took 
steps  to  call  into  the  field  a  sufficient  force  to  meet  the  present  emergency. 
By  virtue  of  the  constitutional  power  vested  in  the  Executive  to  resist  inva- 
sion, J  felt  fully  authorized  to  pursue  this  course,  believing  that  the  Legis- 
lature would  provide  the  means  of  pay  and  subsistence  for  the  troops. 


614  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Instructions  have  been  issued  to  Captains  W.  C.  Dalrymple,  Ed.  Burleson, 
and  John  H.  Connor,  to  raise  each  sixty  men  for  immediate  service.  Since 
the  initiative  steps  to  effect  this  purpose  were  taken,  the  bill  entitled  "  An 
act  for  the  protection  of  the  frontier,"  came  into  my  hands.  Inasmuch  as 
the  Legislature  has  thrown  upon  the  Executive  the  entire  responsibility  of 
defending  the  frontier,  it  is  but  just  to  him  and  to  the  people  of  the  State, 
that  the  Legislature  should  provide  him  with  the  means  of  meeting  that 
responsibility,  as  the  exigency  before  him  requires.  The  bill  in  question 
but  affirms  a  constitutional  power  already  existing  in  the  Executive.  It 
provides  the  manner  in  which  the  troops  shall  be  organized,  and  the  rates 
at  which  they  shall  be  paid  ;  but  the  money  by  which  they  are  to  be  paid  and 
sustained  in  the  field  is  unprovided  for.  Without  a  dollar  at  his  command, 
it  is  impossible  for  the  Executive  to  sustain  rangers  on  the  frontier,  or 
accomplish  much  for  the  defense  of  the  State  ;  and  although  numbers  of 
our  citizens  are  ready  to  go  to  the  scene  of  danger,  relying  upon  the  justice 
of  the  State  to  pay  them  for  their  services,  yet  they  can  not  be  expected  to 
enter  upon  the  dangerous  service  before  them  without  necessary  subsist- 
ence. The  Executive  is  determined  to  use  all  the  constitutional  means  in 
his  power  to  give  security  to  our  border. 

He  will  endeavor  to  send  to  the  frontier  efficient  and  reliable  protection, 
and  will  call  into  the  field  no  more  men  than  appears  absolutely  necessary ; 
but  beyond  this  he  has  no  power.  The  Legislature  can  alone  provide  and 
appropriate  the  money. 

Our  frontier  people  have  long  been  harassed  by  Indians.  They  have  been 
compelled,  from  time  to  time,  to  leave  their  homes  in  pursuit  of  them,  to 
punish  their  aggressions,  and  recover  property  stolen.  A  feeling  of  insecu- 
rity exists  which  nothing  but  an  active  force,  continually  on  the  alert,  can 
dispel.  Scattered  along  the  border,  they  are  unable  to  get  together  in  suf- 
ficient numbers  to  punish  the  enemy,  without  endangering  their  firesides. 
I  have  therefore  determined  to  send  them  protection  from  the  interior.  If 
an  emergency  arise,  or  the  Indians  appear  in  force,  they  may  then  be 
called  into  service  as  minute  men,  without  leaving  their  families  long 
unprotected. 

The  defense  of  our  settlements  properly  belongs  to  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment, and  it  is  only  in  cases  where  protection  is  not  extended  by  it,  that  we 
may  resort  to  our  own  means  of  defense.  It  has  been  my  belief  for  years  that 
mounted  rangers  are  the  only  species  of  troops  calculated  to  afford  efficient 
protection  against  roving  bands  of  Indians.  Thus  far  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment has  not  acted  upon  such  a  policy  as  respects  our  frontier.  I  shall  at 
an  early  period  urge  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  War 
Department,  the  necessity  for  such  a  force,  as  well  as  the  propriety  of  mus- 
tering into  the  service  of  the  United  States  the  troops  now  being  raised  for 
the  protection  of  our  frontier. 

I  shall  also  urge  upon  the  proper  department,  the  importance  of  author- 
izing a  treaty  with  all  the  Indian  tribes  on  our  border,  and  the  payment  of 
annuities  directly  to  them,  through  a  Texas  agency,  instead  of  by  way  of 
Arkansas  as  at  present.  The  fact  that  these  tribes  respect  the  laws  of 
Arkansas,  and  the  civilized  nations  of  Indians,  and  that  no  depredations 
are  committed  on  that  frontier,  but  altogether  upon  that  of  Texas,  is  a  suf- 


Condition  of  the  Texas  State  Treasury.  615 

ficient  reason  for  believing  that  a  change  of  policy  in  this  respect  would  be 
beneficial. 

In  view  of  the  continued  depredations  upon  our  frontier  and  the  insecu- 
rity arising  from  the  anarchical  condition  of  Mexico,  I  shall  take  immediate 
steps  for  the  organization  of  the  militia,  in  accordance  with  the  act  of  April 
21,  1846.  As  our  settlements  widen,  and  the  people  of  the  interior  become 
strangers  to  the  incidents  of  border  life,  the  use  of  arms  and  the  knowledge 
of  all  that  pertains  to  military  duties,  will  not  be  kept  up  to  that  degree 
which  will  insure  efficiency  in  the  hour  of  danger.  Military  discipline  is  an 
important  item  in  the  education  of  a  free  people.  Familiar  with  the  use  of 
arms,  they  can  be  made  available  at  any  moment  to  repel  invasion  or  crush 
rebellion.  I  would  commend  to  your  honorable  body,  the  propriety  of  mak- 
ing such  appropriation  as  will  be  necessary  to  put  our  militia  system  into 
operation. 

The  Report  of  the  State  Comptroller,  already  laid  before  the  Legislature, 
shows  that  we  have  very  little  to  congratulate  ourselves  upon,  on  account 
of  the  condition  of  the  Treasury.  There  remained  in  the  Treasury  at  the 
expiration  of  the  last  fiscal  year,  ending  on  the  3ist  of  August,  1859,  the 
sum  of  $411,402.69,  in  U.  S.  bonds  and  specie. 

The  $2,000,000  set  apart  for  the  School  Fund  yet  remains,  but  the  balance 
of  the  $5,000,000  received  from  the  sale  of  our  Santa  Fe  territory  to  the 
United  States,  is  exhausted,  except  the  amount  set  apart  for  the  University 
Fund,  amounting  to  $106,972.26,  and  the  balance  mentioned  of  $411,402.69 
belonging  to  the  General  Fund.  Notwithstanding  a  continued  revenue 
arising  from  taxation  and  the  interest  on  our  United  States  bonds,  has 
flowed  in  a"  continued  stream  into  the  Treasury,  the  money  has  gone  out  in 
a  ceaseless  stream,  until,  instead  of  seeking,  as  has  formerly  been  the  case, 
for  modes  of  emptying  the  public  Treasury,  we  have  to  seek  for  modes  of 
replenishing  it.  Added  to  the  revenue  of  the  fiscal  year,  the  balance  in 
the  Treasury  on  the  ist  of  August,  1859,  will  but  little  more  than  meet 
the  ordinary  expenses  of  Government ;  and  to  make  it  do  this,  economy  is 
necessary. 

We  have  a  force  in  the  field  upon  the  Rio  Grande,  and  the  frontier  is  to 
be  protected  from  the  Indians.  We  can  not  expect  our  citizens  to  wait  the 
delay  to  be  experienced  in  our  endeavors  to  obtain  the  recognition  of  our 
State  forces  by  the  United  States.  They  must  be  provisioned  and  paid 
Common  justice  demands  that  the  State  should  recompense  them,  and  not 
force  them  to  wait  until  the  General  Government  shall  make  the  necessary 
appropriation.  To  m  eet  these  extraordinary  expenditures  by  means  most  pru- 
dent, is  an  object  which  I  especially  enjoin  on  your  attention.  Every  avenue 
of  extravagance  should  be  closed,  every  proper  means  of  retrenchment 
should  be  adopted.  The  keys  of  the  Treasury  should  be  held  with  an  hon- 
est grasp,  and  no  appropriation  be  made  which  is  not  necessary  and  strictly 
in  accordance  with  law.  Every  disbursing  officer  of  the  Government  should 
be  held  to  strict  accountability,  and  no  stretch  of  authority  be  permitted  in 
the  exercise  of  the  power  confided  to  him.  What  economy  will  not  accom- 
plish can,  in  my  opinion,  be  best  supplied  by  taxation.  Texas  has  learned 
some  experience  from  going  into  debt,  which  she  will  do  well  to  remember, 
and  I  trust  she  will  guard  against  its  consequences  in  future. 


<516  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

The  various  departments  of  Government  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  made 
as  far  as  possible,  self-sustaining,  and  where  it  is  impossible,  from  their  nat- 
ure, to  make  them  so,  a  rigid  exaction  of  duty  at  the  hands  of  all  those  who 
are  in  the  employ  of  the  Government  .should  be  required.  No  free  Govern- 
ment can  afford  to  establish  sinecures,  or  to  support  idleness.  The  money 
which  comes  from  the  pockets  of  the  people,  should  be  economized 
for  their  good,  and  all  who  are  the  recipients  of  it  should  render  a  fair 
recompense  of  time  and  labor.  The  subjects  are  within  the  province 
of  the  Legislature.  The  Executive  is  powerless,  and  if  reform  is  needed  in 
any  of  these  respects,  it  falls  upon  the  Legislature  to  inquire  into  abuses,  if 
there  be  any,  and  provide  an  immediate  remedy. 

The  deficit  in  the  revenue  of  the  Land  Office,  added  to  the  fact  that  the 
business  of  that  department  does  not  keep  pace  with  the  demands  upon  it, 
furnish  subjects  for  your  consideration. 

The  interests  of  the  State  demand  that  it  should  be  self-supporting,  and 
the  interests  of  the  people  demand  that  its  business  should  be  brought  up 
at  the  earliest  possible  period.  A  large  force  is  already  employed  in  that 
department,  but  the  issuance  of  patents  has  been  delayed,  and  it  remains 
for  the  Legislature  to  discover  whether  this  is  to  be  attributed  to  the 
amount  of  labor  performed  by  the  employes  of  the  Government,  or  the  fact 
that  the  force  is  inadequate  to  the  demands  of  business.  If  the  latter,  it  is 
false  economy  to  allow  a  further  accumulation  of  business,  and  thus  cause 
a  still  greater  delay.  The  holders  of  our  land  certificates  are  entitled  to 
their  patents,  and  if  an  additional  force  is  necessary,  it  should  at  once  be 
provided.  The  deficit  in  the  operations  of  that  department,  estimated  for 
the  present  fiscal  year,  ending  August  31,  1860,  at  $24,000,  shows  the  neces- 
sity of  prompt  legislation  to  bring  its  affairs  up  to  a  proper  standard.  If 
the  fees  paid  by  those  who  have  business  with  that  department  do  not 
meet  its  expenses,  they  should  be  increased  ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
deficit  arises  from  the  fact  that  a  part  of  the  time  of  that  department  is 
occupied  by  business  for  which  no  fees  are  provided  by  law,  those  who  con- 
sume the  time  of  the  employes  in  the  transaction  of  their  business  should 
be  compelled  to  pay  for  the  same.  In  my  opinion,  the  affairs  of  that  office 
can  best  be  brought  to  a  self-supporting  standard,  by  providing  an  entire 
system  of  fees,  covering  the  entire  ground  of  its  operations,  and  providing 
at  the  same  time  for  payment  of  its  employes,  wherever  the  same  is  practi- 
cable, in  proportion  to  the  labor  they  perform. 

I  can  not  press  too  earnestly  upon  the  Legislature  the  subject  of  common 
school  education.  The  success  of  the  system  already  in  operation  is  estab- 
lished beyond  a  doubt.  Its  application  is  general,  and  its  defects  as  few  as 
any  system  which  could  be  applied  to  a  population  as  scattered  as  ours. 
The  nucleus  of  a  complete  system  exists  already ;  and  we  have  in  our  public 
domain  the  means  of  strengthening  it  until  its  capacity  will  equal  the 
demands  made  upon  it  as  our  population  increases.  No  better  use  can  be 
made  of  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the  alternate  sections  of  land  reserved  to 
the  State  for  any  cause,  than  to  apply  the  same  to  this  fund. 

I  would  also  commend  to  your  consideration  the  importance  of  extending 
a  reasonable  aid  to  institutions  of  learning,  now  in  operation  in  our  State, 
supported  by  private  enterprise,  and  encourage  by  a  general  law  the  estab- 


Schools  and  University — State  Bonds.  617 

iishment  of  others.  Our  citizens  have  already  displayed  much  zeal  and 
enterprise  in  rearing  up  in  our  midst  institutions  which  are  accomplishing 
great  good.  To  sustain  these  is  difficult,  and  as  the  benefits  arising  from 
these  are  to  be  felt  in  the  general  prosperity  of  the  State,  and  the  intelli- 
gence of  its  entire  people,  a  proper  encouragement  at  the  hands  of  the 
Legislature  should  be  extended.  Surrounded  by  proper  guards,  a  measure 
of  this  character  would  be  productive  of  great  good. 

The  establishment  of  a  university  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  matter  alone  for  the 
future.  At  this  time  it  is  neither  expedient  nor  is  it  good  policy  to  provide  for 
the  sale  of  those  lands  set  apart  for  the  university  fund.  If  at  some  future 
period  it  should  be  deemed  expedient  or  in  keeping  with  a  more  enlarged  policy 
to  devote  our  entire  energies  to  a  more  general  diffusion  of  knowledge  than  a 
university  would  afford,  or  even  if  the  voice  of  the  State  should  demand  the  es- 
tablishment of  one,  these  lands  will  then  provide  the  means  of  advancing  the 
cause  of  education.  When  that  period  arrives  their  value  will  be  greatly  in- 
creased. If  sold  now  but  little  will  be  realized  from  them,  and  before  the  ex- 
piration of  twenty  years,  the  time  upon  which  over  fifty  thousand  acres  have 
already  been  sold,  the  lands  will  be  worth  more  than  three-fold  the  amount 
they  should  bring  now,  with  accumulated  interest. 

So  far  as  the  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  bonds  and  their  interest,  taken 
from  the  general  and  applied  to  the  university  fund  by  the  last  Legislature,  are 
concerned,  I  believe  the  condition  of  the  Treasury  and  our  immediate  necessi- 
ties demand  that  the  act  be  repealed,  and  the  money  again  placed  subject  to 
appropriation.  We  need  money  for  the  protection  of  our  frontier,  and  to  save 
us  from  taxation ;  more  than  for  a  fund  which  promises  no  immediate  benefit. 
Our  common  school  fund  already  provides  for  the  education  contemplated  by 
the  Constitution  ;  and  if  this  amount,  thus  unnecessarily  withdrawn  from  the 
general  fund,  will  reduce  the  burthens  of  taxation,  the  people  will  be  better  able 
in  the  future  to  bear  taxation  to  support  a  university,  if  one  should  be  necessary. 

I  have  long  regarded  our  present  land  system  as  defective  ;  and  believe  with 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Republic,  that  our  public  domain  should 
be  sectionized.  The  Federal  Government  has  adopted  this  system  with  refer- 
ence to  its  public  lands ;  and  all  of  the  difficulties  which  surround  our  titles  are 
obviated.  We  can  not  redeem  the  past,  but  we  can  provide  for  the  future.  If 
all  of  our  public  domain  were  surveyed  by  competent  persons,  who  would  be 
willing  to  take  a  portion  of  our  lands  as  compensation  for  their  labor;  it  would 
greatly  facilitate  the  settlement  of  the  country,  and  give  security  to  our  whole 
land  operations.  It  would  also  furnish  some  data  upon  which  to  base  conclu- 
sion's as  to  the  value  of  our  lands,  and  if  accompanied  by  the  researches  of  a 
geological  and  agricultural  bureau,  would  vastly  tend  to  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  our  State.  Our  lands,  if  divided  into  sections,  half  and  quarter 
sections,  would  meet  a  ready  sale ;  whereas,  at  present,  the  difficulty  attending 
our  land  titles  makes  many  persons  loth  to  file  their  certificates,  lest  they  may 
conflict  with  private  locations ;  but  if  their  metes  and  bounds  were  declared  by 
the  State  none  of  this  apprehension  would  exist. 

I  believe  that  the  policy  of  extending  our  frontier  too  rapidly  has  already  re- 
sulted in  great  loss  of  life,  owing  to  the  sparse  settlements  being  an  easy  prey 
to  savages.  If  a  base  line  were  run  at  the  extreme  edge  of  our  present  settle- 
ments, and  the  territory  beyond  withdrawn  from  location  and  settlement,  we 


61.8  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

could  then,  by  a  liberal  policy  which  would  give  an  alternate  quarter  section  of 
land  to  every  actual  settler  who  would  reside  upon  and  cultivate  the  same  for 
two  years,  draw  to  our  frontier  a  host  of  hardy  pioneers,  who  would  not  only  be 
able  to  resist  the  encroachments  of  the  Indians,  but  soon  acquire  strength  suf- 
ficient to  intimidate  them.  If  this  plan  were  adopted,  and  a  force  of  Texas 
Rangers,  authorized  by  the  United  States,  kept  actively  scouting  in  our  terri- 
tory beyond  the  settlements,  we  would  cease  to  hear  of  those  calamities  which 
now  continually  shock  our  ears.  'Thus  our  frontier  could  be  gradually  extended, 
the  lives  of  our  citizens  spared,  and  a  vast  amount  of  money  necessary  to  pro- 
tect the  present  scattered  settlements  saved  to  the  Treasury.  The  alternate 
quarter  sections  reserved  would  be  increased  in  value  from  the  occupancy  of  the 
settler,  while  he  would  be  benefited  by  receiving  the  land  at  the  bare  cost  of  the 
fee  of  patenting  and  surveying.  I  believe  that  the  policy  of  giving  land  to  act- 
ual settlers  is  a  good  one,  but  we  should  at  the  same  time  endeavor  to  make 
our  settlements  compact,  and  should  also  confine  our  donation  policy  alone  to 
the  settler  and  his  immediate  heirs,  and  not  extend  it  to  his  assignees. 

As  one  means  of  replenishing  our  exhausted  Treasury  I  would  commend  the 
immediate  sale  of  all  lands  which  shall  be  found  to  be  forfeited  to  the  State  for 
non-payment  of  taxes  ;  and  such  legislation  should  be  adopted  as  will  induce  the 
purchase  of  these  lands,  and  give  security  to  the  titles  made  to  the  same.  A 
rigid  system  for  the  collection  of  taxes  is  necessary,  so  that  all  branches  of  busi- 
ness and  all  classes  of  property-holders  may  pay  their  proportion  toward  bear- 
ing the  expenses  of  government.  Some  means  should  also  be  adopted  by 
which  the  various  assessors  and  collectors  of  the  State  would  be  able  to  secure 
the  payment  of  proper  taxes  upon  lands  owned  out  of  their  respective  counties. 
It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  but  few  of  the  lands  upon  which  taxes  are  paid  in 
counties  distant  from  their  location,  afford  the  State  an  equitable  revenue. 
While  it  is  not  fair  that  parties  should  be  compelled  to  pay  their  taxes  on  lands 
in  the  counties  in  which  the  lands  lie,  it  is  no  more  than  just  that  the  State 
should  provide  some  standard  for  their  valuation,  where  they  are  not  so  paid. 

I  can  not  too  earnestly  press  upon  the  Legislature  the  necessity  for  economy 
in  reference  to  the  public  lands.  They  are  now  all  that  we  may  draw  upon  for 
the  education  of  the  people  and  development  of  our  resources.  Every  citizen  of 
Texas  has  an  interest  in  the  public  domain,  and  the  representatives  of  the  people 
should  regard  it  as  their  duty  to  refuse  to  squander  them  in  profligate  schemes, 
or  to  meet  the  ends  of  special  legislation. 

The  Executive  would  also  suggest  some  change  in  the  mode  of  collecting  the 
revenue.  The  amount  of  labor  required  at  the  hands  of  assessors  and  collectors, 
when  compared  with  the  compensation  they  receive,  is  so  great  that  but  few 
men  of  competent  business  talent  can  be  induced  to  accept  the  office.  The 
Legislature  should,  in  my  opinion,  so  amend  the  revenue  laws  as  to  secure  the 
services  of  responsible  men,  who  can  not  be  imposed  upon.  The  task  of  visit- 
ing the  domicile  of  every  citizen  in  order  to  obtain  the  valuation  of  his  property 
is  arduous,  and  it  is  in  but  few  counties  that  the  officer  is  even  reasonably  paid 
for  his  labor. 

The  several  railroad  charters  passed  since  my  induction  into  office  have  met 
my  approval.  The  terms  are  explicit,  and  in  accordance  with  the  general  rail- 
road law  of  the  State.  No  charter  will  receive  my  assent  which  does  not  con- 
tain those  proper  guards  against  fraud,  imposition,  and  reckless  speculation 


Surveys:  Railroad,  River ',  and  Geological.        619 

which  are  necessary  at  once  to  guard  the  interests  of  the  State  and  the  pockets 
of  the  people.  Corporations  have  so  often  trampled  upon  the  rights  of  the  pri- 
vate citizen  that  we  should  be  careful  when  we  grant  them  privileges  that  we 
part  with  no  right  belonging  to  the  people.  The  State  has  already  been  gen- 
erous ;  and  her  generosity  has  in  several  cases  been  abused.  We  can  yet  afford 
to  be  generous  in  our  railroad  policy,  but  we  should  make  such  terms  as  will 
secure  every  interest  to  be  affected.  It  will  be  my  endeavor  to  exact  at  the 
hands  of  every  railroad  company  in  the  State,  a  strict  compliance  with  the 
terms  of  the  charter.  The  benefits  conferred  are  so  great,  and  the  terms  made 
by  the  State  so  easy,  that  there  is  little  room  for  excuse  in  case  of  a  failure  to 
comply  with  the  law. 

The  improvement  of  our  rivers  under  the  act  of  August  I,  1856,  will  receive 
that  attention  at  my  hands  which  the  importance  of  the  subject  demands.  To 
many  sections  of  the  country  these  natural  channels  of  transportation  are  of 
great  utility.  It  will  be  my  endeavor  to  employ  practical  men,  acquainted  with 
the  nature  of  our  rivers,  to  superintend  their  improvement,  and  report  upon  the 
manner  in  which  contractors  have  performed  their  duty. 

I  can  see  but  little  utility  in  the  office  of  State  Engineer  under  our  present 
system  of  railroad  and  river  improvements.  It  is  impossible  for  one  individual 
to  supervise  all  of  the  works  in  progress  in  the  State.  In  the  immediate  locality 
of  our  rivers  men  can  be  found  fully  competent  to  decide  upon  the  proper 
method  of  their  improvement.  The  railroad  law  already  provides  that  the  com- 
pany for  whose  benefit  the  examination  is  made  shall  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
same.  The  law  should  plainly  designate  what  the  nature  of  the  expenses  shall 
be,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  examination  shall  be  made,  in  order  to  prevent 
corruption ;  and  also  establish  the  fees  and  duties  of  the  examining  board, 
which  can  be  appointed  for  the  time  being,  and  thus  save  the  State  the  cost  ot 
a  salaried  officer. 

I  would  commend  the  continuance  of  the  geological  survey,  and  would  sug- 
gest, as  an  auxiliary,  the  establishment  of  an  agricultural  bureau,  with  the  view 
of  collecting  agricultural  statistics,  and  developing  our  general  agricultural 
interests. 

It  will  be  necessary  that  the  Legislature  provide  further  prosecution  of  the 
boundary  survey  for  establishing  the  line  between  the  United  States  and  Texas, 
in  accordance  with  the  act  approved  January  23,  1858.  How  far  that  survey 
has  been  prosecuted  the  Executive  has  not  been  able  to  learn.  It  remains  for 
the  Legislature  to  inquire  into  the  manner  in  which  the  appropriation  of 
$20,000,  made  by  the  last  Legislature,  has  been  expended,  what  amount  will 
still  be  necessary  to  complete  the  survey,  and  make  an  appropriation  for  the  same. 

I  would  recommend  to  your  consideration  the  propriety  of  changing  the  time 
for  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature  until  the  I5th  of  December,  or  some  early 
period  before  the  time  allotted  for  the  inauguration  of  Governor.  Our  experi- 
ence under  the  present  arrangement  has  shown  that  but  little  legislation  of  im- 
portance is  effected  before  the  incoming  of  the  new  administration,  and  I 
believe  the  change  would  result  in  a  great  saving  of  money  to  the  State. 

So  much  trouble  has  heretofore  arisen  in  reference  to  our  public  printing,  that 
it  behooves  the  present  Legislature  to  provide  all  necessary  regulations  against 
fraud  and  misconstruction  of  the  laws  regulating  the  same.  The  duties  of  the 
public  printer,  like  all  other  officers,  should  be  plainly  defined.  The  law  should 


620  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

provide  against  the  latitudinous  construction,  by  which  thousands  of  dollars  may 
be  swept  away  from  the  Treasury  upon  a  plea  of  custom,  and  explicitly  declare 
that  the  work  shall  not  be  "  leaded,"  but  shall  be  "  solid  ";  and  that  no  unneces- 
sary blanks  be  allowed.  The  various  reports  of  public  officers  printed  for  the 
use  of  the  Legislature  should  be  declared  not  to  be  part  of  the  journal,  and  that 
they  shall  not  be  printed  as  appendices  to  them.  The  present  law  is  defective 
in  these  respects,  and  I  commend  to  the  Legislature  the  propriety  of  amending 
it  so  as  to  meet  not  only  these,  but  all  other  objections. 

Upon  the  action  of  the  Legislature  depends  to  a  considerable  extent  the  con- 
struction to  be  given  to  the  present  contract  for  the  public  printer.  It  is  for  the 
Legislature  to  say,  after  the  matter  has  been  fully  investigated,  whether  the 
charges  made  by  the  public  printer  for  the  past  four  years  were  correct,  and  in 
accordance  with  law.  If  they  are  not,  and  money  has  been  illegally  drawn 
from  the  Treasury,  it  is  not  only  in  accordance  with  justice  but  precedent,  that 
restitution  be  made. 

In  providing  a  means  to  disseminate  the  laws  it  seems  to  the  Executive  that  a 
regard  should  be  had  to  the  means  most  likely  to  bring  them  within  the  reach 
of  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  present  mode  of  dis- 
tributing them  is  calculated  to  accomplish  this  end.  But  few  individuals  get 
possession  of  them,  and  frequently  long  after  thay  have  gone  into  effect.  The 
people  have  a  right  to  know  the  law,  and  the  Legislature  should  seek  that 
channel  of  communication  which  is  most  accessible.  I  believe  that  if  a  portion 
of  the  money  now  expended  in  printing  was  devoted  to  the  publication  of  the 
laws  in  one  newspaper  in  each  county  in  the  State,  or  at  least  one  in  each  judi- 
cial district,  the  benefit  to  the  community  would  be  far  greater  than  that  received 
by  printing  them  in  pamphlet  form  alone.  A  much  smaller  number  in  pam- 
phlet form  would  then  suffice,  and  the  expense  to  the  State  would  be  but  little,  it 
any,  greater.  The  cost  of  publishing  the  general  laws  in  the  manner  men- 
tioned would  be  but  slight,  and  if  at  the  same  time,  by  the  distribution  of  the 
public  funds,  the  entire  press  of  the  State  is  benefited  to  any  extent,  it  is  an 
object  for  favorable  consideration.  Nothing  has  more  contributed  to  the  pros- 
perity of  Texas  than  the  energy  .and  perseverance  of  the  press.  It  is  a  powerful 
auxiliary  to  freedom  everywhere,  and  when  actuated  by  that  feeling  of  responsi- 
bility which  points  toward  impressing  the  public  mind,  by  means  of  correct  in- 
formation, with  a  true  sense  of  right,  and  a  proper  moral  tone,  rising  above  the 
bickerings  of  party  or  personal  abuse,  it  may  be  relied  on  as  one  of  the  bulwarks 
of  liberty,  to  be  sustained  and  defended  by  every  free  people. 

I  would  suggest  to  the  Legislature  the  propriety  of  adopting  such  measures 
as  will  urge  upon  Congress  the  justice  of  paying  to  Texas  the  balance  now  in 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  on  account  of  our  public  debt.  In  the  present 
condition  of  our  Treasury  this  amount  becomes  important.  Texas  is  entitled  to 
it,  and  should  receive  it  without  delay. 

The  time  has  again  arrived  when  an  examination  of  the  affairs  of  the  State 
penitentiary  is  called  for.  An  investigation  of  its  financial  and  sanitary  condi 
tion  is  necessary,  that  the  Legislature  may  be  able  to  judge  as  to  the  legislation 
necessary  to  sustain  it  properly. 

The  law  passed  by  the  last  Legislature,  which  grants  a  preemption  privilege 
for  every  three  negroes  an  individual  may  own,  is,  in  my  opinion,  based  upon 


South  Carolina  Resolutions  as  to  Secession.       621 

erroneous  ideas  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  calculated  to  create  distinctions 
between  rich  and  poor,  and  to  confer  exclusive  benefits  upon  one  class  of  our 
citizens  at  the  expense  of  the  other,  and  recognizes  the  idea  that  government  is 
bound  to  make  the  rich  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer.  In  the  eye  of  the  law  all 
men  should  stand  equal.  To  draw  a  distinction  between  those  of  our  popula- 
tion who  have  not  been  able  to  acquire  slaves,  and  those  who  have,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  impolitic,  and  I  respectfully  commend  to  the  Legislature  the  immediate 
repeal  of  the  law. 

I  can  not  refrain  from  congratulating  the  Legislature  upon  the  triumph  of 
conservatism,  as  seen  in  the  many  evidences  of  the  determination  of  the  masses 
of  the  people  of  the  North,  to  abide  by  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  and  to 
put  down  the  fanatical  efforts  of  misguided  abolitionists,  who  would  endanger 
the  safety  of  the  Union  to  advance  their  vapid  schemes.  That  their  efforts  will 
so  operate  upon  the  impending  struggle  as  to  stay  the  hand  of  slavery  agitators, 
is  to  be  hoped.  This  outspeaking  of  the  people  should  be  received  in  our 
midst  as  the  evidence  that  notwithstanding  the  ravings  of  deluded  zealots,  or 
the  impious  threats  of  fanatical  disunionists,  the  love  of  our  common  country 
still  burns  with  the  fire  of  the  olden  time  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people. 
Nowhere  does  that  fire  burn  with  more  fervor  than  in  the  hearts  of  the  con- 
servative people  of  Texas.  Satisfied  that  the  men  whom  they  elected  ,at  the 
ballot-box  to  represent  them  in  Congress  will  bear  their  rights  safely  through 
the  present  crisis,  they  feel  no  alarm  as  to  the  result.  Texas  will  maintain  the 
Constitution,  and  stand  by  the  Union.  It  is  all  that  can  save  us  as  a  nation. 
Destroy  it,  and  anarchy  awaits  us. 

•  We  have  in  our  own  Constitution  the  adaptation  of  those  principles  of  repub- 
licanism which  are  the  basis  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Union.  The  represent- 
atives of  the  people  are  called  upon  by  the  responsibilities  of  the  trust  reposed 
in  them,  to  hold  that  instrument  sacred,  and  to  construe  it  strictly.  The 
Executive  will  guarantee  on  his  part  that  no  watchfulness  shall  be  spared  in 
guarding  over  the  public  weal,  or  in  maintaining  the  Constitution  in  its  full  intent 
and  meaning. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


MESSAGE   TRANSMITTING   RESOLUTIONS    OF   THE    STATE   OF 
SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICE, 
AUSTIN,  TEXAS,  January  24,  1860. 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

The  following  resolutions  and  autograph  letter  I  have  received  from  the 
Governor  of  South  Carolina,  with  a  request  therein  that  I  transmit  the  same  to 
your  honorable  body : 

RESOLUTIONS  IN  RELATION  TO  FEDERAL  RELATIONS. 
"WHEREAS,  The  State  of  South  Carolina,  by  her  ordinance  of  A.D.  1852, 
affirmed  her  right  to  secede  from  the  confederacy  whenever  the  occasion  should 


622  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

arise,  justifying  her,  in  her  judgment,  in  taking  that  step ;  and,  in  the  resolution 
adopted  by  her  convention,  declared  that  she  forbore  the  immediate  exercise  of 
that  right  from  considerations  of  expediency  only :  And  whereas,  more  than 
seven  years  have  elapsed  since  that  convention  adjourned,  and  in  the  interven- 
ing time  the  assaults  upon  the  institution  of  slavery-,  and  upon  the  rights  and 
equality  of  the  Southern  States,  have  unceasingly  continued  with  increasing 
violence  and  in  new  and  more  alarming  forms :  Be  it  therefore 

"  i.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  still  deferring 
to  her  southern  sisters,  nevertheless  announces  to  them  that  it  is  the'  deliberate 
judgment  of  this  general  assembly,  that  the  slaveholding  States  should  imme- 
diately meet  together  to  concert  measures  for  united  action. 

"  2.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolution 
be  communicated  by  the  Governor  to  all  the  slaveholding  States,  with  the 
earnest  request  of  this  State  that  they  will  appoint  deputies,  and  adopt  such 
measures  as  will,  in  their  judgment,  promote  the  said  meeting. 

"  3.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  a  special  commissioner  be  appointed  by  his 
Excellency  the  Governor,  to  communicate  the  foregoing  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions to  the  State  of  Virginia,  and  to  express  to  the  authorities  of  that  State  the 
cordial  sympathies  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina  with  the  people  of  Virginia, 
and  their  earnest  desire  to  unite  with  them  in  measures  of  common  defense. 

"  4.  Resolved,  unanimously,  That  the  State  of  South  Carolina  owes  it  to 
her  citizens  to  protect  them  and  their  property  from  every  enemy,  and  that  for 
the  purpose  of  military  preparation,  for  an  emergency,  the  sum  of  one  hundred 
thousand  ($100,000)  dollars  be  appropriated  for  military  emergencies." 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,        ) 
COLUMBIA,  S.  C,  December  30,  1859.  j 
His  EXCELLENCY,  SAMUEL  HOUSTON  : 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  certain  resolutions  which  passed 
unanimously  both  branches  of  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina,  in  one  of  which 
is  an  earnest  request  that  your  State  will  appoint  deputies,  and  adopt  such  other 
measures  as  will  promote  a  meeting  of  slaveholding  States  in  convention.  You 
will  see  by  the  preamble  to  the  resolution  that  South  Carolina,  as  a  sovereign 
State,  claims  the  right  to  secede  whenever  she  may  think  it  expedient  to  do  so, 
but  she  much  prefers  concerted  action,  and  is  willing  to  follow  any  lead.  Be 
pleased  to  submit  the  resolutions  to  your  Legislature  at  the  earliest  moment. 
With  great  respect  and  consideration, 

I  am,  yours  truly,  WM.  H.  GlST. 

This  is  done  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  courtesy  which  should  actuate 
the  Executive  of  one  State  in  his  intercourse  with  that  of  another.  At  the  same 
time,  I  deem  it  due  to  myself,  as  well  as  to  your  honorable  body,  to  enter  my 
unqualified  protest  against,  and  dissent  from,  the  principles  enunciated  in  the 
resolutions. 

The  reasons  assigned  seem  too  insufficient  to  justify  the  measures  recom- 
mended, unsupported  as  they  are  by  facts  to  establish  their  soundness.  They 
appear  to  be  the  affirmation  of  the  ordinance  adopted  by  South  Carolina  in  1852, 
well  known  to  be  based  upon  the  adoption  by  Congress  of  the  compromise  meas- 


Constitutional  Objections  and  no  Advantage.       623 

•ires  of  1850.  These  measures  were  indorsed  by  the  people  of  Texas  through 
their  popular  voice  at  the  ballot-box ;  and  as  no  recent  incentive  to  action  on 
the  part  of  South  Carolina  appears  other  than  that  "  the  assaults  upon  the 
institution  of  slavery,  and  upon  the  rights  and  equality  of  the  Southern  States, 
have  unceasingly  continued,"  the  Executive  is  led  to  believe  that  these  meas- 
ures, so  emphatically  indorsed  by  the  people  of  Texas,  were  one,  if  not  the 
chief  of  the  "  assaults  "  enumerated. 

Were  there  no  constitutional  objections  to  the  course  suggested  by  the  resolutions 
I  can  not  perceive  any  advantage  that  could  result  to  the  slaveholding  States,  or 
any  one  of  them,  in  seceding  from  the  Union.  The  same  evils,  the  same  as- 
saults complained  of  now,  would  still  exist,  while  no  constitution  would  guar- 
antee our  rights,  uniting  the  strength  of  a  Federal  Government  able  and  will- 
ing to  maintain  them  ;  but  an  insuperable  objection  arises  in  my  mind.  The 
course  suggested  has  no  constitutional  sanction,  and  is  at  war  with  every  prin- 
ciple affecting  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  people  of  each  individual 
State,  as  well  as  their  right  in  their  national  capacity. 

For  years  past,  the  doctrines  of  nullification,  secession,  and  disunion  have 
found  advocates  in  Southern  States  as  well  as  Northern.  These  ultra  theories 
have,  at  different  periods,  raged  with  more  or  less  violence,  and  there  have  not 
been  wanting  persons  to  fan  the  flame  of  discord,  and  to  magnify  imaginary  evils 
into  startling  realities.  Confounding  the  language  of  individuals  with  the  acts 
of  Government  itself,  they  who  desire  disunion  at  the  South  are  not  satisfied  with 
the  Constitution  fairly  and  honestly  interpreted  by  the  highest  court  in  the  coun- 
try, and  the  law  faithfully  and  impartially  administered  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment (even  to  the  exercise  of  all  its  powers)  to  protect  the  rights  of  property 
and  guarantee  the  same,  are  ready  to  seek  relief  from  abolitionism  in  disunion. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  people  of  the  South  regard  the  institution  ot 
slavery  as  possessing  so  little  moral  strength  as  to  be  injured  by  the  "  assaults  " 
made  upon  it  by  a  fanatical  element  of  Northern  population,  who  so  long  as  they 
stay  at  home  do  us  no  harm,  and  but  excite  a  pity  for  their  ignorance  and  con- 
tempt for  their  ravings.  So  long  as  a  government  exists,  ready  and  willing 
to  maintain  the  Constitution,  and  to  guard  every  citizen  in  the  enjoyment  of  his 
individual  rights,  the  States,  and  the  citizens  of  the  States,  may  rest  secure. 
Ungenerous  and  uncharitable  as  are  the  assaults  made  by  a  class  of  the  North 
upon  the  peculiar  institutions  of  the  South,  they  would  exist  from  like  passions 
and  like  feelings  under  any  government ;  and  it  is  to  the  Constitution  alone,  and 
the  Union  possessing  strength  under  it,  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  those  separate  rights  which  we  see  fit  to  exercise.  No  matter  to  what 
extent  these  passions  may  go,  the  Federal  arm  is  to  be  stretched  forth  as  a  bar- 
rier against  all  attempts  to  impair  them. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  raid  upon  Harper's  Ferry,  by  Brown  and  his 
miserable  associates,  has  been  one  of  the  causes  which  have  induced  these  reso- 
lutions by  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina.  In  my  opinion,  the  circumstances 
attending  that  act  have  furnished  abundant  proofs  of  the  utility  of  our  present 
system  of  government ;  in  fact,  that  the  Federal  powers  have  given  an  evidence 
of  their  regard  for  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  States,  and  stood  ready  to  de- 
fend them.  It  has,  besides,  called  forth  the  utterance  of  the  mighty  masses  of 
the  people,  too  long  held  in  check  by  sectional  appeals  from  selfish  demagogues, 


624  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

and  the  South  has  the  assurance  of  their  fraternal  feelings.  The  fanatical  out- 
rage was  rebuked  and  the  offenders  punished.  Is  it  for  this  that  the  Southern 
States  are  called  upon  to  dissolve  the  fraternal  ties  of  the  Union,  and  to  abandon 
all  the  benefits  they  enjoy  under  its  aegis,  and  to  enter  upon  expedients  in  viola- 
tion of  the  Constitution  and  of  all  the  safeguards  of  liberty  under  which  we  have 
existed  as  a  nation  nearly  a  century?  In  the  history  of  nations,  no  people  ever 
enjoyed  so  much  national  character  and  glory,  or  individual  happiness,  as  do  to- 
day the  people  of  the  United  States.  All  this  is  owing  to  our  free  Constitution. 
It  is  alone  by  the  union  of  all  the  States,  acting  harmoniously  together  in  their 
spheres  under  the  Constitution,  that  our  present  enviable  position  has  been 
achieved.  Without  a  Union  these  results  never  would  have  been  consummated, 
and  the  States  would  have  been  subject  to  continual  distraction  and  petty  wars. 
Whenever  we  cease  to  venerate  the  Constitution,  as  the  only  means  of  securing 
free  government,  no  hope  remains  for  the  advocates  of  regulated  liberty. 

Were  the  Southern  States  to  yield  to  the  suggestion  of  South  Carolina,  and, 
passing  over  the  intermediate  stages  of  trouble,  a  Southern  Confederacy  should 
be  established,  could  South  Carolina  offer  any  guarantee  for  its  duration  ?  If 
she  were  to  secede  from  the  present  Union,  could  one  be  formed  with  a  Consti- 
tution of  more  obligatory  force  than  the  one  that  has  been  formed  by  our 
fathers,  in  which  the  patriots  and  sages  of  South  Carolina  bore  a  conspicuous 
part  ?  Sever  the  present  Union — tear  into  fragments  the  Constitution — stay  the 
progress  of  free  institutions  which  both  have  sustained,  and  what  atonement  is 
to  be  offered  to  liberty  for  the  act  ?  From  whence  is  to  come  the  element  of  a 
"  more  perfect  Union  "  than  the  one  formed  by  the  men  of  the  Revolution  ? 
Where  is  the  patriotism,  the  equality,  the  republicanism,  to  frame  a  better  Con- 
stitution ?  That  which  South  Carolina  became  a  party  to  in  1788,  has  to  this 
period  proved  equal  to  all  the  demands  made  upon  it  by  the  wants  of  a  great 
people,  and  the  expansive  energies  of  a  progressive  age. 

Neither  in  peace  nor  in  war  has  it  been  found  inadequate  to  any  emergency. 
It  has  in  return  extended  the  protection  which  union  alone  can  give.  The  States 
have  received  the  benefits  of  this  Union.  Is  it  left  to  them  to  abandon  it  at 
their  pleasure — to  desert  the  Union  which  has  cherished  them,  and  without 
which  they  would  have  been  exposed  to  all  the  misfortunes  incident  to  their 
weak  condition  ? 

The  Union  was  intended  to  be  a  perpetuity.  In  accepting  the  conditions  im- 
posed prior  to  becoming  a  part  of  the  confederacy,  the  State  became  a  part  of  a 
nation.  What  they  conceded  comprises  the  powers  of  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment ;  but  over  that  which  they  did  not  concede  their  sovereignty  is  as  perfect  as 
is  that  of  the  Union  in  its  appropriate  sphere.  They  gave  all  that  was  necessary 
to  secure  strength  and  permanence  to  the  Union — they  retained  all  that  was 
necessary  to  secure  the  welfare  of  the  State. 

Texas  can  not  be  in  doubt  as  to  this  question.  In  entering  the  Union,  it  is 
not  difficult  to  determine  what  was  surrendered  by  an  independent  Republic. 
We  surrendered  the  very  power,  the  want  of  which  originated  the  Federal 
Union — the  right  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations.  As  an  evidence 
of  it  we  transferred  our  custom-houses,  as  we  did  our  forts  and  arsenals,  along 
with  the  power  to  declare  war.  We  surrendered  our  national  flag.  In  becom- 
ing a  State  of  the  Union,  Texas  agreed  "  not  to  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance, 


Texan  Example  and  Interests.  625 

or  confederation,  and  not,  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  to  keep  troops  or 
ships  of  war,  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  any  other  State  or 
foreign  power."  All  these  rights  belonged  to  Texas  as  a  nation.  She  ceased  to 
possess  them  as  a  State ;  nor  did  Texas,  in  terms  or  by  implication,  reserve  the 
power  or  stipulate  for  the  exercise  of  the  right  to  secede  from  these  obligations, 
without  the  consent  of  the  other  parties  to  the  agreement  acting  through  their 
common  agent,  the  Federal  Government.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  does  not  thus  provide  for  its  own  destruction.  An  inherent  revolutionary 
right,  to  be  exercised  when  the  great  purposes  of  the  Union  have  failed,  re- 
mains ;  but  nothing  else. 

Might  not  South  Carolina,  if  a  new  confederacy  were  formed,  at  any  time 
allege  that  an  infraction  of  the  new  Constitution,  or  some  deviation  from  its 
principles  had  taken  place  ?  In  such  an  event,  according  to  the  principles  now 
laid  down  by  her,  she  would  then  exercise  the  same  power  which  she  now 
assumes.  Grant  her  assumption  of  the  right  of  secession,  and  it  must  be 
adopted  as  a  general  principle.  Massachusetts  may  then  nullify  the  fugitive 
slave  law  by  virtue  of  her  right  as  a  sovereign  State,  and  when  asked  to  obey 
the  Constitution,  which  she  would  thus  violate,  quietly  go  out  of  the  Union. 

It  has  been  remarked  by  a  statesman  of  South  Carolina,  when  commenting 
upon  the  alleged  aggressions  of  the  North  upon  the  South,  that  "  many  of  the 
evils  of  which  we  complain  were  of  our  own  making." 

If  we  have  suffered  from  our  own  bad  policy  in  the  Union — from  giving  con- 
trol of  affairs  to  men  who  have  not  calculated  well  as  to  results  (the  Union  has 
enabled  us  to  retrieve  many  of  these  false  steps),  and  at  no  time,  since  the  his- 
tory of  our  Government,  have  so  many  of  the  safeguards  of  law  been  thrown 
around  our  peculiar  institution — it  is  for  us  to  sustain  it  and  every  other  right 
we  possess  in  the  Union.  Sustained  by  the  Federal  arm  and  the  judiciary,  we  may 
rely  upon  the  maintenance  of  these  rights  which  we  know  we  possess.  When- 
ever these  are  taken  from  us,  the  Constitution  has  lost  its  power.  There  will  be 
no  Union  to  secede  from,  for  in  the  death  of  the  Constitution,  the  Union  like- 
wise perishes  ;  and  then  comes  civil  war,  and  the  struggle  for  the  uppermost. 

If  the  present  Union,  from  which  we  are  asked  to  secede,  does  not  possess  in 
itself  all  the  conservative  elements  for  its  maintenance,  it  does  seem  to  me  that 
all  political  wisdom  and  binding  force  must  be  set  at  naught  by  the  measures 
proposed. 

So  long  as  a  single  State  reserves  to  herself  the  right  of  judging  for  the  entire 
South  as  to  the  wrongs  inflicted,  and  the  mode  of  redress,  it  is  difficult  to  de- 
termine to  what  extent  the  theory  would  be  carried. 

Texas  is  a  border  State.  Indians  ravage  a  portion  of  her  frontier.  Mexico 
renders  insecure  her  entire  western  boundary.  Her  slaves  are  liable  to  escape, 
and  no  fugitive  slave  law  is  pledged  for  their  recovery.  Virginia,  Missouri,  and 
Kentucky  are  border  States,  and  exposed  to  abolition  emissaries.  Have  they 
asked  for  disunion  as  a  remedy  against  the  assaults  of  abolitionism  ?  Let  dis- 
solution come,  and  the  terrible  consequences  will  fall  upon  all  those  first,  and 
with  double  force.  South  Carolina,  from  her  central  position,  the  sea  upon  one 
side,  and  a  cordon  of  slave  States  between  her  and  danger,  has  had  but  little 
reason  for  apprehension.  Those  who  suffer  most  at  the  hands  of  the  North 
seem  still  to  bear  on  for  the  sake  of  the  Union.  When  they  can  bear  no  longer 
they  can  judge  for  themselves,  and  should  their  remonstrances  fail  to  call  the 
40 


626  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

enemies  of  the  Constitution  back  to  duty,  and  the  Federal  Government  cease  to 
protect  them,  the  pathway  of  revolution  is  open  to  them. 

To  guide  us  in  our  present  difficulties,  it  is  a  safe  rule  to  borrow  experience 
from  the  sages  and  patriots  of  the  past.  Beginning  with  the  father  of  our 
country,  and  great  apostle  of  human  liberty,  George  Washington,  I  am  happy 
to  find  my  opinions  on  this  subject  have  the  sanction  of  all  those  illustrious 
names  which  we  and  future  generations  will  cherish  so  long  as  liberty  is  a  thing 
possessed  or  hoped  for.  In  his  farewell  address,  he  says  : 

"  The  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one  people  is  also  now  dear 
to  you.  It  is  justly  so,  for  it  is  a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real  inde- 
pendence— the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home  and  your  peace  abroad,  of 
your  safety,  of  your  prosperity,  of  that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize. 
But  as  it  is  easy  to  foresee  that  from  different  causes  and  from  different  quarters 
much  pains  will  be  taken — many  artifices  employed,  to  weaken  your  minds  in 
the  conviction  of  this  truth  ;  as  this  is  the  point  in  your  political  fortress  against 
which  batteries  of  internal  and  external  enemies  will  be  most  constantly  and 
actively  (though  often  covertly  and  insidiously)  directed — it  is  of  infinite  mo- 
ment that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your  National 
Union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness ;  that  you  should  cherish  a 
cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment  to  it,  accustoming  yourself  to  think 
and  speak  of  it  as  the  palladium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity — watch- 
ing for  its  preservation  with  jealous  anxiety — discountenancing  whatever  may 
suggest  even  a  suspicion  that  it  can  in  any  event  be  abandoned  ;  and  indignantly 
frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  one  portion  of  our 
country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together  the 
various  parts." 

It  must  be  recollected  that  these  sage  admonitions  were  given  to  a  people,  and 
to  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty,  to  which  a  long  life  of  arduous  toil  and  unselfish 
devotion  had  been  given.  Temporary  excitement,  fanaticism,  ambition,  and  the 
passions  which  actuate  demagogues,  afforded  no  promptings  to  his  fatherly 
teachings.  They  were  those  of  a  mind  which  felt  that  it  was  leaving  a  rich 
heritage  of  freedom  to  posterity,  to  whom  was  confided  the  worthy  task  of  pro- 
moting and  preserving  human  freedom  and  happiness. 

Next  among  the  patriot  statesmen  who  devoted  their  lives  to  the  achievement 
of  our  independence  as  a  nation,  is  to  be  mentioned  the  venerated  name  of 
Thos.  Jefferson.  In  relation  to  the  subject  of  secession  and  disunion,  we  find 
the  following  expression  of  his  patriotic  feelings.  In  June,  1798,  at  a  time  when 
conflicting  elements  seemed,  in  the  estimation  of  many,  to  portend  disunion,  he 
wrote : 

"  In  every  free  and  deliberating  society,  there  must,  from  the  nature  of  man, 
be  opposite  parties,  and  violent  disunions  and  discords  ;  and  one  of  these,  for  the 
most  part,  must  prevail  over  the  other  for  a  longer  or  a  shorter  time.  Perhaps 
this  party  division  is  necessary  to  induce  each  to  watch  and  debate  to  the  peo- 
ple the  proceedings  of  the  other.  But  if,  on  the  temporary  superiority  of  the 
one  party,  the  other  is  to  resort  to  a  scission  of  the  Union,  no  Federal  Govern- 
ment can  ever  exist.  If,  to  rid  ourselves  of  the  present  rule  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut,  we  break  the  Union,  will  the  evil  stop  there  ?  Suppose  the 
New  England  States,  alone,  cut  off,  will  our  nature  be  changed  ?  Are  we  not 


Jefferson's  Appeals  against  Disunion.  627 

men  still,  to  the  south  of  that,  and  with  all  the  passions  of  men  ?  Immediately 
we  shall  see  a  Pennsylvania  and  a  Virginia  party  in  the  residuary  confederacy, 
and  the  public  mind  will  be  distracted  with  the  same  party  spirit.  What  a  game, 
too,  will  the  one  party  have  in  their  hands,  by  eternally  threatening  the  other, 
that  unless  they  do  so  and  so,  they  will  join  their  Northern  neighbors.  If  we 
reduce  our  Union  to  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  immediately  the  conflict  will 
be  established  between  the  representatives  of  these  two  States,  and  they  will 
end  by  breaking  into  their  simple  limits." 

And  again,  after  a  lapse  of  nearly  twenty  years,  when  the  Hartford  Convention 
announced  the  doctrine  of  nullification  and  secession  as  an  ultimate  remedy,  which 
we  are  to-day  called  upon  to  indorse,  he  wrote  to  the  honored  Lafayette,  who 
from  his  home  in  France  began  to  look  with  doubt  upon  the  success  and  per- 
petuity of  the  Union  which  his  blood  had  been  spilt  to  establish : 

"  The  cement  of  this  Union  is  in  the  heart-blood  of  every  American.  I  do  not 
believe  there  is  on  earth  a  government  established  on  so  immovable  a  basis. 
Let  them  in  any  State,  even  in  Massachusetts  itself,  raise  the  standard  of  sepa- 
ration, and  its  citizens  will  rise  in  mass,  and  do  justice  themselves  on  their  own 
incendiaries." 

The  particular  attitude  of  Massachusetts  at  that  period  called  forth  these 
determined  expressions  from  this  great  champion  of  American  freedom.  They 
are  equally  applicable  to  our  present  condition.  The  Legislature  of  South 
Carolina  may  have  as  much  mistaken  the  character  of  the  masses  of  South 
Carolina  as  did  the  Hartford  Convention  the  character  of  the  masses  of  Massa- 
chusetts. The  Hartford  Convention  became  a  byword  and  a  reproach.  The 
sons  of  the  men  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  stamped  it  with  infamy.  The 
people  of  South  Carolina  are  descendants  of  those  who  felt  all  the  throes  inci- 
dent to  the  Revolution.  Her  gallant  heroes  are  among  the  historic  names  to  be 
revered  and  cherished.  Their  generations  will  not  forget  the  cost  of  liberty,  or 
the  blessings  of  the  Union  which  it  created. 

At  the  time  these  expressions  were  used  by  Jefferson  he  had  retired,  and  his 
fame  had  elevated  him  far  above  party  politics  and  partisan  feelings.  He 
thought  and  spoke  as  one  friend  would  to  another,  who  had  passed  through  the 
severe  ordeal  for  the  attainment  of  human  freedom.  He  had  in  truth  filled  the 
measure  of  his  country's  glory.  Such  feelings  well  deserve  a  place  in  every  true 
American  heart.  His  teachings  surely  can  not  be  lost  upon  the  present  en- 
lightened generation  ;  nor  do  we  find  that  other  sages  and  patriots  are  silent  on 
these  topics.  In  the  writings  of  Mr.  Madison  we  find  that  after  all  the  arduous 
toils  of  %.  statesman  and  patriot,  when  treating  upon  the  subject  of  the  Union 
and  the  relative  rights  and  powers  of  the  States,  he  lends  his  great  light  to 
guide  posterity  in  the  pathway  of  regulated  government.  Being  one  of  the  au- 
thors of  the  Constitution,  his  exposition  comes  to  us  with  double  force.  In  a 
letter  to  Joseph  C.  Cabell,  written  September  16,  1831,  he  says: 

"  I  know  not  whence  the  idea  could  proceed  that  I  concurred  in  the  doctrine 
that  although  a  State  could  not  nullify  a  law  of  the  Union,  it  had  a  right  to 
secede  from  the  Union.  Both  spring  from  the  same  poisonous  root." 

In  his  letter  to  Mr.  N.  P.  Trist,  written  December  23,  1832,  he  says: 

"  If  one  State  can,  at  will,  withdraw  from  the  others,  the  others  can,  at  will, 
withdraw  from  her,  and  turn  her  nolentem  volentem  out  of  the  Union." 


628  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

And  in  writing  to  Andrew  Stevenson  February  4,  1833,  he  says : 

"  I  have  received  your  communication  of  the  29th  ultimo,  and  have  read  it 
•with  much  pleasure.  It  represents  the  doctrines  of  nullification  and  secession 
in  lights  that  must  confound,  if  failing  to  convince  their  patrons.  We  have 
done  well  in  rescuing  the  proceedings  of  Virginia  in  1798-99,  from  the  many 
misconstructions  and  misapplications  of  them.  Of  late,  attempts  are  observed 
to  shelter  the  heresy  of  secession  under  the  case  of  expatriation,  from  which  it 
essentially  differs.  The  expatriation  -  party  moves  only  his  person  and  his 
movable  property,  and  does  not  incommode  those  whom  he  leaves.  A  seceding 
State  mutilates  the  domain,  and  disturbs  the  whole  system  from  which  it  sepa- 
rates itself.  Pushed  to  the  extent  in  which  the  right  is  sometimes  asserted,  it' 
might  break  into  fragments  every  single  community." 

These  views  clearly  show  that  this  great  expounder  of  the  Constitution  did 
not  recognize  the  right  of  a  single  State  to  break  the  harmony  of  the  nation, 
and  destroy  its  unity  by  seceding  at  its  pleasure.  Nor  was  he  less  earnest  in 
his  desire  to  perpetuate  the  Union  and  guard  against  the  heresy  by  which  it 
might  be  endangered.  In  one  of  his  celebrated  State  papers,  written  in  Sep. 
tember,  1829,  he  thus  pictures  in  language  at  once  solemn  and  truthful  the  con- 
sequences  of  disunion : 

"In  all  the  views  that  may  be  taken  on  questions  between  the  State  govern, 
ments  and  General  Government,  the  awful  consequences  of  a  final  rupture  and 
dissolution  of  the  Union  should  never  be  lost  sight  of.  Such  a  prospect  must 
Ve  deprecated — must  be  shuddered  at  by  every  friend  of  his  country,  to  liberty, 
to  the  happiness  of  man.  For,  in  the  event  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  an 
impossibility  of  ever  renewing  it  is  brought  home  to  every  mind  by  the  difficul- 
ties encountered  in  establishing  it.  The  propensity  of  all  communities  to  divide 
when  not  pressed  into  a  unity  by  external  dangers  is  a  truth  well  understood. 
There  is  no  instance  of  a  people  inhabiting  even  a  small  island,  if  remote  from 
foreign  danger,  and  sometimes  in  spite  of  that  pressure,  who  are  not  divided 
into  alien,  rival,  hostile  tribes.  The  happy  union  of  these  States  is  a  wonder, 
the  Constitution  a  miracle,  their  example  the  hope  of  liberty  throughout  the 
world.  Woe  to  the  ambition  that  would  meditate  the  destruction  of  either." 

Who  that  has  a  heart  that  throbs  for  freedom  can  disregard  the  wisdom  and 
admonition  of  patriots,  whose  lives  have  been  devoted  to  the  service  of  their 
country,  and  who,  turning  away  from  the  appeals  of  wealth,  have  felt  rich  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  boon  of  free  government  and  the  possession  of  an  humble 
competency ! 

After  leaving  the  sages  who  participated  in  the  formation  of  our  Union,  we 
find  that  the  distinguished  patriots  of  latter  days  likewise  offer  their  testimony 
to  the  value  of  the  Union,  and  against  the  doctrine  of  secession.  Andrew  Jack- 
son, the  President  of  the  masses,  the  man  to  whose  bravery  in  battle,  and  whose 
firmness  in  council,  the  country  owes  much  for  its  present  prosperous  condition, 
was  called  upon  to  meet  this  question  under  circumstances  the  most  embar- 
rassing. His  giant  will  encompassed  it  all,  and  a  grateful  people  now  revere 
him  for  the  act.  The  position  assumed  by  South  Carolina  in  her  ordinance  of 
November  24,  1832,  called  forth  his  proclamation  of  the  loth  of  December 
following.  The  following  extract  will  suffice  : 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  then  forms  a  government,  not  a 


J~acksorts  Remonstrance  against  Disunion.        629 

league  ;  and  whether  it  be  formed  by  compact  between  the  States  or  in  any 
other  manner,  its  character  is  the  same.  It  is  a  government  in  which  all  the 
people  are  represented,  which  operates  directly  upon  the  people  individually,  not 
upon  the  States— they  retained  all  the  power  they  did  not  grant.  But  each 
State  having  expressly  parted  with  so  many  powers  as  to  constitute,  jointly 
with  the  other  States,  a  single  nation,  can  not  from  policy  possess  any  right  to 
secede  ;  because  secession  does  not  break  a  league,  but  destroys  the  unity  of  a 
nation  ;  and  an  injury  to  that  unity  is  not  only  a  breach  which  would  result  in 
the  contravention  of  a  compact,  but  it  is  an  offense  against  the  whole  Union. 
To  say  that  any  State  may  at  pleasure  secede  from  the  Union,  is  to  say  that 
the  United  States  are  not  a  nation  ;  because  it  would  be  a  solecism  to  contend 
that  any  part  of  a  nation  might  dissolve  its  connection  with  the  other  parts,  to 
their  injury  or  ruin,  without  morally  committing  any  offensive  secession,  like 
any  other  revolutionary  act,  may  be  morally  justified  by  the  extremity  of  oppres- 
sion ;  but  to  call  it  a  constitutional  right  is  confounding  the  meaning  of  terms, 
and  can  only  be  done  through  gross  error,  or  to  deceive  those  who  are  willing 
to  assert  a  right,  but  would  pause  before  they  make  a  revolution,  or  incur  the 
penalties  consequent  on  a  failure." 

Again,  in  his  message  of  January,  1832,  after  fully  discussing  the  issues  forced 
upon  the  country,  he  adds  : 

"  The  right  of  a  people  of  a  single  State  to  absolve  themselves  at  will,  and 
without  the  consent  of  the  other  States,  from  their  most  solemn  obligations  and 
to  hazard  the  liberties  and  happiness  of  the  millions  composing  this  Union,  can 
not  be  acknowledged.  Such  authority  is  believed  to  be  utterly  repugnant  to  the 
principles  upon  which  the  General  Government  is  constituted,  and  to  the  object 
which  it  is  expressly  formed  to  attain." 

This  great  man  of  the  people  has  been  gathered  to  his  fathers.  Over  his 
grave  at  the  Hermitage  let  the  American  nation  declare  in  his  own  emphatic 
language  :  "  The  Union — It  must  and  shall  be  preserved." 

These  are  not  all  the  mighty  names  which  can  be  arrayed  in  behalf  of  the 
Union,  and  against  the  doctrines  of  secession.  When  did  the  ardent  and  en- 
lightened mind  of  Henry  Clay,  when  his  attention  was  drawn  to  the  subject  of 
the  Union,  fail  to  offer  his  tribute  to  its  worth,  decline  to  render  the  most  scath- 
ing rebuke  to  those  who  dared  for  one  moment  to  depreciate  its  value  ?  Nor 
am  I  disposed  to  close  this  message,  without  citing  another  illustrious  name, 
who,  without  regard  to  party,  boldly  planted  his  feet  on  the  platform  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Union — a  man  who  faced  all  the  fury  of  the  fanatical  pas- 
sions of  his  own  section  in  behalf  of  the  compromise  measures  of  1850,  which 
guaranteed  the  equality  of  the  South  under  the  Constitution.  I  allude  to  Daniel 
Webster.  He  was  a  man  whose  heart  was  great  enough  to  embrace  the  whole 
Union,  and  whose  intellect  could  span  the  globe. 

The  sentiment  which  he  leaves  on  record  I  repeat : 

"Liberty  and  Union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  inseparable." 

With  such  teachings  and  such  lights  from  those  of  the  past  and  of  modern 
time,  can  Texas  forget  her  duty  to  herself?  These  were  the  men  who  formed 
the  first  structure  of  perfect  liberty  and  self-government  in  the  world.  We  have 
the  exposition  of  the  principles  upon  which  this  sublime  structure  of  self- 
government  was  based.  Are  we  to  cast  them  all  away  ?  Are  we  to  quit  our 


630  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

haven  of  safety,  in  which  we  are  secure,  happy,  and  prosperous,  and  risk  our 
all  upon  the  uncertainty  of  an  untried  experiment,  which  seems  only  to  open  the 
door  to  revolution  and  anarchy  ?  Could  we  for  a  moment  entertain  such  a  mad- 
dened thought,  we  need  only  extend  our  imagination  across  the  Rio  Grande,  and 
there,  exemplified  to  a  small  extent,  behold  the  effects  of  secession  and  disunion. 
A  disregard  for  constitutional  government  has  involved  Mexico  in  all  the  horrors 
of  civil  war,  with  robbery,  murder,  rapine,  unrestrained.  There  it  is  simply 
civil  war,  brother  armed  against  brother,  partisan  against  partisan  ;  but  to  us  it 
wpuld  be  all  these,  added  to  the  combined  efforts  of  the  powers  of  tyranny  to 
crush  out  liberty. 

A  responsibility  rests  upon  us,  because  our  advantages,  arising  from  self-gov- 
ernment, and  a  more  perfect  freedom  than  any  ever  enjoyed,  render  us  the  more 
accountable. 

I  need  not  call  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  to  a  period  so  recent  as  the 
annexation  of  Texas  to  the  American  Union.  The  feeling  that  prevailed  in  the 
community  in  anticipation  of  that  event,  and  the  ardent  desire  for  its  consum- 
mation in  almost  every  heart  in  Texas,  can  testify  to  the  sincerity  of  our  people 
when  they  took  upon  themselves  the  duties  of  citizens  of  the  United  States.  A 
generation  has  not  half  passed  since  the  great  object  was  accomplished ;  and 
are  we  to  be  seduced  already  into  any  measures  fraught  with  principles  that 
would  involve  us  in  the  inconsistency  of  impairing  the  integrity  of  our  formation, 
and  that,  too,  when  it  would  involve  us,  in  my  opinion,  in  the  crime  of  raising 
our  hands  against  the  Constitution  and  the  Union,  which  have  sheltered  and 
defended  us,  and  which  we  are  solemnly  bound  to  support  and  maintain  ? 

The  good  sense  of  the  nation  can  not  overlook  the  fact  that  we  are  one 
people  and  one  kindred ;  that  our  productions,  occupations,  and  interests  are 
not  more  diversified  in  one  section  of  the  Union  than  another.  If  the  vain  hope 
of  a  Southern  Confederacy  would  be  realized  upon  the  basis  of  all  the  slave 
States,  there  would  soon  be  found  enough  diversity  of  Northern  and  Southern 
interests  in  both  sections  to  accomplish  another  division,  all  the  more  eagerly 
sought,  because  of  a  recent  precedent. 

Indeed,  if  peaceable  separation  were  possible,  no  confederacy  could  be 
formed  upon  any  other  principle  than  that  of  leaving  domestic  institutions— 
where  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  now  leaves  them — to  the  States 
individually,  and  not  to  a  central  government. 

I  have  been  no  indifferent  spectator  of  the  agitations  which  have  distracted 
our  councils,  and  caused  many  patriots  to  despair  of  the  Republic.  But  I  am 
yet  hopeful,  and  have  an  abiding  confidence  in  the  masses  of  the  people.  I 
can  not  believe  that  they  will  suffer  scheming,  designing,  and  misguided  poli- 
ticians to  endanger  the  palladium  of  our  liberties.  The  world  is  interested  in 
the  experiment  of  this  Government.  There  is  no  new  continent  on  earth 
whereon  to  rear  such  another  fabric.  It  is  impossible  that  ours  can  be  broken 
without  becoming  fragmentary,  chaotic,  and  anarchical.  I  know  of  no  con- 
federacy with  other  States  which  could  hold  out  greater  inducements  or 
stronger  bonds  of  fraternity  than  were  extended  to  us  in  1844.  The  people  of 
Texas  are  satisfied  with  the  Constitution  and  the  Union  as  they  are.  They  are 
even  willing  to  enlarge  it  by  further  wise,  peaceful,  and  honorable  acquisitions. 
If  there  is  a  morbid  and  dangerous  sentiment  abroad  in  the  land,  let  us  endeavor 
to  allay  it  by  teaching  and  cultivating  a  more  fraternal  feeling. 


Demands  for  Frontier  Defense.  631 

I  would  therefore  recommend  the  adoption  of  resolutions  dissenting  from  the 
assertion  of  the  abstract  right  of  secession,  and  refusing  to  send  deputies,  for 
any  present  existing  cause,  and  urging  upon  the  people  of  all  the  States,  North 
and  South,  the  necessity  of  cultivating  brotherly  feeling,  observing  justice  and 

attending  to  their  own  affairs. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  TEXAS— EXTRA  SESSION. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  \ 

AUSTIN,  January  21,  1861.  \ 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

You  have  been  convened  in  extra  session,  in  view  of  the  unsettled  condition  ot 
our  national  affairs,  the  continued  invasion  of  our  frontier  by  Indians,  and  the 
embarrassed  condition  of  the  Treasury.  To  these  subjects  alone  your  attention 
will  be  invited,  and  it  is  hoped  that  only  those  which  are  incident  to  these  will 
meet  your  condideration. 

The  defense  of  the  State  being  a  paramount  object,  the  Executive  will  first 
press  the  necessity  of  providing  for  the  same  upon  your  consideration.  When 
the  Executive  came  into  office  the  frontier  was  entirely  unguarded,  except  by 
Federal  troops.  The  Indians,  unrestrained  by  the  presence  of  rangers,  em- 
braced the  favorable  opportunity,  and  gained  a  foothold  in  the  country,  and  ere 
their  presence  was  known  and  means  could  be  adopted  to  repel  them,  com- 
menced a  series  of  depredations  which  struck  terror  to  the  settlements.  Their 
savage  work  was  not  confined  to  the  frontier  alone,  but  extended  to  counties 
within  fifty  miles  of  the  capital. 

Although  not  apprised  of  this  state  of  things,  the  Executive  had  made  such 
provision  for  the  defense  of  the  frontier  as  seemed  necessary.  On  the  26th  of 
December,  a  few  days  after  his  inauguration,  an  order  was  issued  to  Captain 
W.  C.  Dalrymple,  of  Williamson  County,  to  raise  a  company  of  sixty  men,  rank 
and  file. 

This  was  followed  by  orders  of  the  same  character  to  Captain  Ed.  Burleson, 
of  Hays,  and  to  Captain  John  H.  Conner,  of  Travis,  on  the  4th  and  I3th  of 
January.  These  companies  were  ordered  to  such  points  as  would  enable  them 
to  carry  out  the  orders  given  them  to  give  the  greatest  amount  of  protection  to 
the  frontier  inhabitants. 

Had  the  frontier  not  been  entirely  abandoned  to  the  Indians  for  months  pre- 
vious to  his  inauguration  these  companies  would  have  sufficed  to  prevent  any 
concerted  and  extensive  movement  against  the  settlements  on  the  part  of  the 
Indians ;  but  they  were  already  secreted  in  the  country.  Intelligence  having 
reached  the  Executive  that  numerous  small  parties  of  Indians  were  ravaging 
the  line  of  settlements  beyond  Bell  County,  but  yet  not  on  the  extreme  frontier, 
orders  were  issued  on  the  I3th  of  February  to  Lieut.  White  of  Bell,  Salmon  of 
Basque,  and  Walker  of  Erath  County,  to  raise  each  a  detachment  of  twenty- 
five  men  to  range  in  and  give  defense  to  the  counties  of  Caryell,  Hamilton, 
Comanche,  Erath,  Eastland,  and  Palo  Pinto.  These  detachments  w«*re  soon 
in  the  field,  with  orders  to  exercise  every  energy  to  give  the  frontier  pi  otectioi* 
and  security. 


632  Houston? 8  Literary  Remains. 

Authentic  accounts  of  depredations  still  coming  in,  the  Executive  on  the  21  st 
of  February  sent  to  the  various  frontier  counties  a  letter  authorizing  the  citizens 
of  each  county  to  raise  a  minute  company  of  not  more  than  twenty  men,  who 
should  look  to  the  next  Legislature  for  payment;  and  to  more  effectually  insure 
the  presence  of  these  minute  companies  in  the  field,  a  general  order  was  issued 
on  the  9th  of  March,  by  which  the  Chief-Justice  of  each  county  was  instructed 
to  organize  immediately  a  minute  company  of  fifteen  men,  to  whom  the  follow- 
ing orders  were  given : 

"  The  detachments  will  immediately  take  the  field,  and  enter  upon  active  serv- 
ice, affording  protection  to  the  inhabitants  of  their  respective  counties. 

"  When  an  Indian  trail  is  found  it  must  be  diligently  followed,  and  if  the  sign 
indicates  a  larger  party  of  Indians  than  he  is  able  to  cope  with,  he  will  call  not 
exceeding  ten  men  to  his  aid." 

The  lieutenant  commanding  each  detachment  or  minute  company  was  au- 
thorized to  purchase  necessary  supplies,  and  where  it  was  possible  to  do  so, 
they  were  sent  forward  by  the  Executive. 

Under  this  order  minute  companies  of  fifteen  men  each  were  mustered  into 
service  in  the  following  counties :  Lieut.  Scanland,  Montague ;  Lieut.  Isbell, 
Wise ;  Lieut.  Cochran,  Young  ;  Lieut.  Jones,  Palo  Pinto ;  Lieut.  Stevens,  East- 
land  ;  Lieut.  Lowe,  Erath ;  Lieut.  Price,  Comanche ;  Lieut.  Nelson,  Basque; 
Lieut.  Gentry,  Hamilton ;  Lieut.  Font  le  Roy,  Caryell ;  Lieut.  Cowan,  Llano ; 
Lieut.  Wood,  San  Saba ;  Lieut.  Hughes,  Lampasas ;  Lieut.  Lewis,  Mason  ; 
Lieut.  O'Hair,  Burnett;  Lieut.  Franzelin,  Gillespie;  Lieut.  Balentyne,  Bandera; 
Lieut.  McFadden,  Keer ;  Lieut.  Kennedy,  Hoalde ;  Lieut.  Patton,  Blanco ; 
Lieut.  Brown,  Bexar ;  Li.eut.  Watkins,  Medina ;  Lieut.  Ragsdale,  Frio. 

In  addition  to  putting  this  force  of  minute  men  in  the  field,  the  Executive,  in 
order  to  enable  the  frontier  citizens  to  more  successfully  defend  themselves,  pur- 
chased and  distributed  through  the  frontier  counties  one  hundred  Colt's  re-, 
volvers,  which,  with  a  number  of  revolvers,  rifles,  and  muskets,  were  sent  for- 
ward. Ammunition  was  also  supplied  to  the  minute  companies.  To  provide 
for  the  defense  of  the  settlement  beyond  San  Antonio,  an  order  was  issued  on 
the  5th  of  March,  to  Capt.  Peter  Tomlinson,  of  Atascosa  County,  to  raise  forty- 
eight  men,  to  whom  were  assigned  the  range  between  the  Frio  and  the  Rio 
Grande.  Captain  Tomlinson  was  mustered  into  service  on  the  2oth  of  March. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  up  to  this  period  the  Executive  had  called  into  serv- 
ice a  ranging  force  of  720  men,  which  might  be  increased  upon  an  emergency 
to  950.  The  greater  part  of  this  force  was  then  in  active  service,  and  as  a 
result  the  Indians  disappeared  from  the  settlements.  The  monthly  reports  of 
the  officers  commanding  the  minute  men  now  on  file  in  the  Executive  office 
attest  this  fact.  The  minute  companies  of  fifteen  men  were  kept  in  service  until 
the  1 8th  of  May,  when,  there  being  no  longer  a  pressing  necessity  for  their 
presence  in  the  field,  they  were  disbanded,  subject  to  be  called  out  at  any  mo- 
ment by  order  of  the  Chief-Justice  of  their  county. 

Before,  however,  these  forces  could  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  settlements 
many  murders  had  been  committed,  and  a  large  number  of  horses  stolen.  With 
a  view  of  avenging  these  outrages,  and  the  recovery  of  the  property  of  our  citi- 
zens, the  Executive  determined  to  send  against  the  Indians  a  force  sufficient  to 
discover  their  hiding-places,  and  accomplish  these  objects. 

It  had  lonp-  been  *lie  opinion  of  the  Executive  that  the  horses  stolen  from  us 


Expeditions  to  Repel  Indian  Raids.  633 

are  herded  at  some  central  point  between  our  settlements  and  the  trading-posts 
where  they  are  sold,  and  that  from  this  point  stealing  parties  strike  for  our 
settlements,  leaving  others  in  charge  of  the  animals  already  taken.  To  punish 
these  Indians,  as  well  as  to  ferret  out  the  parties  who  purchase  our  horses  from 
them,  required  an  able  force,  and  was  a  work  requiring  much  time  and  priva- 
tion. The  duty  of  raising  troops  for  this  expedition  was  assigned  to  Col.  M. 
T.  Johnson,  of  Tarrant  County,  to  whom  was  issued  orders  on  the  I7th  of 
March  to  raise  a  sufficient  number  of  mounted  rangers  to  repel,  pursue,  and 
punish  the  Indians  now  ravaging  the  north  and  northwestern  settlements  of 
Texas,  with  full  liberty  to  dispose  of  the  force  under  your  (his)  command,  at 
your  (his)  discretion.  In  pursuance  of  this  order  Col.  Johnson  raised  five  com- 
panies of  rangers  of  83  men,  commanded  by  Captains  Smith  of  McLennan, 
Darnell  of  Dallas,  Woods  of  Fannin,  Fitzhugh  of  Collin,  and  Johnson  of  Tar- 
rant.  These  rendezvoused  at  Fort  Belknap,  where  they  were  joined  by  two 
companies  under  command  of  Capts.  Ed.  Burleson  and  W.  C.  Dalrymple,  and 
on  the  23d  of  May  the  expedition  started  for  the  Indian  country. 

The  several  reports  of  Col.  Johnson  to  be  submitted  will  furnish  a  full  state- 
ment of  the  progress  of  the  expedition.  A  portion  of  the  troops  were  ordered 
back  by  Col.  Johnson  from  Old  Fort  Radsminske  the  3oth  of  July.  The  others 
penetrated  the  Indian  country  beyond  the  line  of  Kansas,  and  after  enduring 
many  privations  returned  to  Fort  Belknap,  where  they  were  disbanded  by  order 
of  the  Executive. 

Although  no  Indian  depredations  were  at  that  time  reported,  the  Executive, 
to  guard  against  their  repetition,  ordered  Capt.  L:  S.  Ross  to  McLennan  on  the 
nth  of  September  to  raise  a  company  of  seventy  men,  and  to  take  his  station 
beyond  Fort  Belknap,  where  he  arrived  on  the  i/th  of  October. 

On  the  6th  of  December  information  reached  the  Executive  of  the  most  ap- 
palling outrages  committed  by  the  Indians  in  Jack  and  Parker  Counties.  Orders 
were  immediately  sent  forward  to  Capts.  Thos.  Stocton,  of  Young,  and  James 
Barry,  of  Basque  County,  to  raise  each  twenty-four  men,  and  proceed  to  co- 
operate with  Captain  Ross  in  protecting  the  settlements.  These  troops  did  not 
then  enter  the  service,  but  on  the  i;th  of  December  an  order  was  issued  to  Capt. 
A.  B.  Burleson  to  raise  seventy  men,  which  was  followed  by  orders  to  Capt.  E. 
W.  Rogers,  of  Ellis,  on  the  26th  of  December,  and  to  Capt.  Thomas  Harrison, 
of  McLennan,  on  the  2d  of  January,  to  raise  each  seventy  men,  all  of  whom  have 
now  gone  forward  to  Fort  Belknap,  where  Col.  W.  C.  Dalrymple,  of  Williamson 
County,  acting  under  commission  as  aide-de-camp  to  the  Executive,  has  been 
ordered  to  repair,  to  effect  an  organization  of  the  troops,  and  to  devise  means  for 
their  efficiency. 

It  affords  the  Executive  pleasure  to  state  that  the  Indians  who  committed  the 
late  depredations  in  Jack  and  Parker  Counties  have  been  overtaken  and  killed, 
by  a  force  under  command  of  Captain  Ross,  whose  report  will  be  submitted. 

The  Executive,  to  support  and  render  efficient  the  force  which  he,  has  had 
from  time  to  time  in  the  field,  has  had  no  money  at  his  command  except  the 
University  Fund,  amounting  to  $106,992.26,  which  was  by  special  act  of  the 
Legislature  authorized  to  be  used  for  purposes  of  frontier  defense.  It  was  his 
opinion  that  the  Legislature  intended  that  this  fund  should  be  used  alone  for  the 
defense  of  the  Indian  frontier,  and  not  for  the  payment  of  claims  on  account  of 
the  war  upon  the  Rio  Grande.  The  troubles  upon  the  Rio  Grande,  although 


634  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

speedily  settled  after  the  arrival  of  the  commissioners  sent  by  the  Executive,  cost 
the  State  an  amount  far  beyond  the  estimate  of  the  Legislature,  and  when  claims 
were  presented  for  supplies  furnished  troops  the  Executive  did  not  believe 
the  money  should  be  drawn  from  the  University  Fund,  and  expressed  his 
views  in  that  respect  to  the  Comptroller.  That  fund  was  the  sole  dependence  of 
the  Executive  for  the  purchase  of  supplies  to  keep  troops  in  the  field.  A 
considerable  sum  was  paid,  however,  from  the  fund  for  debts  contracted  during 
the  Rio  Grande  war.  This  reduced  the  amount  which  might  be  used  to  defend 
the  frontier  to  $76,937.73,  which  has  been  exhausted.  The  Executive,  however, 
kept  troops  continually  in  the  field,  and  until  the  present  time  supplied  them,  with 
the  exception  of  the  minute  companies  called  out  in  each  county.  Not  a  dollar 
has  been  at  his  command  for  months.  Deprived  of  money  to  purchase  supplies, 
and  with  the  fact  before  him  that  Treasury  warrants  were  already  selling  at  a 
heavy  discount,  the  Executive  might  well  have  thrown  upon  others  the  respon- 
sibility of  abandoning  the  frontier,  and  left  the  people  to  defend  themselves.  But 
neither  this,  nor  the  fact  that  many  have  continually  denounced  and  misrep- 
resented his  efforts  made  in  behalf  of  the  frontier,  have  caused  him  to  forego  his 
exertions ;  on  the  contrary,  they  have  been  redoubled. 

At  such  periods  a  man,  true  to  the  obligations  of  his  station  and  the  instincts 
of  humanity,  should  alike  rise  superior  to  the  obstacles  impending  in  his  path- 
way, and  the  petty  considerations  of  chagrin  and  disappointment  at  the  conduct 
of  those  who  maligned  and  censured  him ;  and  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  the  Execu- 
tive now  to  know  that  the  first  who  have  received  the  undoubted  evidences 
of  the  determination  and  the  ability  of  the  troops  sent  forward  by  him  to  defend 
them,  are  those  who  have  been  foremost  in  their  efforts  to  thwart  his  endeavors. 
Finding  that  it  was  impossible  to  purchase  any  adequate  amount  of  supplies  on 
the  credit  of  the  State,  the  Executive,  in  two  communications  dated  the  8th  of 
November  and  the  7th  of  January,  suggested  to  the  State  Treasurer  the  propriety 
of  using,  for  purposes  of  frontier  defense,  the  amount  in  the  Treasury  on 
account  of  University  land  sales ;  but  the  opinion  of  that  officer  was  adverse 
to  the  proposition,  and  that  fund,  amounting  to  $34,708.14,  still  remains  in  the 
Treasury. 

The  Executive,  believing  that  the  Legislature  would  not  repudiate  a  pledge 
made  under  such  circumstances,  procured  of  Mr. ,  S.  M.  Svvenson  two 
months'  supply  of  rations,  with  a  guarantee  that  the  same  should  be  paid  as  soon 
as  your  honorable  body  met.  This  supply  will  be  exhausted  by  the  time  more 
can  be  sent  forward,  and  to  your  earnest  consideration  the  matter  is  com- 
mended. 

It  will  be  seen,  from  the  plain  statement  of  facts  given  above,  that  from 
the  time  of  his  inauguration  up  to  the  present  time,  the  Executive  has  de- 
voted all  the  energies  at  his  command  to  the  defense  of  the  frontier.  He  has 
called  into  service  a  number  of  the  most  experienced  ranging  officers  in  the 
State,  and  given  them  troops  obtained  in  counties  capable  of  furnishing  the  best 
Indian  fighters  in  the  world.  Not  only  in  the  number,  but  in  the  equipment  of 
the  troops,  the  means  he  has  adopted  for  frontier  defense  have  been  adequate 
to  more  than  the  reasonable  expectations  of  the  country.  Besides  these,  he  has 
provided  every  county  with  a  minute  company  for  its  own  defense,  formed  of  its 
own  citizens.  If  these  endeavors  have  not  sufficed  to  protect  the  country, 
no  exertions  which  he  could  have  made  would  have  done  r,o. 


Estimates  for  Required  State  Expenditures.       635 

In  March  last  the  Executive  tendered  to  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the  United 
States  5,000  Texan  volunteers  to  aid  in  the  defense  of  the  frontier.  The  offer 
was  declined.  Efforts  have  been  made  to  induce  Congress  to  pass  a  bill  author- 
izing the  calling  of  such  a  force  into  the  field ;  but  they  have  been,  thus  far,  un- 
successful. 

The  Federal  Government  has,  however,  from  time  to  time  sent  reinforcements 
of  the  regular  army  to  Texas,  until  the  entire  force  on  our  border  comprises 
about  one-fifth  of  our  entire  army. 

These  prevent  the  invasion  of  our  soil  by  any  numerous  body  of  Indians,  and 
occasionally  intercept  small  stealing  parties  ;  but  to  entirely  check  the  latter  a 
more  active  force  is  necessary,  which  should  be  constantly  employed  in  scouring 
the  country. 

The  militia  act,  passed  by  the  last  Legislature,  was  found  by  the  Executive  to 
contain  conflicting  provisions,  which  prevented  its  being  put  in  operation  ;  the 
necessity  of  rendering  it  entirely  practicable  is  respectfully  presented  to  the  Leg- 
islature. 

According  to  the  estimates  made,  which  were  laid  before  the  Legislature,  the 
ordinary  expenses  of  government  exceeded  per  annum  the  amount  received  from 
revenue. 

The  extraordinary  expenses  arising  from  the  construction  of  the  Insane 
Asylum  and  other  causes,  as  well  as  the  balance  due  from  former  years,  have 
greatly  increased  this  deficiency,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  Treasury  is  now 
without  means  to  defray  the  expenses  of  government  for  the  present  year. 

The  Executive  has  endeavored,  so  far  as  the  law  gives  him  control,  to  reduce 
the  expenditures  of  government  to  an  economical  basis  ;  but  his  power  is  ex- 
tremely limited,  and  his  endeavors  in  this  respect  have,  of  course,  been  governed 
by  the  appropriations  made  by  the  Legislature. 

The  Executive  deemed  it  his  duty,  on  the  8th  of  February,  1860,  to  send  a 
special  message  to  the  Legislature,  showing  the  condition  of  the  Treasury,  and 
urging  the  adoption  of  such  measures  as  would  prevent  its  embarrassment. 
There  remained  in  the  Treasury,  on  the  ist  day  of  February,  but  $219,000, 
against  which  stood  the  amount  due  on  account  of  appropriations  made  by  the 
present  and  previous  Legislatures,  estimated  at  $508,582.74. 

To  show  the  rapid  depletion  which  followed,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  State 
Treasury  on  the  I5th  of  February  reported  but  $232,903.21  in  the  Treasury, 
which  included  the  University  Fund,  amounting  to  $109,472.26.  There  was, 
therefore,  to  sustain  the  civil  list  but  $123,480.95.  The  balances  still  due  on 
appropriations  were  to  be  paid,  and  the  Government  to  be  sustained  until  the 
whole  revenue  came  in,  which  was  estimated  by  the  Comptroller  to  be  $343,- 
447.95.  In  presenting  the  condition  of  the  Treasury  to  your  honorable  tody  the 
Executive  urged  the  necessity  of  increased  taxation. 

The  Legislature,  however,  did  not  second  his  views,  and  an  act  was  passed 
in  lieu  thereof,  providing  for  the  payment  of  interest  on  Treasury  warrants. 

Much  difficulty  was  experienced  in  putting  this  act  into  operation,  and  the 
Comptroller  did  not  consent  until  the  ist  of  June  to  issue  the  warrants.  Since 
that  period  they  have  been  issued  for  all  claims  for  rangers'  pay ;  and  since,  the 
University  Fund  has  been  exhausted  for  other  claims  connected  with  the  frontier 
service  where  parties  would  take  them. 

No  one  could  have  more  regretted  the  delay  of  putting  this  law  into  execu- 


636  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

tion  than  the  Executive.  It  was  a  measure  calculated  to  sustain  the  faith  and 
credit  of  the  State,  and  it  has  done  so  to  a  material  extent.  The  warrants  were 
purchased  at  from  85  to  95  cents  on  the  dollar,  the  purchasers  relying  for  pay- 
ment on  the  collection  of  the  money  due  by  the  Federal  Government  to  Texas 
for  expenses  incurred  in  defending  the  frontier,  and  it  was  not  until  the  pros- 
pect of  obtaining  that  money  was  understood  to  be  uncertain  that  they  depre- 
ciated to  any  great  extent.  At  present  there  is  scarcely  any  demand  for  them 
even  at  a  ruinous  discount. 

The  Legislature  will  at  once  see  the  necessity  of  providing  means  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  warrants,  with  the  interest. 

Not  only  the  holders  of  those  already  issued,  but  a  large  number  of  rangers 
yet  to  be  paid,  have  a  right  to  expect  that  the  public  faith  shall  be  maintained. 
The  Legislature  should  see  to  it  that  the  brave  men  who  have,  regardless  of 
privation  and  danger,  gone  to  the  defense  of  the  frontier  are  not  deprived  of  the 
pay  justly  due  them. 

They  have  already  been  compelled  to  yield  a  considerable  portion  to  obtain 
money  to  meet  their  necessities.  Many  are  yet  holding  their  warrants  in  the 
hope  that  justice  will  be  done  them.  Those  yet  to  be  paid  look  alike  to  the 
Legislature. 

Those  now  in  the  field  will  be  stimulated  to  greater  efforts  in  behalf  of  the 
frontier  if  they  find  that  their  zeal  and  courage  are  appreciated,  and  provision  is 
made  to  recompense  their  toil. 

The  Executive  regrets  to  be  compelled  to  inform  the  Legislature  that  none  ot 
the  money  appropriated  by  the  United  States  Congress  to  reimburse  the  State 
for  expenses  incurred  in  defending  the  frontier  against  Indians  has  yet  been  ob- 
tained. There  was  appropriated  by  act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1859,  the  sum 
of  $53,000,  and  on  the  2ist  of  June,  1860,  the  sum  of  $123,444.51  for  this  purpose. 
No  steps  had  been  taken  for  the  collection  of  the  amount  due  on  the  first  ap- 
propriation when  the  present  Executive  came  into  office.  On  the  i6th  of 
March,  1860,  instructions  were  sent  to  the  Comptroller  to  forward  to  the  War 
Department  at  Washington  duplicate  copies  of  the  muster  rolls,  vouchers,  etc., 
necessary  to  obtain  the  amount  paid  by  the  State  for  the  services  of  six  com- 
panies of  rangers  called  into  service  by  Gen.  Persifer  F.  Smith  in  1854,  pro- 
vided for  by  act  of  Congress  of  March  3,  1859. 

The  Comptroller  declined  to  send  the  vouchers  necessary  to  secure  the  collec- 
tion of  the  amount.  It  was  the  intention  of  the  Executive  to  solicit  the  services 
of  one  or  more  of  our  members  of  Congress  then  at  Washington  in  the  settle- 
ment of  our  business,  and  when  the  amount  due  the  State  was  ascertained,  to 
obtain  U.  S.  Treasury  drafts,  which  could  have  been  Cashed  here  by  the  Comp- 
troller at  par,  and  thus  all  the  expenses  of  a  special  agent  would  have  been 
avoided.  The  Executive  again  on  the  9th  of  October  requested  that  the 
vouchers  for  the  whole  claim  be  forwarded  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable,  the 
Comptroller  having  informed  him  that  they  were  ready  for  transmission.  On 
the  3d  of  November,  desiring  to  facilitate  and  hasten  the  collection  of  this 
amount,  the  Executive  notified  the  Comptroller  of  his  intention  to  appoint  Geo. 
J.  Durham,  Esq.,  chief  clerk  of  the  Comptroller's  office,  as  agent  to  bear  the 
muster  rolls,  vouchers,  etc.,  to  Washington,  and  to  attend  to  the  collection  of 
the  claim.  On  the  5th  of  November  a  communication  was  received  from  the 
Comptroller,  declining  to  place  the  papers  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Durham,  and  on 


Appropriations  Immediately  Demanded.          637 

the  28th  of  November  Mr.  Durham  declined  to  accept  the  appointment,  which 
in  the  meantime  had  been  tendered  him. 

The  only  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  prompt  collection  of  the  amount  has  been 
the  fact  that  the  vouchers  have  not  been  placed  in  the  possession  of  the  War 
Department.  Until  this  is  done  the  money  can  not  be  obtained.  The  vouchers 
are  in  the  possession  of  the  Comptroller,  and  it  has  been  in  his  power  at  any 
time  to  transmit  them  either  in  person  or  by  some  safe  hand  to  the  Secretary 
of  War.  When  the  claim  has  progressed  thus  far  toward  a  settlement,  the  Ex- 
ecutive will  direct  his  endeavors  toward  securing  all  that  may  be  justly  due  the 
State. 

It  is  also  proper  to  state  that  since  the  letter  to  the  Comptroller  of  October 
last,  stating  that  the  muster  rolls,  etc.,  were  ready  for  transmission  to  Washing- 
ton, the  Executive  has  been  notified  that  five  of  the  rolls,  representing  about 
$40,000  of  the  amount  due,  are  lost. 

An  examination  of  the  facts  presented  will  furnish  the  Legislature  the  data 
upon  which  to  base  their  actions  in  reference  to  future  operations  of  the  Treas- 
ury. It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  already  a  deficit  in  the  revenue  necessary  to 
meet  the  civil  expenditures.  The  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Government  until  the 
taxes  come  in  in  June  will  be  about  $30,000  per  month.  The  deficit  already 
existing  added  to  this  amount  will  consume  the  entire  amount  then  received,  and 
leave  the  Government  totally  unprovided  for  for  another  year.  Not  only  is  this 
to  be  provided  for,  but  the  treasury  warrants  now  in  circulation  are  to  be  paid, 
as  well  as  those  rangers  who  have  been,  and  are  now,  in  service ;  and  means  are 
to  be  provided  for  the  future  defense  of  the  frontier. 

From  the  report  of  the  Comptroller  hereunto  appended,  and  made  a  part 
of  this  message,  it  will  be  seen  that  from  the  2ist  of  December,  1859,  to 
the  i Qth  of  January,  1 86 1,  there  had  been  paid  out  from  the  Treasury  in  cash  the 
sum  of  $763,394.65,  and  that  ten  per  cent.  Treasury  warrants  had  been  issued, 
amounting  to  $129,556.99,  making  a  total  of  $892,951.64.  Of  this  amount  there 
was  expended : 

For  the  Cortina  war $137,828  10 

"    Expenses  of  Legislature 94.997  01 

"     Pay  of  Ford,  Bourland,  and  Brown's  Corn's..   60,445  02 

"     Supplies  furnished  Capt.  Willions 7*423  46 

"     Construction  of  Lunatic  Asylum 33*369  12 

"     Machinery  of  Penitentiary 27,000  oo 

"     Improvement  of  Bays  and  Rivers 68,270  40 

"     Improvement  of  Capital  Grounds 4>77i  08 

"    Debt  of  the  late  Republic 12,391  64 


Total  $446,495  83 

This  entire  amount  was  paid  upon  expenses,  ordinary  and  extraordinary,  in- 
curred prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  term  of  the  present  Executive,  except- 
ing a  portion  of  the  amount  paid  for  expenses  of  the  Legislature.  Of  the  bal- 
ance, $446,495.83,  a  considerable  portion  is  of  the  same  character,  or  for  special 
appropriations  not  included  in  the  ordinary  appropriations  of  Government.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  entire  amount  of  money  used  by  the  Executive  for  the  de- 


638  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

fense  of  the  frontier  is  $76,937.73,  and  that  the  entire  amount  of  warrants  issued 
for  the  same  service  is  $62,843.39,  making  a  total  of  $139,781.02.  Deducting 
this  from  the  above,  $446,495.83,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  amount  expended  in  the 
past  year  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  Government,  including  such  special  ap- 
propriations and  amounts  due,  as  are  not  enumerated  above,  was  $306,674.71. 

According  to  estimates  made,  there  is  yet  due,  on  account 
of  frontier  defense,  for  pay  and  subsistence  of  twenty- 
three  minute  companies $30,000  oo 

For  -pay  and  subsistence  of  full  companies 125,000  oo 


$155,000  oo 
Amount  paid  in  cash  and  warrants 139,781   12 


Showing  total  cost  of  frontier  defense $294,78 1   r  2 

It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Executive  that  the  estimate  made,  $155,000,  will  cover 
the  entire  indebtedness  on  account  of  frontier  defense  for  the  past  year.  The 
entire  operations  have  been  conducted  with  the  strictest  economy.  The  troops 
have  been  supplied  upon  contract  at  exceedingly  low  rates,  and  all  officers  held 
to  strict  accountability.  When  the  number  of  men  kept  in  the  field,  and  the  dis- 
tant points  to  which  supplies  have  been  sent,  are  considered,  the  entire  cost 
is  not  great. 

The  expenses  of  keeping  a  regiment  in  the  field  one  year  were  estimated 
by  the  Comptroller  to  be  $603,000.  Should  a  contingency  arise  by  which 
the  Federal  army  will  be  disbanded,  and  the  Indians,  now  under  treaty  stipula- 
tions with  the  Federal  Government,  and  controlled  by  them,  be  turned  loose, 
large  appropriations  will  be  necessary  for  the  defense  of  our  frontier.  But  should 
the  present  state  of  things  continue,  it  will  be  necessary  to  maintain  a  force  of 
rangers  in  the  field.  The  frontier  must  be  defended  in  any  event,  and  it  is 
not  improbable  that  the  financial  difficulties  already  attending  the  Government 
will  be  felt  in  the  Indian  Department,  and  there  may  be  failures  in  carrying  out 
the  treaties  with  the  Indians.  Trouble  will  ensue,  much  of  which  will  be  felt  by 
our  bordei . 

The  Executive  would,  therefore,  present  the  following  estimates  to  sustain  the 
Government  the  present  year,  and  to  meet  deficiencies : 

Amount  due  for  Rangers'  pay  and  subsistence $155,000  oo 

Interest  warrants  in  circulation 129,556  99 

Defense   of  frontier 500,000  oo 

Ordinary  expenses   of  Government    (see   Comptroller's 

Report  for  September  ist,  1859) 331,400  oo 

Amount  due  on  outstanding  debt 50,000  oo 

Amount  of  debt  of  Republic  which  will  be  called  for 10,000  oo 


Total $i,i75>956  99 

The  expenses  of  the  present  session  of  the  Legislature  are  also  to  be 
provided  for. 


Federal  Relations  Affected  ly  Presidential  Election.  639 

Total  receipts  to  August  31,  1861  (see  Comptroller's  Re- 
port, September,  1859) $343.344  27 

Amount  in  Treasury,  subject  to  disbursement,  January  19, 

1861,  per  Treasurer's  Report 14.785  62 

Total $358,129  89 

The  peculiar  attitude  of  our  relations  with  the  Federal  Government  will,  I 
trust,  command  the  earnest  attention  of  the  Legislature.  While  the  proud 
structure  of  government,  built  by  our  fathers,  seems  tottering  to  ruin,  and  some 
of  its  pillars  are  already  torn  loose  by  the  hand  of  internal  dissension,  we  may 
not  alone  contemplate  the  scene  and  await  its  total  downfall.  As  parts  yet  of 
that  structure,  the  solemn  duty  presses  upon  us  to  prove  faithful  to  the  trust  im- 
posed by  the  patriots  and  sages  of  the  past,  and  to  restore  it  to  its  original  pride 
and  grandeur  if  we  can  ;  and  if  we  can  not,  to  see  that  our  own  liberties  perish 
not  beneath  its  ruins. 

The  election  of  the  Black  Republican  candidate  to  the  Presidency  has  in- 
volved the  issue  of  the  permanency  of  the  Government  upon  the  basis  laid 
down  by  its  founders. 

The  principles  of  their  party  as  developed  in  the  passage  of  laws  in  many  of 
the  States,  subversive  of  our  rights  and  in  continual  aggressions  upon  our  insti- 
tutions, have  at  last  obtained  a  foothold  on  the  Government  itself. 

The  struggle  has  been  long,  and  the  encroachment  gradual,  and  at  last, 
through  our  own  folly  and  dissension  alone,  has  resulted  in  placing  one  depart- 
ment of  the  Government  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have  aggressed  upon  us. 
The  question  presses  itself  upon  our  consideration,  whether  'tis  best  to  abandon 
the  Government,  and  acknowledge  that  our  Constitution  is  a  failure,  or  to  main- 
tain in  the  Union  every  constitutional  right  guaranteed  to  us. 

The  grievances  of  which  we  complain  have  thus  far  originated  with  the  States 
and  not  with  the  Federal  Government. 

They  have,  disregarding  their  constitutional  obligations,  interposed  to  ob- 
struct the  Federal  Government  in  its  efforts  to  administer  the  Government  in 
accordance  with  the  Constitution ;  and  though  the  Government  has  not  in  all 
cases  been  successful  in  its  efforts  in  our  behalf,  yet  there  has  been  no  lack  ot 
willingness  on  its  part.  The  prospect,  however,  of  the  Government  going  into 
the  hands  of  a  party  whose  disregard  of  the  Constitution  is  its  sole  bond  of 
union,  leads  to  the  belief  that  Federal  aggression  is  inevitable  unless  such 
means  are  adopted  as  will  not  only  restrain  the  dominant  party  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Constitution,  but  lead  it  to  abandon  all  designs  of  perverting  the 
power  of  Government  to  serve  its  unconstitutional  aims. 

Were  Government  formed  in  an  hour,  and  human  liberty  the  natural  result  of 
revolution,  less  responsibility  would  attach  to  us  as  we  consider  the  momentous 
question  before  us.  A  long  struggle  amid  bloodshed  and  privation  secured  the 
liberty  which  has  been  our  boast  for  three-quarters  of  a  century.  Wisdom, 
patriotism,  and  the  noble  concessions  of  great  minds  framed  our  Constitution. 
Long  centuries  of  heroic  strife  attest  the  progress  of  freedom  to  their  culminat- 
ing point.  Ere  the  work  of  centuries  is  undone,  and  freedom,  shorn  of  her 
victorious  garments,  is  started  out  once  again  on  her  weary  pilgrimage,  hoping 
to  find,  after  centuries  have  passed  away,  another  dwelling-place,  it  is  not  un- 
manly to  pause  and  at  least  endeavor  to  avert  the  calamity. 


640  Houstorfs  Literary  Remains. 

The  Executive  feels  as  deeply  as  any  of  your  honorable  body  the  necessity  of 
such  action  on  the  part  of  the  slaveholding  States  as  will  secure  to  the  fullest 
extent  every  right  they  possess.  Self-preservation,  if  not  a  manly  love  of  liberty 
inspired  by  our  past  history,  prompts  this  determination. 

But  he  can  not  feel  that  these  dictate  hasty  and  unconcerted  action,  nor  can 
he  reconcile  to  his  mind  the  idea  that  our  safety  demands  an  immediate  separa- 
tion from  the  Government  ere  we  have  stated  our  grievances  or  demanded 
redress.  A  high  resolve  to  maintain  our  constitutional  rights,  and,  failing  to 
obtain  them,  to  risk  the  perils  of  revolution  even  as  our  fathers  risked  it,  should, 
in  my  opinion,  actuate  every  citizen  of  Texas ;  but  we  should  remember  that  we 
owe  duties  and  obligations  to  States  having  rights  in  common  with  us ;  and 
whose  institutions  are  the  same  as  ours. 

No  aggression  can  come  upon  us  which  will  not  be  visited  upon  them  ;  and 
whatever  our  action  may  be,  it  should  be  of  that  character  which  will  bear  us 
blameless  to  posterity,  should  the  step  be  fatal  to  the  interests  of  those  States. 

While  deploring  the  election  of  Messrs.  Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  the  Executive 
yet  has  seen  in  it  no  cause  for  the  immediate  and  separate  secession  of  Texas. 
Believing,  however,  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  Southern  States  should 
co-operate  and  counsel  together  to  devise  means  for  the  maintenance  of  their 
constitutional  rights,  and  to  demand  redress  for  the  grievances  they  have  been 
suffering  at  the  hands  of  many  of  the  Northern  States,  he  has  directed  his 
efforts  to  that  end.  Believing  that  a  convention  of  the  character  contemplated 
by  the  joint  resolution  of  February  16,  1858,  should  be  held,  and  desiring  that 
the  people  of  Texas  should  be  represented  in  the  same,  and  have  full  opportunity 
to  elect  delegates  reflecting  their  will,  he  ordered  an  election  for  that  purpose  to 
be  held  on  the  first  Monday  in  February  next.  Although  since  that  time  four 
of  the  Southern  States  have  declared  themselves  no  longer  members  of  the 
Union  ;  yet  he  confidently  looks  forward  to  the  assemblage  of  such  a  body. 

A  majority  of  the  Southern  States  have  as  yet  taken  no  action,  and  the  efforts 
of  our  brethren  of  the  border  are  now  directed  toward  securing  unity  of  the 
entire  South. 

The  interests  of  Texas  are  closely  identified  with  the  remaining  States  ;  and  if, 
by  joining  her  counsels  with  theirs,  such  assurances  can  be  obtained  of  a  deter- 
mination on  the  part  of  the  Northern  States  to  regard  our  constitutional  rights 
as  will  induce  the  States  which  have  declared  themselves  out  of  the  Union  to 
rescind  their  action,  the  end  attained  will  silence  whatever  reproaches  the  rash 
and  inconsiderate  may  heap  upon  us.  Texas,  although  identified  by  her  institu- 
tions with  the  States  which  have  declared  themselves  out  of  the  Union,  can  not 
forget  her  relation  to  the  border  States.  Pressed  for  years  by  the  whole  weight 
of  abolition  influence,  these  States  have  stood  as  barriers  against  its  approach. 
Those  who  ask  Texas  to  desert  them  now  should  remember  that  in  our  days  of 
gloom,  when  doubt  hung  over  the  fortunes  of  our  little  army,  and  the  cry  for 
help  went  out,  while  some  of  those  who  seek  to  induce  us  to  follow  their  pre- 
cipitate lead,  looked  coldly  on  us,  these  States  sent  men  and  money  to  our  aid. 

Their  best  blood  was-  shed  here  in  our  defense,  and  if  we  are  to  be  influ- 
enced by  considerations  other  than  our  own  safety,  the  fact  that  these  States 
still  seem  determined  to  maintain  their  ground  and  fight  the  battle  of  the 
Constitution  within  the  Union,  should  have  equal  weight  with  us  as  with 
those  States  which  have  no  higher  claim  upon  us,  and  who  without  cause 
on  our  part  have  surrendered  the  ties  which  made  us  one. 


The  People  entitled  to  a  Voice  in  Deciding.         641 

Whatever  may  be  the  course  of  Texas,  the  ambition  of  her  people  should 
be  that  she  should  take  no  step  except  after  calm  deliberation.  A  past  his- 
tory, in  which  courage,  wisdom,  and  patriotism  united  to  found  a  Republic 
and  a  State,  is  in  our  keeping.  Let  the  record  of  no  rash  action  blur  its 
pages.  If  after  passing  through  two  revolutions  another  is  upon  us,  let  the 
same  prudence  mark  our  course  as  when  we  merged  from  an  independent 
nation  into  one  of  the  States  of  the  Union.  Holding  ourselves  above  influ- 
ences which  appeal  to  our  passions  and  our  prejudices,  if  we  must  be  mas- 
ters of  our  own  destiny  let  us  act  like  men,  who  feel  all  of  the  responsibili- 
ties of  the  position  they  assume,  and  are  ready  to  answer  to  the  civilized 
world,  to  God,  and  to  posterity.  The  time  has  come  when,  in  my  opinion, 
it  is  necessary  to  evoke  the  sovereign  will  for  the  solution  of  this  question 
affecting  our  relations  with  the  Federal  Government.  The  people,  as  the 
source  of  all  power,  can  alone  declare  the  course  that  Texas  shall  pursue, 
and  in  the  opinion  of  the  Executive,  they  demand  that  the  Legislature 
should  provide  a  legal  means  by  which  they  shall  express  their  will  as  free- 
men at  the  ballot-box.  They  have  stood  aloof  from  revolutionary  schemes, 
and  now  await  the  action  of  your  honorable  body,  that  they  may  in  a  legiti- 
mate manner  speak  through  the  ballot-box.  As  one  of  the  special  objects 
for  which  you  were  convened,  the  Executive  would  press  this  upon  your 
attention,  and  would  urge  that  such  action  be  as  prompt  as  possible. 

Confiding  in  the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature,  and  in  its  recognition  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  people,  the  Executive  relies  upon  the  adoption  of  such 
legislation  as  will  secure  a  full,  free,  and  fair  expression  of  their  will.  Should 
the  Legislature  in  its  wisdom  deem  it  necessary  to  call  a  convention  of  dele- 
gates fresh  from  the  people,  the  Executive  would  not  oppose  the  same,  but 
he  would  suggest  that  the  people  be  the  tribunal  of  the  last  resort,  and  that 
no  action  be  considered  final  until  it  has  been  submitted  to  them. 

While  the  public  mind  is  agitated  and  wild  excitement  tramples  upon 
reason,  the  Executive  has  a  right  to  look  to  the  legislative  department  of 
the  Government  for  wise  and  sagacious  counsels.  Representing  the  creative 
power  of  law,  the  high  responsibilities  upon  you  demand  that  you  indig- 
nantly frown  upon  any  and  every  attempt  to  subvert  the  laws,  and  substi- 
tute in  their  stead  the  will  of  revolutionary  leaders. 

Assembled  as  you  are  at  the  most  important  epoch  in  our  history  as  a 
people,  may  all  the  solemnities  of  such  an  occasion  impress  you  with  a 
determination  to  act  your  part  in  such  a  way  that  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  the  stability  of  our  institutions  will  not  be  shaken.  If  appealing 
to  the  popular  voice,  you  show  your  confidence  in  their  patriotism  and 
sense  by  placing  this  important  question  in  their  hands,  all  will  be  well. 

Be  their  voice  as  it  may,  we  shall  be  united  ;  and  whether  our  future  be 
prosperous  or  gloomy,  a  common  faith  and  hope  will  actuate  us.  But  if,  on 
the  contrary,  moved  by  rash  and  unwise  counsels,  you  yield  the  powers  of 
government  into  the  hands  of  those  who  do  not  represent  the  people,  and 
would  rise  superior  to  them,  the  confidence  of  the  masses  in  the  reign  of 
law  and  order  will  be  shaken,  and  gloomy  forebodings  will  fill  the  hearts  of 
the  friends  of  regulated  government,  lest  the  reign  of  anarchy  and  confu- 
sion come  upon  us.  We  have  gone  through  one  revolution  in  Texas  a 
united  people.  We  can  be  united  again ;  and  will  be,  if  the  people  are 
intrusted  with  the  control  of  their  destinies. 
41 


642  Houston's  Literary  Hemains. 

The  situation  of  Texas,  her  extensive  border  subject  to  hostile  incursions 
for  seven  hundred  miles,  the  vast  extent  of  her  territory,  and  her  scattered 
population,  all  are  subjects  to  be  considered  in  reference  to  this  question. 
If  our  form  of  government  is  to  be  changed,  we  must  have  a  regard  for  the 
future.  The  millions  now  spent  by  the  United  States  for  our  frontier,  the 
support  of  our  postal  service,  the  defense  of  our  commerce,  must  all  come 
from  the  pockets  of  our  people.  Providence  has  withheld  from  us  in  the 
past  year  the  abundance  which  has  formerly  rewarded  the  care  of  the  hus- 
bandman. 

The  people  in  many  sections  are  already  calling  for  relief.  We  can  not 
afford  under  these  circumstances  to  plunge  madly  into  revolution.  The 
Executive  has  not  yet  lost  the  hope  that  our  rights  can  be  maintained  in 
the  Union,  and  that  it  may  yet  be  perpetuated.  Between  constitutional 
remedies  and  anarchy  and  civil  war  he  can  see  no  middle  ground.  All  the 
glorious  associations  of  our  past  history  prove  that  hitherto  we  have  been 
capable  of  self-government.  The  tyrants  of  Europe  have  ever  disputed 
this  fact. 

Let  us  give  no  strength  to  their  arbitrary  dogmas  by  any  action  of  ours ; 
and  whatever  maybe  our  future  course  let  us  keep  proudly  in  the  ascendant 
the  great  principle  upon  which  rests  the  idea  of  American  liberty. 

During  the  present  month  the  Executive  has  had  the  honor  to  receive 
the  Hon.  J.  M.  Calhoun,  Commissioner  from  the  State  of  Alabama,  upon 
the  attitude  of  our  national  affairs.  The  correspondence  upon  that  subject 
is  herewith  submitted  to  the  Legislature. 

In  conclusion,  gentlemen,  the  Executive  would  again  press  upon  your 
attention  the  great  importance  of  maintaining  the  public  credit  and  faith, 
and  would  warn  you  against  the  consequences  of  involving  the  people  in 
debt  at  this  stage  of  our  affairs.  We  can  better  pay  as  we  go  than  we  can 
meet  accumulated  debt  in  the  future. 

May  a  kind  Providence  guide  you  aright. 

Your  obedient  servant,  SAM  HOUSTON. 


MESSAGE  TO  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  TEXAS. 

EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,  February  6,  1861. 
GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

In  view  of  the  contemplated  speedy  adjournment  of  the  Legislature,  the 
Executive  would  again  call  your  attention  to  the  embarrassed  condition  of 
the  finances,  and  press  upon  your  attention  the  importance  of  adopting  such 
measures  as  will  sustain  the  government  during  the  present  fiscal  year. 

In  the  message  sent  to  your  honorable  body  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  session  the  Executive  pressed  this  subject  upon  your  attention,  and 
in  connection  with  it  the  importance  of  providing  for  the  defense  of  the 
frontier  settlements.  These  were  two  of  the  three  objects  for  which  you 
were  convened.  The  course  of  your  legislation  since  that  period,  and  the 
possibility  of  a  severance  of  the  connection  of  Texas  with  the  Federal  Union, 


Renewed  Appeal  for  State  Integrity.  643 

render  it  imperative  that  money  should  be  raised  to  sustain  the  government, 
so  that  in  such  a  contingency  the  people  of  the  State  maybe  ready  to  meet 
any  emergency  that  may  come  upon  them. 

The  Executive,  in  his  message,  presented  for  your  consideration  the  fol 
lowing  figures,  showing  the  probable  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the 
present  year : 

v  Amount  due  for  Rangers'  pay  and  subsistence $155,000  oo 

Interest  warrants  in  circulation 129,556  99 

Defense  of  frontier 500,000  oo 

Ordinary  expenses  of  Government  (see  Comptroller's 

Report  for  September,  1859) 331,400  oo 

Amount  due  on  outstanding  debt 50,000  oo 

Amount  of  debt  of  Republic  which  will  be  called  for..  10,000  oo 

Total $1,175,956  99 

The  expenses  of  the  present  session  of  the  Legislature  are  also  to  be  pro- 
vided  for. 

Total  receipts  to  August  31,  1861  (see  •  Comptroller's 
Report,  September,  1859) $343,344  27 

Amount  in  Treasury  subject  to  disbursement,  January  19, 

1861  (per  Treasurer's  report) 14.785  62 

Total $358,129  89 

The  above  amount  shows  a  deficiency  on  the  I9th  of  January,  1861,  of 
$817,827.10.  The  amount  due  Rangers  alone  for  services  rendered  up  to 
this  period,  amounts  to  at  least  $300,000,  and  unless  means  are  adopted  to 
pay  their  claims  in  money  the  same  will  depreciate,  and  no  temporizing 
expedient  can  prevent  that  result.  The  government  must  go  on  perform- 
ing its  functions  or  anarchy  will  ensue,  and  to  keep  it  in  motion  money  is 
necessary.  The  frontier  must  be  defended  or  the  settlements  must  give 
way,  and  no  matter  what  expedient  may  now  be  resorted  to,  both  men  and 
money  must  be  had,  and  the  Executive  implores  the  Legislature  not  to  wait 
until  the  call  for  men  and  money  comes  laden  with  the  dying  shrieks  of 
women  and  children. 

The  Legislature  may  vouchsafe  to  the  people  of  the  frontier  the  privilege 
of  protecting  themselves  at  their  own  cost,  depending  upon  promises  to  pay 
in  the  future ;  but  such  a  policy  will  be  found  totally  inadequate  to  the 
present  emergency.  Cash  will  be  needed  to  purchase  ammunition  and  sup- 
plies. By  the  Treasurer's  report,  received  on  Saturday,  the  2d  instant,  it 
appears  that  there  was  then  in  the  Treasury,  subject  to  disbursement  on 
account  of  State  revenue,  $5,279.69. 

The  Legislature  has  already  appropriated  $9,768.62  of  the  fund  arising 
from  University  land  sales,  and  $17,313.30  of  the  fund  accumulating  from 
estates  of  deceased  persons,  for  the  per  diem  and  mileage  of  its  members, 
and  it  has  only  been  by  the  use  of  these  funds  that  the  Treasury  has  been 
spared  thus  far  from  entire  bankruptcy.  The  amount  on  hand  will  be 
exhausted  before  the  termination  of  the  present  week,  when  there  must  be 
a  suspension  of  specie  payments  altogether. 


644  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

The  revenue  estimated  to  come  in  on  July  i  ($343,344.27)  will  be  much 
reduced,  from  the  fact  that  the  Comptroller  has  been,  and  is  now  drawing  ad- 
vance drafts  on  the  various  assessors  and  collectors  to  meet  appropriations. 
It  is  also  well  known  that  the  assessments  for  the  present  year  have  been 
suspended  by  order  of  the  Comptroller.  Property  in  the  meantime  has  been 
steadily  decreasing  in  value,  and  parties  will  not  be  willing,  to  have  the  same 
assessed  at  any  more  than  it  will  bring  in  the  market  at  the  time  of  assess- 
ment. This  depreciation  in  value  will  be  so  great,  that  at  the  present  rate 
of  taxation  not  more  than  half  the  amount  estimated  will  be  collected.  The 
ordinary  expenses  of  government,  about  $30,000  per  month,  are  to  be  met 
until  the  taxes  come  in. 

The  officers,  many  of  whom  are  dependent  upon  their  salaries  for  the  sup- 
port of  themselves  and  families,  should  be  punctually  paid  ;  but  even  if  they 
wait  until  the  taxes  come  in,  the  Treasury  will  then  be  without  a  dollar  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  next  twelve  months.  The  necessity  for  the  adop- 
tion of  measures  whereby  the  Treasury  may  be  replenished,  must  therefore 
be  apparent. 

Without  considering  the  possible  contingency  arising  from  a  change  in 
our  Federal  relations,  means 'must  be  provided  to  meet  the  deficiency  of 
$817,827.10  mentioned  above.  But  should  Texas  withdraw  from  the  Union, 
a  new  condition  of  things  will  arise  which  will  require  large  expenditures. 

In  view  of  the  possibility  of  such  a  contingency  happening  at  as  early  a  period 
as  the  2d  of  March,  the  Legislature  can  not  fail  to  see  the  necessity  of  making 
such  provision  as  will  secure  the  safety  of  the  State  and  maintain  its  honor. 
Steps  should  be  taken  to  provide  an  adequate  force  to  take  the  place  of  the 
3,000  Federal  troops  now  in  Texas.  The  safety  of  our  frontier  depends 
upon  the  action  of  your  honorable  body  in  this  respect.  A  few  days  of  delay 
may  involve  the  most  terrible  consequences.  Not  only  the  Rio  Grande 
frontier,  but  also  our  whole  line  of  settlements,  demand  the  continual 
presence  of  a  force  sufficient  to  intimidate  our  enemies  from  invading  us  in 
large  bodies,  and  it  will  be  the  part  of  wisdom  to  guard  now  against  the 
consequences  of  the  removal  of  such  a  force.  The  expenses  will  be  millions, 
but  the  lives  of  our  people  are  worth  more.  Nor  is  this  all.  If  we  do  not 
defend  the  outposts  of  civilization,  the  frontier  must  recede  until  we  have 
it  at  our  very  doors. 

We  must  also  provide  for  the  continuation  of  our  postal  service,  so  that 
our  people  may  not  be  deprived  of  communication  with  the  world  without. 
If  we  are  to  become  independent  of  the  Federal  Government,  let  us  at  once 
act  a  manly  and  self-reliant  part.  Let  not  Texas  be  subject  to  the  humilia- 
tion of  dependence  on  a  Government  which  she  has  thrown  off.  If  we  are 
to  separate,  let  us  have  the  means  provided  for  taking  care  of  ourselves ; 
and  from  the  date  of  our  separation  protect  our  people  with  our  own  army, 
carry  our  own  mails,  and  sustain  ourselves  as  an  independent  people  should. 
The  Executive  has  that  confidence  in  the  people  of  Texas,  to  believe  that 
if  their  minds  are  resolved  on  separation,  they  will  furnish,  if  in  their  power, 
the  millions  necessary  to  maintain  that  new  position. 

The  Executive  relies  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  Legislature  to  devise  the 
ways  and  means  to  sustain  the  government,  and  he  can  not  but  press  upon 
the  consideration  of  the  Legislature  (a  large  majority  of  whom  regard  dis- 


Last  Appeal  for  Honor  and  Interest  of  Texas.      645 

union  as  a  fixed  fact)  the  importance  of  providing  against  that  contingency. 
He  has  now  performed  his  whole  duty.  If  the  Legislature  provides  the 
means  to  maintain  the  public  faith,  to  defend  the  frontier,  and  sustain  the 
government  in  all  its  departments,  the  Executive,  faithful  to  the  trust 
reposed  in  him  by  the  people,  will  see  to  it,  so  far  as  his  powers  will  permit, 
that  the  honor  and  interest  of  Texas  do  not  suffer  at  his  hands.  If  these 
be  unprovided  for  and  the  government  is  left  in  its  present  condition,  he 
will  feel  that  this  last  appeal  to  the  wisdom,  justice,  and  patriotism  of  your 
honorable  body  will  justify  him  to  the  world,  should  his  endeavors  to  care  for 
the  interest  of  the  people  be  fruitless. 

SAM  HOUSTON. 


APPENDIX. 


IN  1878  there  was  published,  at  Austin,  Texas,  a  pamphlet  having 
a  special  interest  as  relates  to  the  history  of  the  State  of  Texas. 
It  is  entitled,  "  The  Battle  of  San  Jacinto,  as  viewed  from  both  an 
American  and  Mexican  Standpoint ;  its  Details  and  Incidents  as 
Officially  Reported  by  Major-General  Sam  Houston,  of  the  Texan 
Army  ;  also,  an  Account  of  the  Action  written  by  Colonel  Pedro 
Delgado,  of  General  Santa  Anna's  Staff."  The  official  report  of 
General  Houston  has  its  place  in  the  preceding  pages  of  this 
volume. 

The  "  roster  "  of  the  Texan  army  engaged  in  that  battle,  which  in 
the  pamphlet  follows  General  Houston's  report,  is  one  of  those  per- 
manent documents  which  will  have  a  lasting  interest,  not  only  for 
the  descendants  of  the  men  then  engaged,  but  for  their  fellow- 
citizens  and  for  the  world  at  large.  As  the  names  of  the  Spartans 
who  fell  at  Thermopylae  were  treasured  as  worthy  of  equal  honor 
with  their  chieftain,  so  with  the  memory  of  Sam  Houston  should 
be  sacredly  guarded  that  of  his  brave  associates,  to  whom  the  vic- 
tory which  saved  a  people  and  won  a  State  was  due.  If  the  Plym- 
outh obelisk  holds  engraved  on  granite  the  names  of  all  that 
came  to  the  northern  extreme  of  the  American  Republic,  the  truest 
men  of  the  North,  the  day  ought  not  to  be  distant  when  a  similar 
shaft  shall  enroll  the  names  of  these  truest  men  of  the  South. 

The  Mexican  report  is  worthy  of  perpetuation  ;  that,  so  long  as 
the  annals  of  American  history  are  read,  the  contrast  between  the 
style  of  thought  and  of  expression  with  which  the  Anglo-Saxon 
settlers  of  Texas  had  to  contend  should  be  preserved  as  a  memo- 
rial. Invited,  as  they  were,  by  Santa  Anna  to  settlement  in  Mexi- 
can territory,  that  they  might  strengthen  the  Republic  established 
at  the  separation  of  the  Mexican  colonies  from  Spain,  the  very  style 
of  this  report  reveals  the  character  of  the  man  and  his  associates, 
who  sought  to  force  them  to  become  the  tools  of  the  Dictator's 
personal  ambition. 

The  special  interest  of  this  pamphlet  is  enhanced  by  the  fact 

(647) 


648  Houston^  Literacy  Remains. 

that  it  was  printed  at  the  "  Institution  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  " 
established  in  Texas — an  index  of  the  advance  of  State  institutions 
at  the  extreme  south-west  of  the  American  Union. 

MEXICAN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE   BATTLE   OF  SAN  JACINTO. 
BY  COL.  PEDRO  DELGADO,  OF  GEN.  SANTA  ANNA'S  STAFF. 

On  the  I4th  of  April,  1836,  His  Excellency  the  President  ordered  his  Staff 
to  prepare  to  march,  with  only  one  skiff,  and  leaving  his  own  and  the  offi- 
cers' baggage  with  General  Ramirez  y  Sesma,  who  was  instructed  to  remain 
at  the  crossing  of  the  Brazos,  whither  we  expected  to  return  within  three 
days. 

On  the  1 3th  the  flank  companies  of  the  Battalions  of  Matamoros,  Aldama, 
Guerrero,  Toluca,  Mexico,  and,  I  believe,  Gaudalajara,  had  commenced 
crossing  the  river  with  a  six-pounder  commanded  by  Lieutenant  Ignacio 
Arrenal,  and  fifty  mounted  men  of  Tampico  and  Guanajuato,  who  formed 
His  Excellency's  escort.  The  whole  force  amounted  to  600  men,  more  or 
less. 

At  about  4  o'clock  P.M.  His  Excellency  started  for  Harrisburg,  with  the 
force  above  mentioned. 

The  bottom  of  the  Brazos  is  a  dense  and  lofty  timber  over  three  leagues 
wide.  On  reaching  the  prairie  we  found  a  small  creek,  which  offered  only 
one  crossing.  The  infantry  passed  it  comfortably  over  a  large  tree  which 
had  fallen  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  convenient  bridge.  The  ammu- 
nition was  passed  over  by  hand.  But  His  Excellency,  to  avoid  delay,  or- 
dered the  baggage  and  the  commissary  stores  to  remain  packed  on  the 
mules.  However,  the  water  was  soon  over  the  pack-saddles,  and  the  oppo- 
site bank  was  steep  and  slippery.  Several  mules  fell  down,  interfering  with 
each  other,  which  resulted  in  a  terrible  jamming  of  officers  and  dragoons, 
pack-mules  and  horses.  This,  together  with  shouts  and  curses,  completed 
a  scene  of  wild  confusion,  which  His  Excellency  witnessed  with  hearty 
laughter.  Several  officers  and  dragoons  fell  in  the  water ;  the  stores  were 
damaged,  and  two  mules  were  drowned.  So  much  for  the  precipitation  of 
this  march. 

The  sun  had  already  set  when  we  resumed  the  march  over  a  muddy  prai- 
rie. The  night  was  dark  ;  a  great  many  men  straggled  off,  and  our  piece 
of  artillery  bogged  at  every  turn  of  the  wheel.  Such  was  our  condition, 
when,  at  about  9  o'clock,  His  Excellency  ordered  a  halt  in  a  small  grove, 
where  we  passed  the  night  without  water. 

On  the  1 5th,  at  8  o'clock  A.M.,  most  of  the  stragglers  having  joined,  we 
started  again. 

At  about  noon  we  reached  a  plantation  abundantly  supplied  with  corn, 
meal,  sheep,  and  hogs ;  it  had  a  good  garden  and  a  fine  cotton-gin.  We 
halted  to  refresh  men  and  beasts. 

At  3  o'clock  P.M.,  after  having  set  fire  to  the  dwelling  and  gin-houses, 
we  resumed  our  march.  Here  His  Excellency  started  ahead  with  his  Staff 
and  escort,  leaving  General  Castrillon  in  command  of  the  infantry.  We 
traveled,  at  a  brisk  trot,  at  least  ten  leagues  without  halting,  until  we  reached 
the  vicinity  of  Harrisburg  at  about  n  o'clock  at  night.  His  Excellency, 


Mexican  Account  of  Santa  Anna's  Advance.       649 

with  an  Adjutant  and  fifteen  dragoons,  went  on  foot  to  that  town,  distant 
about  one  mile,  entered  it,  and  succeeded  in  capturing  two  Americans,  who 
stated  that  Zavala  and  other  members  of  the  so-called  Government  of  Texas 
had  left  the  morning  before  for  Galveston.  A  part  of  the  infantry  joined  us 
on  the  following  morning  at  daylight. 

On  the  1 6th  we  remained  at  Harrisburg,  to  await  our  broken-down  strag- 
glers, who  kept,  dropping  in  until  2  or  3  o'clock  P.M. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  bayou  we  found  two  or  three  houses  well  sup- 
plied with  wearing  apparel,  mainly  for  women's  use,  fine  furniture,  an  excel- 
lent piano,  jars  of  preserves,  chocolate,  fruit,  etc.,  all  of  which  were  appro- 
priated for  the  benefit  of  His  Excellency  and  his  attendants.  I  and  others 
obtained  only  what  tKey  could  not  use.  After  the  houses  had  been  sacked 
and  burnt  down,  a  party  of  Americans  fired  upon  our  men  from  the  woods ; 
it  is  wonderful  that  some  of  us,  camped  as  we  were  along  the  bank  of  the 
bayou,  were  not  killed.  The  Quartermaster-Sergeant  of  Matamoros  was 
seriously  wounded.  This  incident  took  place  at  5  o'clock  P.M.  On  the 
same  day  Colonel  Almonte  started  from  Harrisburg  for  New  Washington 
with  the  cavalry. 

On  the  1 7th,  at  about  3  o'clock  P.M.,  His  Excellency,  after  having  in- 
structed me  to  burn  the  town,  started  for  New  Washington  with  the  troops. 
It  was  nearly  dark  when  we  had  finished  crossing  the  bayou.  Then  a  courier 
from  General  Almonte  arrived,  upon  which  His  Excellency  ordered  Colonel 
Iberri  to  start  with  his  Adjutant,  bearing  dispatches  to  General  Filisola  on 
the  Brazos.  At  7  o'clock  P.M.  we  resumed  our  march.  Our  piece  of  artil- 
lery bogged  at  every  moment  in  some  hole  or  ravine.  As  it  was  found 
impossible  for  the  draught  mules  to  cross  a  narrow  bridge,  rendered  still 
more  dangerous  by  darkness  and  rain,  His  Excellency  instructed  General 
Castrillon  to  head  the  bayou  with  the  cannon,  three  leagues  above,  with  an 
escort  of  only  one  company  of  infantry. 

Shortly  after  10  o'clock  at  night  a  violent  storm  set  in  ;  darkness  caused 
us  to  wander  from  our  course,  in  consequence  of  which  His  Excellency 
ordered  a  halt,  requiring  every  man  to  stand  in  the  ranks,  without  shelter 
from  the  rain. 

On  the  morning  of  the  i8th  we  moved  on,  our  cannon  being  still  far  away. 

At  noon  we  reached  New  Washington,  where  we  found  flour,  soap,  to- 
bacco, and  other  articles,  which  were  issued  to  the  men.  His  Excellency 
instructed  me  to  mount  one  of  his  horses,  and,  with  a  small  party  of  dra- 
goons, to  gather  beeves  for  the  use  of  the  troops.  In  a  short  time  I  drove 
in  more  than  one  hundred  head  of  cattle,  so  abundant  are  they  in  that 
country. 

General  Castrillon  came  in,  at  5  o'clock  P.M.,  with  the  cannon. 

On  the  i pth  His  Excellency  ordered  Captain  Barragan  to  start  with  a  de- 
tachment of  dragoons  to  reconnoitre  Houston's  movements.  We  halted  at 
that  place,  all  being  quiet. 

On  the  2oth,  at  about  8  o'clock  A.M.,  everything  was  ready  for  the  march. 
We  had  burnt  a  fine  warehouse  on  the  wharf,  and  all  the  houses  in  the  town, 
when  Captain  Barragan  rushed  in  at  full  speed,  reporting  that  Houston  was 
close  on  our  rear,  and  that  his  troops  had  captured  some  of  our  stragglers, 
and  had  disarmed  and  dispatched  them. 


650  Houston^  Literary  Remains. 

There  is  in  front  of  New  Washington  a  dense  wood,  through  which  runs 
a  narrow  lane,  about  half  a  league  in  length,  allowing  passage  to  pack-mules, 
in  single  file  only,  and  to  mounted  men  in  double  file.  This  lane  was  filled 
with  our  pickets,  the  drove  of  mules,  and  the  remainder  of  the  detachment. 
His  Excellency  and  Staff  were  still  in  the  town.  Upon  hearing  Barragan's 
report,  he  leaped  on  his  horse,  and  galloped  off  at  full  speed  for  the  lane, 
which,  being  crowded  with  men  and  mules,  did  not  afford  him  as  prompt 
an  exit  as  he  wished.  However,  knocking  down  one,  and  riding  over  an- 
other, he  overcame  the  obstacles,  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  "  The 
enemy  are  coming  !  the  enemy  are  coming  ! "  The  excitement  of  the  Gen- 
eral-in-chief  had  such  a  terrifying  effect  upon  the  troops  that  every  face 
turned  pale  ;  order  could  no  longer  be  preserved,  and*  every  man  thought  of 
flight,  or  of  finding  a  hiding-place,  and  gave  up  all  idea  of  fighting.  Upon 
reaching  the  prairie  a  column  of  attack  was  formed  with  trepidation  and 
confusion,  amidst  incoherent  movements  and  contradictory  orders. 

At  this  moment  His  Excellency  did  me  the  honor  to  place  me  in  com- 
mand of  the  artillery  and  ordnance,  giving  me  his  orders  verbally,  with 
strict  injunctions  as  to  my  responsibility.  Meanwhile,  the  officers  having 
dismounted  and  taken  their  stations  in  front  of  their  commands,  we  moved 
in  search  of  the  enemy,  with  flankers  on  both  sides  to  explore  the  woods. 
As  the  knapsacks  might  impede  the  movements  of  the  men,  His  Excellency 
ordered  that  they  should  be  dropped  on  the  road,  still  preserving  our  forma- 
tion. The  order  was  obeyed,  the  knapsacks  being  left  in  the  keeping  of 
Providence  or  fortune,  and  we  resumed  our  march. 

It  was  2  o'clock  P.M.  when  we  descried  Houston's  pickets  at  the  edge  of 
a  large  wood,  in  which  he  concealed  his  main  force.  Our  skirmishers  com 
menced  firing ;  they  were  answered  by  the  enemy,  who  fell  back  in  the 
woods.  His  Excellency  reached  the  ground  with  our  main  body,  with  the 
intention,  as  I  understood,  of  attacking  at  once  ;  but  they  kept  hidden, 
which  prevented  him  from  ascertaining  their  position.  He,  therefore, 
changed  his  dispositions,  and  ordered  the  company  of  Toluca  to  deploy  as 
skirmishers  in  the  direction  of  the  woods.  Our  cannon,  established  on  a 
small  elevation,  opened  its  fire.  The  enemy  responded  with  a  discharge  of 
grape,  which  wounded  severely  Captain  Urrizia,  and  killed  his  horse. 

At  this  moment  His  Excellency  came  to  me  and  ordered  me  to  unload 
the  ordnance  stores,  and  to  turn  over  the  twenty  mules  on  which  they  were 
packed  to  Captain  Barragan,  who  was  instructed  to  bring  in  the  knapsacks 
which  had  been  left  on  the  road.  I  was  cautious  enough  to  part  with  only 
eighteen  mules,  keeping  two  for  an  emergency. 

Then  His  Excellency  went  to  look  for  a  camping-ground,  and  established 
his  whole  force  along  the  shore  of  San  Jacinto  Bay,  at  least  one  mile  from 
the  place  where  I  had  been  left.  About  one  hour  later  I  received  orders, 
through  Colonel  Bringas,  to  come  into  camp  immediately  with  the  ordnance 
stores  and  the  piece  of  artillery.  That  officer  was,  also,  the  bearer  of  orders 
to  the  company  of  Toluca,  the  only  force  that  checked  the  enemy,  to 
fall  back  likewise.  I  observed  to  Colonel  Bringas  that  it  would  take  some 
time  to  execute  this  order — the  chests,  as  His  Excellency  knew,  being  piled 
up  on  the  ground,  and  I  having  only  two  mules  upon  which  to  load  them  ; 
and,  futhermore,  that  should  the  company  of  Toluca  leave  me  unsupported, 


Mexican  Disposition  for  Battle.  651 

the  enemy  would  probably  pounce  upon  the  stores,  all  of  which  would  go  to 
the  devil.  Colonel  Bringas  advised  me  to  do  as  best  I  could,  adding  that  I 
ought  to  know  that  no  observations  could  be  made  to  His  Excellency,  and 
he  had  no  desire  to  argue  with  him  in  the  raving  state  of  mind  in  which 
he  was. 

The  Colonel  parted  with  me,  followed  by  the  company  of  Toluca.  It  may 
well  be  imagined  that,  as  soon  as  the  enemy  saw  our  artillery  and  stores 
unprotected,  he  paid  them  special  attention.  He  established  his  cannons  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  disable  our  guri  and  to  support  an  attack,  should  it  take 
place.  Their  first  shot  shattered  the  caisson  on  the  limber  ;  another  scat- 
tered about  our  ordnance  boxes  ;  another,  again,  killed  two  fine  mules  ;  and 
they  kept  annoying  us*  during  the  two  long  hours  it  took  me  to  remove, 
with  only  two  mules,  forty  and  odd  boxes  of  ammunition.  How  the  Gen- 
eral-in-chief  had  endangered  the  whole  division  !  I  acknowledge  that  I 
had  never  before  been  in  such  danger.  What  would  have  become  of  me  if, 
in  consequence  of  the  General's  order,  the  enemy  had  captured  our  artillery 
and  stores,  as  he  might  have  done,  unsupported  as  it  was  ?  I  had  no  re- 
source left  but  to  make  the  best  defense  I  could  with  my  gun.  For  this  pur- 
pose I  instructed  Lieutenant  Arenal  to  have  it  loaded  with  grape,  and  not 
to  fire  until  the  enemy  came  within  close  range,  in  order  both  to  spare  am- 
munition and  to  intimidate  the  assailants. 

At  length,  at  5  o'clock  P.M.,  my  duty  was  performed,  and,  as  I  entered  the 
camp  with  the  last  load,  I  was  closely  followed  by  the  enemy's  cavalry.  His 
Excellency  noticing  it,  instructed  me  to  order  Captain  Aguirre,  who  com- 
manded our  cavalry,  to  face  the  enemy,  without  gaining  ground.  This 
movement  checked  the  enemy  for  a  few  moments ;  but,  soon  after,  they 
dashed  upon  our  dragoons,  and  were  close  enough  to  engage  them  with  the 
sword,  without,  however,  any  material  result.  Then  His  Excellency,  de- 
ploying several  companies  as  skirmishers,  forced  the  enemy  back  to  his 
camp,  on  which  he  retired  sluggishly  and  in  disorder. 

This  last  engagement  took  place  after  sundown. 

At  daybreak  on  the  2ist,  His  Excellency  ordered  a  breastwork  to  be 
erected  for  the  cannon.  It  was  constructed  with  pack-saddles,  sacks  of  hard 
bread,  baggage,  etc.  A  trifling  barricade  of  branches  ran  along  its  front 
and  right. 

The  camping-ground  of  His  Excellency's  selection  was,  in  all  respects, 
against  military  rules.  Any  youngster  would  have  done  better. 

We  had  the  enemy  on  our  right,  within  a  wood,  at  long  musket  range. 
Our  front,  although  level,  was  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  who  could 
keep  it  up  with  impunity  from  his  sheltered  position.  Retreat  was  easy  for 
him  on  his  rear  and  right,  while  our  own  troops  had  no  space  for  manceu- 
vering.  We  had  in  our  rear  a  small  grove,  reaching  to  the  bay  shore,  which 
extended  on  our  right  as  far  as  New  Washington.  What  ground  had  we  to 
retreat  upon  in  case  of  a  reverse  ?  From  sad  experience,  I  answer — None  ! 

A  few  hours  before  the  engagement  I  submitted  to  General  Castrillon  a 
few  remarks  on  the  subject,  suggested  by  my  limited  knowledge.  But  he 
answered  :  "  What  can  I  do,  my  friend  ?  I  know  it  well,  but  I  can  not  help 
it.  You  know  that  nothing  avails  here  against  the  caprice,  arbitrary  will, 
and  ignorance  of  that  man."  This  was  said  in  an  impassioned  voice,  and  in 
close  proximity  to  His  Excellency's  tent. 


652  Houston!  s  Literary  Remains. 

At  9  o'clock  A.M.  General  Cos  came  in  with  a  reinforcement  of  about  500 
men.  His  arrival  was  greeted  with  the  roll  of  drums  and  with  joyful  shouts. 
As  it  was  represented  to  His  Excellency  that  these  men  had  hot  slept  the 
night  before,  he  instructed  them  to  stack  their  arms,  to  remove  their  accou- 
trements, and  to  go  to  sleep  quietly  in  the  adjoining  grove. 

No  important  incident  took  place  until  4:30  P.M.  At  this  fatal  moment 
the  bugler  on  our  right  signaled  the  advance  of  the  enemy  upon  that  wing. 
His  Excellency  and  Staff  were  asleep  ;  the  greater  number  of  the  men  were 
also  sleeping ;  of  the  rest,  some  were  eating,  others  were  scattered  in  the 
woods  in  search  of  boughs  to  prepare  shelter.  Our  line  was  composed  of 
musket  stacks.  Our  cavalry  were  riding  bare-back  to  and  from  water. 

I  stepped  upon  some  ammunition  boxes,  the  better  to  observe  the  move- 
ments of  the  enemy.  I  saw  that  their  formation  was  a  mere  line  in  one  rank, 
and  very  extended.  In  their  center  was  the  Texas  flag  ;  on  both  wings  they 
had  two  light  cannons,  well  manned.  Their  cavalry  was  opposite  our  front, 
overlapping  our  left. 

Tn  this  disposition,  yelling  furiously,  with  a  brisk  fire  of  grape,  muskets, 
aiid  rifles,  they  advanced  resolutely  upon  our  camp.  There  the  utmost  con- 
fusion prevailed.  General  Castrillon  shouted  on  one  side ;  on  another 
Colonel  Almonte  was  giving  orders;  some  cried  out  to  commence  firing; 
others  to  lie  down  to  avoid  grape-shots.  Among  the  latter  was  His  Excel- 
lency. 

Then,  already,  I  saw  our  men  flying  in  small  groups,  terrified,  and  shel- 
tering themselves  behind  large  trees.  I  endeavored  to  force  some  of  them 
to  fight,  but  all  efforts  were  in  vain— the  evil  was  beyond  remedy  ;  they  were 
a  bewildered  and  panic-stricken  herd. 

The  enemy  kept  up  a  brisk  cross-fire  of  grape  on  the  woods.  Presently 
we  heard,  in  close  proximity,  the  unpleasant  noise  of  their  clamors.  Meet- 
ing no  resistance,  they  dashed,  lightning-like,  upon  our  deserted  camp. 

Then  I  saw  His  Excellency  running  about  in  the  utmost  excitement, 
wringing  his  hands  and  unable  to  give  an  order.  General  Castrillon  was 
stretched  on  the  ground  wounded  in  the  leg.  Colonel  Trevino  was  killed, 
and  Colonel  Marcial  Aguirre  was  severely  injured.  I  saw,  also,  the  enemy 
reaching  the  ordnance  train,  and  killing  a  corporal  and  two  gunners  who 
had  been  detailed  to  repair  cartridges  which  had  been  damaged  on  the  pre- 
vious evening. 

Everything  being  lost,  I  went — leading  my  horse,  which  I  could  not 
mount,  because  the  firing  had  rendered  him  restless  and  fractious — to  join 
our  men,  still  hoping  that  we  might  be  able  to  defend  ourselves,  or  to  retire 
under  the  shelter  of  night.  This,  however,  could  not  be  done.  It  is  a  known 
fact  that  Mexican  soldiers,  once  demoralized,  can  not  be  controlled,  unless 
they -are  thoroughly  inured  to  war. 

On  the  left,  and  about  a  musket-shot  distance  from  our  camp,  was  a  small 
grove  on  the  bay  shore.  Our  disbanded  herd  rushed  for  it,  to  obtain  shelter 
from  the  horrid  slaughter  carried  on  all  over  the  prairie  by  the  bloodthirsty 
usurpers.  Unfortunately,  we  met,  on  our  way,  an  obstacle  difficult  to  over- 
come. It  was  a  bayou,  not  very  wide,  but  rather  deep.  The  men,  on  reach- 
ing it,  would  helplessly  crowd  together,  and  were  shot  down  by  the  enemy, 
who  was  close  enough  not  to  miss  his  aim.  It  was  there  that  the  greatest 
carnage  took  place. 


Mexican  Humiliation  at  Defeat.  653 

Upon  reaching  that  spot,  I  saw  Colonel  Almonte  swimming  across  the 
bayou  with  his  left  hand,  and  holding  up  his  right,  which  grasped  his  sword. 

I  stated  before  that  I  was  leading  my  horse,  but,  in  this  critical  situation, 
I  vaulted  on  him,  and,  with  two  leaps,  he  landed  me  on  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  bayou.  To  my  sorrow,  I  had  to  leave  that  noble  animal,  mired,  at 
that  place,  and  to  part  with  him,  probably  forever.  As  I  dismounted  I  sank 
in  the  mire  waist  deep,  and  I  had  the  greatest  trouble  to  get  out  of  it  by 
taking  hold  of  the  grass.  Both  my  shoes  remained  in  the  bayou.  I  made 
an  effort  to  recover  them,  but  I  soon  came  to  the  conclusion  that,  did  I 
tarry  there,  a  rifle  shot  would  certainly  make  an  outlet  for  my  soul,  as  had 
happened  to  many  a  poor  fellow  around  me.  Thus  I  made  for  the  grove 
barefooted. 

There  I  met  a  number  of  other  officers,  with  whom  I  wandered  at  ran- 
dom, buried  in  gloomy  thoughts  upon  our  tragic  disaster.  We  still  enter- 
tained a  hope  of  rallying  some  of  our  men,  but  it  was  impossible. 

The  enemy's  cavalry  surrounded  the  grove,  while  his  infantry  penetrated 
it,  pursuing  us  with  fierce  and  bloodthirsty  feelings. 

There  they  killed  Colonel  Batres  ;  and  it  would  have  been  all  over  with 
us  had  not  Providence  placed  us  in  the  hands  of  the  noble  and  generous 
captain  of  cavalry,  Allen,  who,  by  great  exertion,  saved  us  repeatedly  from 
being  slaughtered  by  the  drunken  and  infuriated  volunteers. 

Thence  they  marched  us  to  their  camp.  I  was  barefooted ;  the  prairie  had 
recently  been  burnt  up,  and  the  blades  of  grass,  hardened  by  fire,  penetrated 
like  needles  the  soles  of  my  feet,  so  that  I  could  scarcely  walk.  This  did 
not  prevent  them  from  striking  me  with  the  butt  end  of  their  guns,  because 
I  did  not  walk  as  fast  as  they  wanted. 

These  savages  struck,  with  their  bayonets,  our  wounded  soldiers  lying  on 
the  way ;  others,  following  them,  consummated  the  sacrifice  with  a  musket 
or  a  pistol  shot. 

I  can  not  forbear  mentioning  an  incident  which  affected  me  deeply,  and, 
I  believe,  had  the  same  effect  on  my  companions.  We  were  about  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  officers  and  men  picked  up  by  Allen's  party,  who  marched  us 
to  their  camp  under  close  guard.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Americans, 
amidst  the  hurrahs  and  exultation  of  their  triumph,  were  lavish  of  insults  ; 
however,  not  understanding  their  language,  we  did  not  feel  them.  But  one 
of  our  own  countrymen,  who  had  joined  the  enemy's  cause,  assailed  us,  in 
our  own  language,  with  such  a  volley  of  threats,  insults,  and  abuse,  that  the 
tongue  of  that  vile  and  recreant  Mexican  seemed  to  have  been  wrought  in 
the  very  caves  of  hell,  and  set  in  motion  by  Lucifer  himself.  "  Now,  you 
shall  see,"  he  said,  "  contemptible  and  faithless  assassins,  if  you  do  not  pay 
with  your  vile  blood  for  your  murders  at  the  Alamo  and  La  Bahia.  The 
time  has  come  when  the  just  cause  we  defend  triumphs  over  you  ;  you  shall 
pay  with  your  heads  for  the  arson,  robberies,  and  depredations  you  have 
committed  in  our  country,"  etc.,  etc. 

What  a  welcome  for  honorable  men,  who  knew,  in  the  depth  of  their 
hearts,  that  they  had  acted  in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of  duty,  when, 
unfortunate,  prostrate,  and  humbled  in  the  extreme,  the  fate  of  war  had 
placed  their  lives  at  the  mercy  of  these  brigands,  and  when  they  were  await- 
ing, with  resignation,  the  consummation  of  the  sacrifice  !  Can  such  wicked 
men  exist  ? 


654  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

At  last  we  reached  the  camp.  We  were  seated  on  the  ground,  by  twos, 
as  we  had  marched.  On  the  bay  shore  our  thirst  had  been  quenched  with 
an  abundance  of  water,  which  Allen  and  others  allowed  to  pass  from  hand 
to  hand  until  all  of  us  were  satisfied.  A  crowd  gathered  around  us,  asking, 
with  persistent  impertinence,  "General  Santa  Anna  ?  General  Cos  ?  "  We 
knew  not  the  fate  of  these  gentlemen ;  but,  to  rid  ourselves  of  their  repeated 
questions,  we  answered :  "  Dead  !  dead  ! "  I  still  wore  my  embroidered 
shoulder-straps  on  my  jacket ;  they  attracted  their  attention,  and  one  after 
another  would  say  :  "  You  General  ?  "  "  Me  no  General ! "  would  I  answer, 
until  one  of  the  indefatigable  questioners  tore  off  my  shoulder-straps 
angrily.  I  was  glad  of  it,  as  they  ceased  importuning  me  with  their  ques- 
tions. 

After  having  kept  us  sitting  about  an  hour  and  a  half,  they  marched  us  into 
the  woods,  where  we  saw  an  immense  fire,  made  up  of  a  huge  pile  of  wood, 
even  whole  trees  being  used.  I  and  several  of  my  companions  were  silly 
enough  to  believe  that  we  were  about  to  be  burnt  alive,  in  retaliation  for 
those  who  had  been  burnt  in  the  Alamo.  We  should  have  considered  it  an 
act  of  mercy  to  be  shot  first.  Oh  !  the  bitter  and  cruel  moment !  However, 
we  felt  considerably  relieved  when  they  placed  us  around  the  fire  to  warm 
ourselves  and  to  dry  our  wet  clothes.  We  were  surrounded  by  twenty-five 
or  thirty  sentinels.  You  should  have  seen  those  men,  or  rather  phantoms, 
converted  into  moving  armories  ;  some  wore  two,  three,  and  even  four  brace 
of  pistols ;  a  cloth  bag,  of  very  respectable  size,  filled  with  bullets  ;  a  powder- 
horn  ;  a  sabre,  or  a  bowie-knife,  besides  a  rifle,  musket,  or  carbine.  Every 
one  of  them  had  in  his  hand  a  burning  candle.  I  wonder  where  they  obtained 
so  many  of  them,  for  the  heat  of  their  hands  and  the  breeze  melted  them 
very  fast,  and  yet  that  illumination  was  kept  up  the  whole  night.  Was  this 
display  of  light  intended  to  prevent  us  from  attempting  an  escape  ?  The 
fools  !  where  could  we  go  in  that  vast  country,  unknown  to  us,  intersected 
by  large  rivers  and  forests,  where  wild  beasts  and  hunger,  and  where  they 
themselves,  would  destroy  us  ? 

Early  on  the  22d  our  camp  was  visited  by  the  so-called  Secretary  of  War, 
Mr.  Rusk,  who  asked  us  endless  questions  upon  the  grand  topic  of  the  day 
— our  defeat  and  their  unexpected  success.  Colonel  Juan  N.  Almonte,  the 
only  one  of  us  who  spoke  English,  answered  his  questions.  That  gentle- 
man renewed  his  visits.  Once  he  asked  for  a  list  of  the  names,  surnames, 
and  rank  of  the  captured  officers,  which  list  was  promptly  made  up  by  Al- 
monte, with  a  pen  or  pencil,  I  do  not  remember  which,  and  handed  over 
immediately. 

There  were  not  wanting  among  us  officers  sufficiently  forgetful  of  duty 
and  of  the  dignity  and  decorum  of  their  rank  to  mingle  with  the  enlisted 
men,  because  it  was  rumored  that  from  sergeant  down  would  be  spared,  and 
from  lieutenant  upward  would  be  shot.  What  a  shame  that  such  contempti- 
ble beings,  destitute  of  honor,  should  still  associate  with  those  who  have 
always  proudly  borne,  and  gloried  in,  their  noble  badges  of  office. 

Some  Americans  would  come  and  tell  us,  in  broken  Spanish,  what  was 
going  on  amongst  their  leaders,  stating  that  the  officers  and  the  people- 
that  is,  the  soldiery — were  holding  a  meeting  to  consider  the  question 
whether  we  should  be  shot  before  notifying  it  to  their  Government,  or 


Spoils  of  Mexican  Camp  and  Stores.  655 

whether  the  execution  should  be  postponed  until  ordered  by  the  superior 
authority.  Such  was  the  state  of  our  affairs  when  the  assembly,  roll-call,  or 
something  else,  was  beaten.  Over  a  hundred  men  fell  into  line ;  they  loaded 
their  guns,  and  then  stood  at  ease.  We  felt  rather  nervous.  I,  for  one,  was 
as  cold  as  ice,  believing  that  those  in  favor  of  immediate  execution  had  car- 
ried the  point,  and  that  the  fatal  moment  had  come.  Soon,  however,  our 
confidence  returned,  when  a  good  man  (they  are  to  be  found  everywhere) 
told  us  to  cheer  up,  as  Houston,  Rusk,  Allen,  and  others,  whom  I  respect 
for  it,  had  opposed  the  motion.  In  fact,  the  party  that  had  been  formed 
near  us  went  to  relieve  the  guard. 

At  this  time  they  began  bringing  in,  on  wagons  and  on  our  own  mules, 
the  arms,  stores,  clothing,  baggage,  and  all  the  spoils  of  our  camp,  which 
operation  took  four  whole  days. 

At  ?.  o'clock  P.M.  His  Excellency  the  General-in-chief,  Don  Antonio  Lopez 
de  Santa  Anna,  arrived,  under  the  charge  of  a  mounted  soldier.  He  wore 
linen  trowsers,  a  blue  cotton  jacket,  a  cap,  and  red  worsted  slippers.  His 
leader  did  not  know  him,  but,  noticing  a  motion  of  curiosity  amongst  us  as 
he  approached,  he  became  satisfied  that  he  was  conducting  no  common 
officer,  and  reported  at  once  with  him  to  General  Houston.  The  latter  sent 
two  of  his  Adjutants  to  inquire  of  us  whether  Santa  Anna  had  lost  any 
teeth  ;  some  answered  that  they  did  not  know  ;  but  others,  with  more  can- 
dor, or,  perhaps,  less  discretion,  said  :  "  Yes,  gentlemen  ;  and  you  may 
further  say  to  your  General,  that  the  person  just  brought  before  him  is 
President  Santa  Anna  himself."  The  news  spread  over  the  whole  camp, 
and  the  inquisitive  fellows  who  surrounded  us  ran  to  strike  up  an  acquaint- 
ance with  His  Excellency.  Some  of  them  proposed  to  fire  salutes,  and  to 
make  other  demonstrations  to  celebrate  the  capture  of  so  lofty  a  person, 
But  Houston  courteously  forbade  it.  From  this  time  we  were  left  alone, 
His  Excellency  having  become  the  center  of  attraction. 

On  the  23d  seventy  or  eighty  loads  of  ordnance  stores  had  already  been 
brought  in,  and  deposited,  together  with  piles  of  loaded  muskets  and  ol 
cartridge-boxes,  in  close  proximity  to  our  camp. 

We  had  noticed  repeatedly  that  some  of  the  Americans  went  about  that 
combustible  matter,  and  even  handled  it,  with  their  pipes  in  their  mouths.  In 
one  of  these  instances  of  carelessness,  some  grains  of  powder,  scattered  on 
the  ground,  were  ignited ;  the  fire  reached  the  cartridge-boxes  and  their 
contents,  and  soon  extended  to  the  pans  of  the  muskets,  which  exploded 
like  an  infernal  machine.  The  prairie,  too,  was  set  on  fire,  and  the  covers 
of  the  ordnance-boxes  were  already  burning.  Those  nearest  the  scene  of 
danger  took  to  flight ;  we  and  our  sentinels  followed,  and,  although  we 
knew  that  they  would  be  dissatisfied  at  our  race,  and  might  possibly  fire  at 
us,  we  kept  running.  Then  the  guard,  and  even  some  of  the  officers,  in 
view  of  the  increasing  danger,  chose  not  to  remain  hindmost,  and  kept  pace 
with  us,  expecting  at  every  moment  the  fatal  explosion.  We  had  run  a 
considerable  distance,  when  we  turned  round,  and  saw  that  the  fire  had  been 
extinguished.  We  could  not  help  applauding  the  resolution  and  bold  de- 
termination with  which  some  of  these  extraordinary  men  had  rushed  into  the 
flames,  and  smothered  them  with  their  feet  and  blankets,  and  some  water 
drawn  from  the  bay.  We  had  a  narrow  escape.  I  thought  at  one  time  that 


656  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

the  conquerors  of  San  Jacinto  would  all  be  blown  up  into  eternity ;  not, 
however,  without  some  regret  on  my  part  to  have  to  go  the  way  they  went, 
owing  to  their  stupid  carelessness. 

On  the  24th  several  batches  of  officers  and  men  were  brought  in  by  the 
numerous  scouting  parties  sent  out  to  search  the  country. 

At  5  o'clock  P.M.  a  steamboat  arrived,  having  on  board  the  Texan  Presi- 
dent, Vice-President  Zavala,  and  other  members  of  the  administration. 

The  artillery  on  board,  consisting  of  two  guns,  fired  a  salute  of  five 
rounds  ;  the  troops  in  camp  were  formed  in  line,  and  received  their  supreme 
magistrate  with  hurrahs ;  then  he  was  conducted  triumphantly  to  General 
Houston's  tent. 

Among  the  Yankees  who  spoke  Spanish  a  little,  and  came  to  talk  with, 
or  rather  to  insult  us,  was  a  hunchback,  an  inveterate  talker.  The  wretch, 
who  did  not  measure  a  yard  and  a  half  above  the  ground,  took  a  wicked 
pleasure  in  bringing  us  stirring  and  unpleasant  news.  He  boasted  much  of  his 
gallantry,  and,  when  reciting  his  many  acts  of  prowess,  the  little  rascal  would 
say  :  "  Well,  did  Santa  Anna  believe  that  he  could  trifle  with  us  ?  Not  he  ! 
He  can,  perhaps,  fight  his  own  people,  because  he  knows  them,  and  knows, 
also,  that  they  are  not  brave,  gallant,  and  determined,  as  we  are.  He 
thought  us  far  away,  poor  fellow !  without  noticing  that  we  were  on  his 
tracks,  keeping  him  in  sight,  counting,  with  our  spy-glasses,  on  tree-tops, 
his  men,  one  by  one,  and  allowing  him  to  come  and  entrap  himself  in  this 
corner,  with  no  means  of  escape,  as  we  had  burnt  the  bridge  over  the  bayou 
behind  him,  and  had  made  our  preparations  to  bag  every  one  of  you.  If  he 
does  not  sign,  at  once,  a  treaty  putting  an  end  to  the  war,  and  removing 
every  Mexican  soldier  from  our  territory,  it  will  cost  not  only  his  life,  but 
also  the  lives  of  all  you  prisoners."  Such  was  the  conversation  of  our  bold 
little  hunchback. 

On  the  25th,  General  Cos  and  Captains  Bachiller  and  Iberri  were  confined 
with  us.  The  presence  of  the  General  had  created  such  a  sensation  among 
the  conquerors  that  they  crowded  and  quarreled  for  a  sight  of  him — they 
would  even  push  off  the  sentinels.  The  General  found  it  expedient  to  lie 
down,  wrapping  his  head  in  his  blanket,  to  avoid  the  annoyance  of  their 
impertinent  curiosity.  Scoundrels  were  not  wanting  who  would  have  mur- 
dered him. 

On  the  26th  our  property  was  sold  at  auction.  It  was  hard  to  see  them 
breaking  our  trunks  open,  and  every  one  of  them  loaded  with  our  shirts, 
trousers,  coats,  etc.,  whilst  we  remained  with  what  we  had  on  our  bodies. 

I  saw  my  boots  going,  while  my  blistered  feet  were  wrapped  up  in  pieces 
of  raw  hide. 

To  make  up  for  our  cloaks,  overcoats,  and  blankets,  which  belonged  to 
the  highest  bidder,  they  favored  us  with  the  great-coats  of  our  own  soldiers, 
which  were  so  lousy  that  we  had  the  greatest  trouble  to  rid  ourselves  of  the 
vermin  ;  and,  still,  we  had  nothing  else  with  which  to  cover  ourselves. 

His  Excellency,  the  General-in-chief,  alone  had  the  good  fortune  to  pre- 
serve most,  if  not  the  whole,  of  his  baggage. 

The  saddle  and  pack-mules  belonging  to  our  division  were  also  distrib- 
uted among  the  conquering  officers  and  soldiers. 

It  was  quite  amusing  to  see  these  gentlemen  putting  riding  saddles  on 
some  fractious  and  wicked  mule,  which  knew  nothing  beyond  the  pack. 


Texan  Rangers  on  Mexican  Mules.  057 

They  would  adorn  them  with  the  green  and  red  cords  which  our  Vol- 
tigeurs  and  Grenadiers  wore  on  their  caps,  placing  them  on  their  ears,  necks, 
or  backs.  One  did  put  two  pair  of  blinds  on  one  mule — one  on  the  head- 
stall, as  it  should  be,  and  the  other  on  the  nose-band,  stopping  the  poor 
animal's  nostrils. 

They  would  also  bedeck  their  mules  with  the  epaulets  of  our  officers,  car- 
ing little  if  one  was  white  and  the  other  yellow — they  glittered,  that  was 
enough.  They  delighted  in  covering  their  animals  with  all  sorts  of  trap- 
pings and  colors,  after  the  fashion  of  our  bull-fight  clowns. 

One  of  these  young  chevaliers  attracted  more  especially  my  attention. 
He  had  saddled  up  and  adorned  his  mule,  without,  however,  noticing  that 
the  surcingle  was  loose.  He  mounted  the  long-eared  steed,  which  was  held 
fast  by  some  of  his  friends  whilst  he  steadied  himself  in  the  saddle.  They 
let  go ;  and  you  should  have  seen  the  brute  scampering  over  God's  own 
green  fields,  and  scattering  about  its  trappings  and  ornaments.  Lo !  our 
poor  Yankee  flies  on  high  with  his  saddle,  and  drops  heavily  on  the  ground, 
from  which  he  could  not  rise,  his  ribs  being  somewhat  damaged.  This  was 
not  the  worst,  but  the  mule,  once  in  the  woods,  could  not  be  caught  again. 
Trials  of  horsemanship  lasted  the  whole  day,  but  most  of  the  champions 
shared  the  fate  of  the  first  one.  How  strange  these  men  are  !  Many  of 
them  act  and  feel  like  the  wild  Comanche. 

On  the  27th  and  following  days,  no  incident  took  place  worth  being  no- 
ticed. I  will  only  say,  to  the  everlasting  shame  of  our  conquerors,  that  they 
kept  us  starving,  sleeping  in  the  mud,  and  exposed  to  frequent  and  heavy 
showers.  Still  more  intolerable  was  the  stench  arising  from  the  corpses  on 
the  field  of  San  Jacinto,  which  they  had  not  the  generosity  to  burn  or  to 
bury,  after  the  time-honored  custom,  regardless  of  their  own  comfort  and 
health  and  those  of  the  surrounding  settlements. 

On  the  3d  of  May,  at  4  o'clock  P.M.,  we  were  sent  to  another  camp,  dis- 
tant a  little  over  one  league.  There  were  two  or  three  frame  houses,  but  they 
were  occupied  by  both  the  conquering  and  conquered  Generals,  lodgings 
being  provided  for  us  under  the  trees.  There,  again,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  murder  General  Cos. 

Four  days  passed  along  quietly. 

On  the  7th,  at  5  o'clock?  P.M.,  they  marched  us  on  board  the  steamboat 
Yellow  Stone,  where  we  found  General  Santa  Anna,  the  President,  Senor 
Zavala,  and  other  dignitaries  of  their  so-called  Government.  Shortly  after 
General  Houston  was  carried  on  board  on  his  cot,  on  his  way  to  New  Or- 
leans to  obtain  medical  attendance  for  a  wound  he  had  received  in  his  leg 
at  San  Jacinto.  There  was  also  the  Mexican  General  Adrian  Woll,  who  had 
come. from  our  army  under  flag  of  truce.  This  gallant  General,  our  good 
friend,  was  dismissed  at  sundown,  being  hardly  allowed  to  embrace  two  or 
three  of  us,  with  a  few  hurried  words,  as  we  were  surrounded  by  very  strict 
and  insolent  guards.  I  saw,  as  he  landed,  tears  of  indignation  gushing  forth 
from  his  eyes  at  the  wretched  and  degraded  condition  of  his  brothers-in- 
arms. I  am  sure  he  wished  he  was  lightning,  to  smite  our  oppressors.  In 
parting  with  us,  he  expressed  the  deepest  sorrow. 

The  officer  under  whose  charge  we  were  on  board  was,  if  I  do  not  mistake, 
a  physician,  and  was  extremely  harsh  and  tyrannical.  After  sunset  we  were 
42 


658  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

no  longer  permitted  to  move,  having  to  sleep  on  deck,  crowded,  like  bars 
of  soap,  on  top  of  each  other.  Positive  orders  had  been  given  to  the  sen- 
tinels to  blow  out  the  brains  of  any  man  that  raised  his  head.  Therefore, 
without  obtaining  a  drink  of  water,  or  being  allowed  to  attend  to  the  wants 
of  nature,  we  laid  our  heads  down,  motionless,  until  sunrise. 

Very  early  on  the  8th,  after  striking  a  bell  three  times,  as  is  customary  on 
these  vessels,  the  machine  was  set  in  motion,  and  we  glided  down  to  Gal- 
veston.  Not  to  forget  it,  I  will  mention  a  strange  incident.  As  the  steam- 
boat passed  opposite  the  battle-field  of  San  Jacinto,  the  troops  on  board 
were  formed,  facing  to  the  field,  and  presented  arms,  the  drums  beating  a 
march.  They  remained  in  that  position  until  they  had  lost  sight  of  the 
field.  What  was  their  object  ? 

A  little  after  12  o'clock  M.  we  reached  Galveston,  remaining  in  the  sun 
the  rest  of  the  day. 

There  we  passed  another  unpleasant  moment.  The  company  from  Ken- 
tucky was  composed  of  the  most  reckless,  drunken,  and  lawless  men  in  the 
Texan  army,  and  we  prisoners  were  placed  under  the  charge  of  these  lambs. 
Some  of  the  men  began,  I  do  not  know  why,  to  fight  with  their  fists,  which 
soon  brought  about  a  general  mel£e.  They  struck  at  each  other  indiscrimi- 
nately, some  seizing  their  rifles  and  pistols.  Officers  interfered,  and  were  soon  I 
mingled  in  the  row,  giving  and  receiving  blows.  Soldiers  knew  no  longer 
their  officers,  and  a  fierce  affray  raged  for  some  time.  The  uproar  and  stamp- 
ing of  feet  on  the  deck  attracted  the  attention  of  the  gentlemen  in  the 
cabin  below.  They  came  out  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  difficulty,  but  the 
rascals  were  so  hotly  engaged  in  their  contest  that  they  did  not  mind  the 
voice  of  their  President  and  other  chiefs  any  more  than  the  barking  of  dogs. 
Fearful  that  the  disorder  might  increase,  and,  perhaps,  end  in  a  tragic  man- 
ner, we  remained  motionless.  At  length,  by  choking  some  of  them,  and  by 
the  utmost  exertion,  the  brave  Captain  Allen  succeeded  in  restoring  order. 

General  Santa  Anna  was  transferred  on  board  the  Independence,  and  we 
were  landed  at  sunset. 

I  was  lucky  enough  to  meet  Lieutenant  Carlos  Ocampo,  of  the  Battalion 
of  Jimenes,  who  gave  me  a  bounteous  supply  of  coffee  and  hard  bread,  with 
which  I  made  up  for  the  last  two  days'  fast.  For  several  days  our  philan- 
thropic benefactors  had  allowed  us  but  one  ounce  of  food.  The  citizens 
Don  Ramon  Murgo  and  Don  Gil  Hernandez,  who  had  been  captured  on  a 
Mexican  vessel  boarded  by  the  Texans,  shared  the  captivity  of  Lieutenant 
Ocampo.  The  bad  treatment  inflicted  by  these  wretches  on  that  officer  can 
scarcely  be  conceived.  I  saw  his  shoulders  covered  with  stripes  and  sores, 
resulting  from  one  hundred  lashes  lai.d  on  him  when  fastened  to  a  gun. 

On  the  9th  the  officers  were  assigned  a  camping-ground — less  than  fifty 
square  yards — where  we  remained  until  the  middle  of  August.  Our  condi- 
tion was  infinitely  worse  on  that  accursed  island,  because  we  had  no  whole- 
some water,  nor  the  shelter  of  shade  trees,  which  we  had  enjoyed  on  our 
former  camping-grounds.  The  heat  is  much  more  intense  on  the  coast, 
and,  besides,  we  had  to  contend  with  myriads  of  flies,  mosquitoes,  and  sand- 
crabs,  not  to  speak  of  continual  storms  and  showers.  Such  were  the  swarms 
of  mosquitoes,  that  it  would  seem  that  the  whole  species  in  the  world  had 
taken  Galveston  for  a  place  of  rendezvous.  The  sand-crabs  would  bite,  with- 


Short  Rations  of  Mexican  Captives.  659 

out,  however,  being  venomous ;  but  they  gnawed  and  destroyed  our  wretched 
clothing.  The  little  pests  became  so  tame  that  large  numbers  of  them  lived 
and  slept  among  us.  So  many  enemies  at  the  same  time  were  too  many  for 
us.  Within  forty  days  few  amongst  us  were  still  in  good  health.  From  10 
o'clock  in  the  morning  the  sun  darted  its  rays  so  intensely  upon  our  tents 
that  they  became  suffocating,  their  temperature  rising  to  that  of  an  oven, 
and  forcing  us  out.  We  obtained  water  from  holes  dug  on  the  bay  shore — 
it  was  warm,  and  tasted  horridly. 

As  to  food — so  long  as  the  stores  of  a  vessel,  robbed  by  them  from  our 
nation,  lasted,  we  fared  tolerably  well ;  but,  these  supplies  being  exhausted, 
they  starved  us  again. 

The  tidings  of  San  Jacinto  had  spread  abroad.  Those  who  received  them 
with  the  greatest  delight  were  a  certain  class  of  vagabonds  and  lawless  men, 
burdened  with  crimes,  who  hid  themselves  in  the  large  city  of  New  Orleans. 
These  Gipsies,  the  refuse  of  the  world,  had  some  scruple  in  joining  the 
cause  of  Texas,  as  congenial  as  it  was  to  them,  for  the  mere  trifling  fact  that 
Santa  Anna  had  entered  it  with  6,000  Mexicans.  They  had  preferred  to 
pause,  with  due  regard  for  their  valuable  skins,  and  await  the  result.  No 
sooner,  however,  had  they  heard  of  the  disaster  of  the  2ist  of  April,  than 
their  patriotism  was  screwed  up  to  the  highest  pitch.  They  became  louder 
in  their  boasts  ;  ran  to  enlist  to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  the  Texan  rebels,  as  ad- 
venturers or  volunteers,  and  shipped  at  once  to  join  the  army.  Henceforth 
shiploads  of  that  hateful  rabble  came  in  quick  succession  from  New  Orleans. 
Now  they  could,  without  danger,  squabble  over  the  league  of  land,  or  for 
the  ownership  of  the  land  of  plenty.  As  they  approached  the  coast  of  Gal- 
veston,  and  descried  the  promised  land,  Orestes-like,  they  greeted  with  en- 
thusiasm their  beloved  new  home.  Their  hurrahs  and  expressions  of  joy 
were  interspersed  with  deep  and  repeated  draughts  of  their  horrid  whiskey. 
All  their  trust  and  hope  lay  now  in  the  dense  forests  and  fertile  plains  of 
Texas. 

Such  were  not  our  feelings.  Whenever  the  arrival  of  these  new-comers 
was  announced,  gloom  prevailed  in  our  camp,  knowing  that  we  had  to  ex- 
pect every  kind  of  impertinence.  Every  gang  of  that  rabble  that  came  sur- 
rounded our  camp,  most  of  them  being  drunk,  and  thought  it  becoming  to 
make  a  display  of  bravery  and  patriotism,  by  pouring  upon  us  a  volley  of 
Godames,  and  other  abusive  expressions.  Our  outward  appearance  was, 
unfortunately,  quite  ridiculous  ;  filthy,  lean,  unshorn,  most  of  us  sick,  some 
in  rags,  or  all  but  naked,  we  sought,  naturally,  to  hide  ourselves.  Not  so, 
however ;  we  were  compelled  to  form  in  line,  in  order  that  nothing  might 
escape  the  scrutiny,  criticism,  and  merriment  of  our  inquisitive  visitors,  who, 
of  course,  conceived  a  poor  idea  of  the  Mexican  people  from  the  samples 
exhibited  before  them.  Nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  the  helpless  condition 
in  which  they  saw  us,  they  discussed  among  themselves  the  propriety  of 
calling  on  us  at  night  for  the  charitable  purpose  of  murdering  us.  General 
Cos,  who  had  received  several  reports  on  that  subject,  sent  for  the  command- 
ant of  the  camp  to  acquaint  him  with  the  facts,  and  to  request  him  to  pro- 
tect us  by  an  increase  of  guards  and  vigilance. 

There  were  among  the  volunteers  some  men  of  wealth  and  education  who 
came  to  our  camp  for  the  only  purpose  of  visiting,  and  being  acquainted 


660  Houston? a  Literary  Remains. 

with,  the  prisoners.  These  gentlemen  were  accompanied  to  our  camp  by 
the  commandant,  who  introduced  them  to  us  with  much  regard  and  for- 
mality. After  a  short  conversation,  through  an  interpreter,  they  took  leave 
of  us,  to  call  on  Don  Martin  Prefecto  de  Cos. 

This  noble  and  young  Mexican  General  was  our  constant  companion  and 
good  friend  in  captivity,  relieving,  by  all  means  in  his  power,  his  country- 
men, and  particularly  the  sick,  giving  them  clothing,  money,  and  other  nec- 
essaries. He  met  the  annoyances  of  captivity  with  noble  resignation  ;  with 
his  lofty  manners  and  perfect  breeding,  he  soothed  the  ferocious  nature  of 
these  tigers,  causing  them  to  become  more  tractable  and  humane  with  us. 
Colonel  Morgan,  the  commandant  of  our  camp,  was  a  harsh  and  rough 
man,  a  violent  enemy  to  the  Mexicans.  Nevertheless,  he  became  so  at- 
tached to  Cos  that  he  asked  of  him  his  portrait,  which  he  showed  to  all  his 
friends  as  a  particularly  valuable  gift.  Cos  evinced  such  a  calm  dignity  in  cap- 
tivity, that  twice,  or  three  times,  assassins,  who  had  resolved  upon  his  death, 
desisted  from  their  design  upon  seeing  him,  embraced  him,  and  became  his 
friends.  Let  it  not  be  said  that  I  flatter  him,  for  I  have  never  received  any 
favor  from  him  ;  therefore  my  praise  should  be  above  suspicion. 

I  have  said  that  we  remained  on  Galveston  Island  until  the  middle  ol 
August. 

On  the  1 6th  of  that  month  we  slept  on  board  a  schooner,  the  name  of  which 
I  do  not  remember,  and,  on  the  i8th,  we  landed  at  the  town  of  Anahuac, 
where  we  remained  up  to  the  25th.  At  4  o'clock  P.M.  we  started  for  Liberty, 
ten  leagues  in  the  interior  of  Texas,  under  the  orders  of  Judge  William 
Hardin,  of  that  locality.  On  our  arrival  we  camped  in  Judge  Hardin's  yard,  in 
a  small,  shady  grove.  There  we  breathed  a  pure  air,  enjoyed  a  milder  cli- 
mate, wholesome  water,  together  with  much  more  comfort  and  liberty.  At 
length  we  were  free  from  the  rod  of  that  pitiless  Morgan  and  the  incessant 
insults  of  the  volunteer  rabble. 

Soon,  however,  provisions  gave  out,  notwithstanding  the  repeated  and 
urgent  applications  of  Hardin  to  his  Government,  which  failed  to  attend 
to  them. 

It  is  proper  to  say,  to  the  honor  and  credit  of  Don  Francisco  Pizarro  Mar- 
tinez, Mexican  Consul  at  New  Orleans,  that,  when  we  were  destitute  of  food, 
clothing,  and  all  other  necessaries — most  of  us  down  struggling  with  chills 
and  fever,  the  prevailing  disease  in  that  country  between  the  months  of  Oc- 
tober and  December — this  worthy  Mexican  sent  us  a  supply  of  excellent 
hard  bread,  sugar,  coffee,  blankets,  and  a  plain  suit  of  clothes  for  every  one 
of  us.  I  am  convinced  that  nothing  but  the  timely  arrival  of  these  gifts 
saved  our  lives.  Had  they  been  delayed  only  fifteen  days  most  of  us  would 
have  died,  as  happened  with  fifteen  of  our  companions  who  were  laid  in  the 
grave,  from  exhaustion,  before  that  supply  reached  us. 

Judge  Hardin  relieved  our  bitter  condition  by  all  means  in  his  power,  re- 
taining for  himself  the  worst  of  his  houses,  in  order  to  appropriate  the  two 
others  for  the  sick.  Being  ill  himself,  he  went,  personally,  for  a  physician, 
medicine,  or  whatever  we  needed.  He  listened  to  our  frequent  applications 
with  remarkable  patience  ;  granted  them  if  he  could  ;  if  not,  he  felt  deeply 
concerned.  For  the  mere  form  he  kept  over  us  two  sentinels  at  night,  re- 
lieving them  in  day-time,  and  allowing  some  of  us  to  walk  about  town.  In 


Release  after  a    Year's  Captivity.  661 

the  month  of  November  he  built  a  fine  frame  house,  at  his  own  expense,  to 
shelter  us  from  rain  and  cold.  After  a  short  time  he  became  very  much 
attached  to  us,  and  felt  so  grieved  at  our  unfortunate  condition  that  he 
withdrew  entirely  the  small  detachment  that  guarded  us,  and  allowed  us 
the  limits  of  the  town.  Should  some  drunken  man  insult  us,  he  went,  or 
sent  some  member  of  his  family,  to  drive  him  out.  Meat  and  salt  were  our 
only  rations,  and  these  often  gave  out.  Then,  even  in  the  stormiest  or 
coldest  days,  Hardin  would  shoulder  his  rifle  and  walk  out  to  kill  a  beef, 
which  he  sent,  ready  butchered,  to  our  quarters.  When  we  were  out  of  ra- 
tions, which  happened  not  seldom,  his  good  and  virtuous  wife  was  kind 
enough  to  send  us  large  pieces  of  seasoned  beef,  bacon,  coffee,  sugar,  bread, 
and  whatever  was  placed  upon  her  own  table.  On  one  occasion  she  removed 
from  her  family  beds  five  or  six  mattresses,  which  were  placed  on  the  beds 
of  as  many  of  the  sick  prisoners.  Again,  on  another  occasion,  she  dis- 
tributed among  us  half  a  barrel  of  hard  bread,  all  that  was  left  for  her  own 
use.  The  butter,  potatoes,  and  corn  in  the  house  belonged  to  the  prisoners. 
Oh !  virtuous  family !  How  great  and  how  many  your  exertions  have 
been  to  relieve  the  despair  of  our  sorrowful  and  destitute  condition  !  Oh, 
William  Hardin  !  thy  name,  and  that  of  thy  noble  wife,  will  be  imperishable 
in  the  hearts  of  the  Mexican  prisoners,  who,  victims  of  fate,  suffered  the 
unexpected  disaster  of  San  Jacinto  !  I  vow  that,  although  thou  art  among 
the  criminal  enemies  of  my  beloved  country,  whether  of  thy  own  free  will, 
or  because  thy  destiny  so  willed  it,  I  will  never  cease  to  proclaim  and  praise 
thy  meritorious  and  charitable  conduct  toward  us. 

A  ball  was  given  by  the  citizens  of  Liberty,  on  the  2ist  of  April,  1837,  to 
which  all  the  neighboring  families  were  invited. 

The  ball  was  intended  to  commemorate  the  bloody  2ist  of  April,  1836,  on 
which  day  so  many  illustrious  Mexicans  were  immolated.  These  people 
had  the  effrontery  to  invite  to  that  criminal  entertainment  General  Cos, 
who,  of  course,  declined.  It  was  told  to  him  by  a  man  of  some  standing 
that  there  were  alarming  conversations  about  the  Mexican  prisoners.  This 
report  was  not  altogether  groundless,  inasmuch  as  the  gatherings  of  those 
besotted  people  are  invariably  more  or  less  influenced  by  mean  liquors.  In 
consequence  we  spent  a  very  uncomfortable  night. 

However,  it  so  happened  that  Bacchus  inspired  them  with  gentler  feel- 
ings. There  is  no  evil  that  does  not  work  some  good.  We  were  told  that 
they  deliberated  at  length  upon  the  question  of  the  prisoners,  and  that  they 
resolved  to  send  a  petition  to  their  Government,  which  was  signed  even  by 
the  ladies,  asking  it  to  dispatch  us  at  once  or  to  set  us  free,  as  we  were  eat- 
ing up  their  meat  and  supplies.  They  added  that  their  destitution  was 
daily  increasing,  and  that  they  would  soon  have  nothing  left  for  their  fami- 
lies, unless  the  Government  granted  them  prompt  relief. 

Hallowed  be  the  hour  when  this  petition  was  inspired  !  Its  result  was 
that  we  were  set  free,  which  happy  news  reached  us  on  the  memorable  2  5th 
day  of  April,  1837. 


662  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 


RETURN   OF  KILLED  AND  WOUNDED   IN   THE  ACTIONS  OF 
THE  20TH  AND   2iST   OF  APRIL,  1836. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  SAM  HOUSTON,  wounded  severely. 

FIRST  REGIMENT  TEXAS  VOLUNTEERS. 

Company  A. — GEO.  WATERS,  private,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  B.— JAMES  COUNLY,  private,  badly,  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

WM.  S.  WALKER,  private,  badly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  C. — CAPT.  JESSE  BILLINGSLEY,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

LEMUEL  BLAKELY,  private,  killed  on  the  2ist. 

LOGAN  VANDEVEER,  private,  badly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

WASHINGTON  ANDERSON,  private,  slightly  wounded  on  the 

2 1  St. 

CALVIN  PAGE,  private,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

MARTIN  WALKER,  private,  tiadly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  D. — CAPT.  MOSELY  BAKER,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

C.  D.  ANDERSON,  private,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

ALLEN  INGRAM,  private,  badly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  F. — LEROY  WILKINSON,  private,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist, 

JAMES  NELSON,  private,  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

MITCHELL  PUTNAM,  private,  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  H. — A.  R.  STEVENS,  private,  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

J.  TOM,  private,  killed  on  the  2ist. 

J. COOPER,  private,  badly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

B.  R.  BRIGHAM,  private,  killed  on  the  2ist. 
Killed,  3;  wounded,  15,    Total,  18. 

SECOND  REGIMENT  TEXAS  VOLUNTEERS. 

Comyany  D. — 2D  LIEUT.  LAMB,  killed  on  the  2ist. 

G.  W.  ROBINSON,  private,  severely  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

WM.  WINTERS,  private,  severely  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

IST  SERGT.  ALBERT  GALLATIN,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  D. — E.  G.  RECTOR,  private,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  E. — WASHINGTON  LEWIS,  private,  severely  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  F. — ALPHONSO  STEEL,  severely  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Company  K. — IST  LIEUT.  J.  C.  HALE,  killed  on  the  2ist. 
Company  J. — CAPT.  SMITH,  slightly  wounded  on  the  2ist. 

IST  SERGT.  THOMAS  P.  FOWL,  killed  on  the  2ist. 

W.  F.  JAMES,  private,  severely  wounded  on  the  2ist. 
Killed,  3  ;  severely  wounded,  5  ;  slightly  wounded,  3.    Total,  n. 


DR.  WM.  MOTLEY,  wounded  severely  on  the  2ist;  died  since. 
A.  R.  STEVENS,  wounded  severely  on  the  2ist ;  died  since. 
LiEUT.-CoL.  J.  C.  NEIL,  of  the  Artillery,  wounded  severely  on  the  2oth. 
WM.  A.  PARK,  of  the  Artillery,  wounded  slightly  on  the  2ist. 
DEVEREAUX  J.  WOODLIEF,  of  the  Cavalry,  wounded  on  the  2oth. 
OLWYN  J.  TRASK,  private,  of  the  Calvary,  wounded  severely  on  the  2oth. 


Regular  Officers  and  Privates  in  Battle.        663 


A  LIST  OF  OFFICERS,  NON-COMMISSIONED  OFFICERS,  AND 
PRIVATES,  ENGAGED  IN  THE  BATTLE  OF  SAN  JACINTO, 
ON  THE  2iST  OF  APRIL,  1836. 


MAJ.-GEN.  SAM.  HOUSTON,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Texan  Forces. 

STAFF. 

JOHN  A.  WHARTON Adjutant-General 

GEO.  W.  HOCKLEY Inspector-General. 

JOHN  FORBES .' Commissary-General. 

WILLIAM  G.  COOKE Assistant  Inspector-General. 

A.  HORTON,  J 

WILLIAM  H.  PATTON,     >• Aides-de-Camp. 

JAMES  COLLINGSWORTH,  ) 
JAMES  H.  PERRY,  \ 

R.  EDEN  HANDY,  >- Volunteer  Aides. 

R.  M.  COLEMAN,  J 

HON.  THOMAS  J.  RUSK Secretary  of  War. 

WILLIAM  MOTLEY Physician. 


MEDICAL  STAFF. 

ALEXANDER  EWING..  .  .Surgeon  ist  Regiment  Artillery,  Acting-  Surgeon- 
General. 

DAVIDSON Surgeon  ist  Regiment  Volunteers. 

FlTZHUGH Asst.  Surgeon  ist  Regiment  Volunteers. 

ANSON  JONES Surgeon  2d  Regiment  Volunteers. 

SHIELDS  BOOKER,  ) Asstt  Surgeons  2d  Regiment  Volunteers. 

N.  D.  LABADIE,     f 

AKTILLERY  COUPS. 

J.  C.  NEIL Lieutenant-Colonel* 

ISAAC  N.  MORELAND Captain. 

W.  STILLWELL ist  Lieutenant. 

RICHARDSON  SCURRY ist  Sergeant. 

THOMAS  PLASTER id  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

T.  O.  Harris,  T.  J.  Robinson,  Joseph  Floyd, 

Jno.  M.  Wade,  M.  Baxter,  Alfred  Benton, 

Hugh  M.  Swift,  Ben.  McCulloch,  D.  T.  Dunham, 

William  A.  Park,t  Joseph  White,  Willis  Collins, 

Thomas  Green,  Thomas  N.  B.  Green,  T.  C.  Edwards, 

Clark  M.  Harman,  John  Ferrill,  S.  B.  Bardwell. 

Assisted  by  the  following  regulars  from  the  companies  of  Captains  Teal 
and  Turner : 


*  Wounded  on  the  aoth.  t  Wounded  on  the  2ist. 


664  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Campbell,       *|  Benson, 

Millerman,  Clayton,   | 

Gainer,  O£  Teal  s  C°'  Merwin,   ^ O£  Turner>s 

Cumberland,  J  Legg, 


CAVALBY  COBPS. 

MIRABEAU  B.  LAMAR Commanding. 

HENRY  KARNES Captain. 

W.  H.  SMITH Captain. 

J.  R.  COOK i st  Lieutenant. 

WM.  HARNESS 2d  Lieutenant. 

LEM.  GUSTINE Physician. 

PRIVATES. 

W.  Secrest,  Young  P.  Allsbury,  J.  Thompson, 

F.  Secrest,  D.  McKay,  John  Robbins, 

A.  Allsbury,  W.  J.  C.  Pierce,  William  F.  Young, 

S.  C.  Turnage,  W.  King,  James  Douthatt, 

D.  W.  Reaves,  Thomas  Blackwell,  John  Carpenter, 

E.  R.  Rainwater,  Goodwin,  William  Taylor, 

J.  D.  Elliott,  J.  Coker,  Anthony  Foster, 

J.  P.  Davis,  W.  B.  Sweeney,  Z.  Y.  Beauford, 

J.  Neil,  Benjamin  F.  Smith,  Spenser  Townsend, 

N.  Nixon,  Thomas  Robbins,  James  Shaw, 

G.  Deaderick,  Elisha  Clapp,  William  D.  Redd, 

J.  Nash,  H.  Henderson,  Clopper, 

Isaac  W.  Burton,  George  Johnson,  P.  H.  Bell, 

Jacob  Duncan,  J.  W.  Williamson,  J.  W.  Robinson. 

A.  W.  Hill,  Wilson  C.  Brown, 


BEGUIiABS. 

LIEUT.-COL.  HENRY  MILLARD Commanding* 

CAPTAIN  JOHN  M.  ALLEN Acting  Major* 

Company  A. 

ANDREW  BRISCOE Captain. 

MARTIN  K.  SNELL ist  Lieutenant. 

ROBERT  McCLOSKY id  Lieutenant. 

LYMAN  F.  ROUNDS i  st  Sergeant. 

DAVID  S.  NELSON id  Sergeant. 

DANIEL  O.  DRISCOLL ^d  Sergeant. 

CHARLES  A.  FORD tfh  Sergeant. 

RICHARDSON ist  Corporal. 

HARRY  C.  CRAIG id  Corporal. 

BEAR 3^  Corporal. 

FLORES Musician. 


Volunteers  of  Companies  JB  and  Jin  Battle.       665 

PRIVATES. 

Bruff,  Farley,  Marsh,  Smith,  2d, 

Bebee,  Grieves,  Morton,  Sullivan, 

Benton,  Warner,  O'Niel,  Saunders, 

H.  P.  Brewster,      Henderson,  Pierce,  Swain, 

Cassady,  Lang,  Patton,  Tindall,  ist, 

Dutcher,  Larbartare,  Rheinhart,  Taylor, 

Darrl,  Limski,  Kainer,  Van  Winkle, 

Elliott,  Mason,  Richardson,  Wilkinson, 

Flynn,  Montgomery,  Smith,  ist,  Webb. 

VOLUNTEERS. 

Company  B. 

A.  TURNER Captain. 

W.  MlLLEN ist  Lieutenant. 

W.  W.  SUMMERS id  Lieutenant. 

CHARLES  STEWART ist  Sergeant* 

SWEARINGER 2.d  Sergeant. 

ROBERT  MOORE Corporal. 

THOMAS  WILSON Corporal. 

M.  SNYDER Corporal 

PRIVATES. 

Belden,  Dalrymple,  Ludus,  Philips, 

Bernard,  Eldridge,  Lind,  Smith,  ist. 

Bissett,  Edson,  Minnett,  Smith,  2d, 

Browning,  Harper,  Mordorff,  Scheston, 

Callahan,  Hogan,  Massie,  Sigman, 

Christie,  Harvey,  Moore,  2d,  Tyler, 

Clarkson,  Johnson,  Nirlas,  Woods, 

Colton,  Keeland,  Pascal,  Wardryski. 

Company  B. 

RICHARD  ROMAN Captain. 

NICHOLAS  DAWSON *zd  Lieutenant. 

JAMES  WHARTON Sergeant. 

A.  MITCHELL Sergeant. 

S.  L.  WHEELER : Sergeant. 

A.  TAYLOR Corporal. 

J.  S.  EGBERT Corporal. 

W.  MOORE Corporal. 

PRIVATES. 

Angell,  J.  M.  Jett,  W.  Richardson, 

G.  Brown,  Stev.  Jett,  D.  Tindale, 

Joseph  Barstow,  A.  S.  Jordan,  J.  Vinaler, 

J.  B.  Bradley,  S.  W.  Lamar,  C.  W.  Waldron, 

B.  Coles,  Edward  Lewis,  F.  F.  Williams, 

J.  S.  Conn,  J.  W.  B.  M'Farlane,          James  Wilder, 

J.  H.  T.  Dixon,  A.  M'Stea,  W.  S.  Walker, 

William  Dunbar,  H.  Miller,  James  Ownby. 

H.  Homan,  W.  G.  Newman, 


666  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Company  I. 


W.  S.  FISHER... 

Captain. 

R.  W.  CARTER  . 

JONES  .  .  , 

.  .  Sergeant. 

George  W.  Leek, 
N.  Rudder, 
J.  W.  Stroud, 
Jos.  Sovereign, 

PRIVATES. 

Jac.  Maybee, 
Graves, 
B.  F.  Fry, 
E.  G.  Marie, 
M'N^il 

E.  Knoland, 
A.  H.  Miles, 
Lewellin, 
Joseph  Joslyn, 

WC    Armnt 

R.  J.  W.  Reel,  / 
Rufus  Wright, 
Jos.  McAllister, 
B.  F.  Starkley, 
Day, 
John  Morgan, 
Tewister, 
Slack, 
R.  Banks, 

J.  M.  Shreve, 
W.  Pace, 
Ch.  Stebbins, 
R.  Crittenden, 
Adam  Mosier, 
J.  S.  Patterson, 
Jos.  Douane, 
George  W.  Mason, 
Thomas  Pratt, 

M.  W.  Brigham. 
P.  Burt, 
H.  Bond, 
Geo.  Fennell, 
W.  Gill, 
Jo.  Gillespie, 
A.  J.  Harris, 
D.  James. 

STAFF  OF  THE  COMMAND. 

NICHOLAS  LYNCH Adjutant. 

W.  M.  CARPER Surgeon. 

JOHN  SMITH Sergeant-Major. 

PINKNEY  CALDWELL Quartermaster. 

FIRST  REQIMENT  TEXAS  VOLUNTEERS. 

EDWARD  BURLESON Colonei. 

ALEX.   SOMERVILLE Lieutenant-Colonel. 

JAS.  W.  TINSLEY Adjutant. 

H.  N.  CLEVELAND Sergeant-Major. 

Company  A. 

WM.  WOOD Captain. 

S.  B.  RAYMOND id  Lieutenant. 

J.  C.  ALLISON \st  Sergeant. 

JAS.  A.  SYLVESTER id  Sergeant. 

O.  T.  BROWN ^d  Sergeant. 

NATHANIEL  PECK tfh  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

Irwin  Armstrong,  Giles  A.  Giddings,  Joseph  Rhodes, 
Wm.  H.  Berryhill,  James  Greenwood,  John  W.  Rial, 
Uriah  Blue,  Wm.  Griffin,  Ralph  E.  Sevey, 
Seymour  Bottsford,  Wm.  C.  Hays,  Manasseh  Sevey, 
Luke  W.  Bust,  Thos.  A.  Haskin,  Edw.  W.  Taylor, 
James  Cumbo,  Robert  Howell,  John  Viven, 
Elijah  V.  Dale,  Wm.  Lockridg,  George  Waters, 
Abner  C.  Davis,  J.  D.  Loderback,  James  Welsh, 
Jacob  Eiler,  Edward  Miles,  Ezra  Westgate. 
Simon  P.  Ford,  Benj.  Osborne,  Walter  Winn. 
Garner,  Jas.  R.  Pinchback, 


Volunteers  of  Companies  A,  <?,  and  D  in  Battle.    667 


JESSE  BlLLINGSLEY. 

MICAH  ANDREWS.  . . 
JAMES  A.  CRAFT  . . . 
RUSSEL  B.  CRAFT.  . 

WM.  H.  MAGILL 

CAMPBELL  TAYLOR 


Company  C. 


Captain. 

. . .  Lieutenant, 
id  Lieutenant. 
..\st  Sergeant. 
..id  Sergeant. 
. .  ^d  Sergeant. 


PRIVATES. 


L.  C.  Cunningham, 
John  Herron, 
Preston  Conley, 
Jackson  Berry, 
Jefferson  Barton, 
Dempsey  Pace, 
Lemuel  Blakely, 
George  Self, 
Thomas  Davy, 
Jacob  Standefer, 
Wayne  Barton, 
Sampson  Connell, 
Logan  Vanderveer, 
Washington  Anderson, 


William  Simmons, 
George  Green, 
Geo.  P.  Erath, 
Jno.  W.  Bunton, 
William  Crisswell, 
Sam.  M'Clelland, 
Lewis  Goodwin, 
Jos.  Garwood, 
Willis  Avery, 
Jesse  Halderman, 
Charles  Williams, 
Aaron  Burleson, 
William  Standefer, 
Calvin  Gage, 

Thos.  A.  Graves. 


Gernett  E.  Brown, 
Robert  M.  Cravens, 
Walker  Wilson, 
Prior  Holden, 
Thos.  H.  Mays, 
A.  M.  Highsmith, 
James  Curtis, 
Thos.  M.  Dennis, 
James  R.  Pace, 
John  Hobson, 
V.  M.  Bain, 
Robert  Hood, 
Martin  Walker, 
Dugald  M'Lean, 


Company  D. 

MOSELEY  BAKER Captain. 

J.  P.  BORDEN I st  Lieutenant. 

JOHN  PETTUS id  Lieutenant. 

JOSEPH  BAKER ist  Sergeant. 

E.  O.  PETTUS id  Sergeant. 

M.  A.  BRYAN ^d  Sergeant. 

JAMES  BELL \st  Corporal. 

JAMES  FRIEL id  Corporal. 

ISAAC  L.  HILL ^d  Corporal. 


O.  D.  Anderson, 
J.  B.  Alexander, 
John  Beachom, 
T.  H.  Bell, 
S.  R.  Bostic, 
P.  P.  Borden, 
J.  Carter, 
Samuel  Davis, 
G.  W.  Davis, 
J.  R.' Foster, 
A.  Greenlaw, 

Fowler, 

Hugh  Frazier, 


PRIVATES. 

Robert  Moore, 
Jos.  McCrabb, 
Louis  Rorder, 
V.  W.  Swearengen, 
Jos.  Vermilion, 
I.  E.  Watkins, 
A.  W.  Wolsey, 
W.  R.  Williams, 
Ellison  York, 
Patrick  Usher, 
J.  S.  Menifee, 
Paul  Scarbrough, 
John  Flick, 


Wm.  Bernbeck, 

Millett, 

Philip  Stroth, 
Andreas  Voyel, 
Nicholas  Peck, 
Wm.  Hawkins, 
John  Duncan, 
Geo.  Sutherland, 
Thos.  Gay, 
Joseph  Miller, 
G.  W.  Gardner, 
Wm.  Mock, 
S.  H.  Isbel, 


668  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

William  Isbell,  J.  H.  Money,  McHenry  Winburn,* 

R.  Kleburg,  Allen  Ingraham,  T.  R.  Jackson,* 

James  Tarlton,  Weppler,  D.  D.  D.  Baker.* 

Mat.  Kuykendall,  John  Marshall, 

Company  K. 

R.  J.  CALDER _  Captain. 

JOHN  SHARPE u/  Lieutenant. 

M..  A.  BlNGHAM i st  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

B.  Brigham,  J.  Hall,  W.  P.  Scott, 

J.  Conner,  E.  B.  Halstead,  R.  Crawford, 

F.  S.  Cooke,  J.  W.  Hassell,  S.  B.  Mitchell, 

T.  Cooke,  W.  Lambert,  B.  F.  Fitch, 

S.  Conner,  B.  Mims,  W.  W.  Gant, 

Geo.  J.  Johnstone,  W.  Muir,  J.  S.  Edgar, 

Granville  Mills,  P.  D.  M'Neil,  J.  Smith, 

Elias  Baker,  C.  Malone,  T.  D.  Owen, 

H.  Dibble,  J.  Plunkett,  W.  Hale, 

T.  M.  Fowler,  W.  P.  Reese,  A.  G.  Butts, 

H.  Fields,  C.  K.  Reese,  D.  Dederick, 

B.  C.  Franklin,  J.  A.  Spicer,  C.  Forrister, 

J.  Green,  H.  Stonfer,  W.  K.  Denham. 

W.  C.  Hogg,  J.  Threadgill, 

Company  F. 

WM.  J.  E.  HEARD Captazn. 

WM.  EASTLAND ist  Lieutenant 

ELI  MERCER. ist  Sergeant. 

WILSON  LlGHTFOOT 2d  Sergeant. 

ALFRED  KELSO ist  Corporal. 

ELIJAH  MERCER .' 2d  Corporal. 

PRIVATES. 

Robert  M'Laughlin,  D.  Dunham,  P.  B.  O'Conner, 

Leroy  Wilkinson,  Wm.  Passe,  Thos.  Ryons, 

Wm.  Lightfoot,  James  S.  Lester,  John  Lewis, 

Daniel  Miller,  Fidelie  Breeding,  Jos.  Highland, 

Jesse  Robinson,  Christian  Winner,  Leander  Beeson, 

Josiah  Hagans,  J.  Robinson,  Andrew  Sennatt, 

John  M'Crab,  James  Nelson,  S.  T.  Foley, 

Maxwell  Steel,  John  Tumlinson,  Allen  Jones, 

John  Bigley,  Francis  Brockfield,  Thomas  Adams, 

Hugh  McKenzie,  Charles  M.  Henry,  Mitchell  Putnam, 

Jos.  Elinger,  James  Byrd,  T.  M.  Hardiman, 

John  Halliet,  Nathaniel  Reid,  Chas.  Thompson, 

Wm.  Waters. 

*  Officers  belonging  to  the  Regular  service. 


•  Volunteers  of  Companies  K,  F,  and  H  in  Battle.    669 

Company  H. 

WM.  W.  HILL Captain.* 

R.  STEVENSON Commanding  Company. 

H,  H.  SwiSHER i st  Lieutenant. 

C.  RANEY \st  Sergeant. 

A.  R.  STEVENS    id  Sergeant. 

WM.  H.  MILLER tfh  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

E.  Whitesides,  A.  Dillard,  John  Craddick, 
J.  S.  Stump,  R.  Bowen,  John  Gafford, 
J.  M.  Swisher,  James  Farmer,  N.  Mitchell, 
Moses  Davis,  A.  Lesassier,  David  Korneky, 
John  Lyford,  W.  R.  Dallis,  Geo.  Petty, 
John  Tom,  M.  B.  Gray,  James  Evetts, 
Nicholas  Crunk,  James  Gray,  Prosper  Hope. 
Lewis  Clemins,  B.  Doolittle,  J.  Powell, 
Wm.  Hawkins,  John  Graham,  Matthew  Dunn, 
W.  J.  Cannon,  James  M.  Hill,  J.  D.  Jennings, 
Jacob  Groce,  J.  Ingraham,  John  C.  Hunt, 

F.  B.  Gentry,  F.  K.  Henderson,  J.  Lawrence, 
T.  G.  Wilkinson,  Uriah  Saunders,  A.  Carruthers, 

Daniel  McKay. 

SECOND  REGIMENT  TEXAS  VOLUNTEERS. 

SIDNEY  SHERMAN  .  Colonel. 

JOSEPH  L.  BENNETT Lieutenant-Colonel. 

LYSANDER  WELLS Major. 

EDWARD  B.  WOOD Adjutant. 

BENNETT  MCNELLY —  Sergeant-Major. 

First  Company. 

HAYDEN  ARNOLD Captain. 

R.  W.  SMITH '. . .  ist  Lieutenant. 

ISAAC  EDWARDS id  Lieutenant. 

PRIVATES. 

Sam.  Leiper,  John  Yancy,  Crawford  Grigsby 

Peter  W.  Holmes,  S.  Yarbrough,  John  McCoy, 

W.  P.  Kincannon,  Thos.  G.  Box,  Dickinson  Parker, 

Daniel  Doubt,  Nelson  Box,  Jesse  Walling, 

John  Moss,  G.  R.  Mercer,  J.  W.  Carpenter, 

E.  E.  Hamilton,     .  Wm.  Nabors,  John  Box, 

David  Rusk,  Wm.  T.  Sadler,  W.  E.  Hallmask, 

W.  F.  Williams,  James  Mitchell,  Thos.  D.  Brooks, 

J.  W.  McHorse,  James  E.  Box,  S.  F.  Spanks, 

H.  Malena  Alexin,  Sam.  Phillips,  Howard  BaiJey, 

John  Marvey,  John  B,  Trenay,  H.  M.  Brewer, 

M.  G.  Whitaker,  Levy  Perch,  Stephen  McLin. 


*  Sick ;  Company  commanded  by  R.  Stevenson. 


670  Houston's  Literary  Remains. 

Second  Company. 

WM.  WARE Captain 

JOB  S.  COLLARD ist  Lieutenant'. 

GEO.  A.  LAMB id  Lieutenant. 

ALBERT  GALLITIN ist  Sergeant. 

WM.  C.  WINTERS id  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

J.  F.  Winters,  G.  W.  Robbinson,  James  Wilson, 

J.  W.  Winters,  G.  W.  Lawrence,  James  Deritt, 

C.  Edenburg,  Wm.  Cartwright,  Matthew  Moss, 

Lewis  Cox,  John  Sadler,  Jesse  Thomson. 

Third  Company. 

WM.  M.  LOGAN Captain. 

FRANKLIN  HARDEN i st  Lieutenant. 

B.  J.  HARPER id  Lieutenant. 

EDWARD  T.  BRANCH ist  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

John  Biddle,  L.  J.  Dyches,  C.  W.  Thompson, 

J.  M.  Maxwell,  David  H.  McFadden,       Cornelius  Devore, 

M.  Charencan,  Thomas  Orr,  M.  J.  Brakey, 

E.  Bellinger,  Luke  Bryan,  Thos.  Belnap, 

P.  Bellinger,  Wm.  Kibbe,  Wm.  Duffee, 

John  Slayton,  E.  M.  Tanner,  Joseph  Ellender, 

Patrick  Carnel,  H.  R.  Williams,  Wm.  Smith, 

Wm.  M.  Smith,  Michael  Pevetoe,  Wm.  Robertson, 

David  Choat,  Lefroy  Godree,  W.  A.  Smyth, 

David  Cole,  Joseph  Farewell,  James  Cole. 

Fourth  Company. 

WM.  H.  PATTON Captain* 

DAVID  MURPHREE ist  Lieutenant. 

PETER  HARPER id  Lieutenant. 

JOHN  SMITH ist  Sergeant. 

PENDLETON  RECTOR id  Sergeant. 

A.  W.  BREEDLOVE ?>d  Sergeant. 

G.  L.  BLEDSOE ist  Corporal. 

PRIVATES. 

James  Bradley,  Golden  Denman,  J.  M.  M'Cormack, 

J.  C.  Boyd,  Edw.  Darst,  James  Hayr, 

Robert  Barr,  R.  B.  Darst,  Charles  Hick, 

A.  J.  Beard,  J.  K.  Davis,  A.  D.  Kenyon, 

Alex.  Bailey,  E.  Gallaher,  G.  W.  Lewis, 

J.  J.  Childs,  James  Hall,  J.  Pickering, 

St.  Clair  Patton,  S.  Phillips,  James  Harris, 

Claiborn  Rector,  Thomas  M'Gay,  Wm.  Brennan, 


*  Before  entered  as  Aide  to  General  H 


Volunteers  of  Second  Regiment  in  Battle.        671 

Phineas  Ripley,  J.  A.  Barkley,  Wm.  H.  Jack, 

Thomas  J.  Sweeney,  Francis  Walnut,  Doct.  Baylor, 

J.  B.  Taylor,  Hinton  Curtis,  Thos.  F.  Coney, 

L.  Willoughby,  J.  B.  Grice,  A.  Lewis, 

G.  Wright,  Nat.  Hager,  W.  P.  Lane, 

M.  B.  Atkinson,  B.  F.  Cage,  E.  G.  Rector. 

THOS.  H.  M'lNTiRE Captain. 

JOHN  P.  GILL \st  Lieutenant. 

BAZIL  G.  IjAMS id  Lieutenant. 

ROBERT  D.  TYLER ist  Sergeant. 

JOHN  WILKINSON 2d  Sergeant. 

E.  G.  COFFMAN ist  Corporal. 

PRIVATES. 

Wm.  Boyle,  J.  Campbell,  Placido  M'Curdy 

Benj.  Bencroft,  Cooper,  David  Odom, 

George  Barker,  T.  Davis,  G.  W.  PentiCost 

Wm.  Bennett,  Oscar  Parish,  S.  W.  Peebles, 

John  Clarke,  Thomas  Hopkins,  Sam.  Sharpe, 

J.  B.  Coliant,  Jack  Lowrie,  Isaac  Jaques, 

John  Chevis,  ist,  Cyrus  Cepton,  Isaac  Maiden, 

John  Chevis,  2d,  Ambrose  Mayer,  F.  Wilkinson. 

Thomas  Cox,  Moses  Allison, 

JAMES  GILLASPIE Captain. 

WILLIAM  FINCH , i st  Lieutenant. 

A.  L.  HARRISON 2d  Lieutenant. 

R.  T.  CHODERICK ist  Sergeant. 


PRIVATES. 

John  Sayres, 

Wm.  Fertilan, 

Alphonzo  Steel, 

F.  B.  Lassiter, 

A.  Montgomery, 

Benj.  Johnson, 

M.  R.  Goheen, 

A.  Lolison, 

F.  M.  Woodward, 

T..  H.Webb, 

E.  M'Millan, 

Wm.  Peterson, 

John  Peterson, 

S.  Darling, 

J.  C.  White, 

J.  Montgomery, 

J.  W.  Scolling, 

Robert  Henry, 

T.  F.  Johnson, 

J.  Richardson, 

Elijah  Votau, 

Hez.  Harris, 

Jennings  O'Bannion, 

G.  Crosby, 

W.  F.  Ferrill, 

Willis  L.  Ellis, 

Joel  Dedrick, 

Sam.  Wyley, 

James  Walker, 

L.  Raney. 

B.  BRYANT  

JOHN  C.  HALE 

A.  S.  LEWIS  , 

.  .  2d  Lieutenant. 

PRIVATES. 

Wm.  Earle,                        L.  H.  White,  J.  R.  Johnson, 

J.  S,  P.  Irven,                    A.  M'Kenzie,  William  Pate, 

Sim.  Roberts,                    A.  Cobble,  B.  Lindsay, 


672  Houstorts  Literary  Remains. 

Joseph  P.  Parks,  John  F.  Gilbert,  James  Clarke, 

C.  Rockwell,  D.  Roberts,  Robert  Love. 
R.  B.  Russel,                     Wm.  B.  Scates, 

WILLIAM  KIMBO Captain. 

JAMES  ROWE ist  Lieutenant. 

JOHN  HARMAN ist  Sergeant. 

WILLIAM  FISHER 2d  Sergeant. 

HENRY  REED ^d  Sergeant. 

PRIVATES. 

D.  Brown,  E.  O.  Legrand,  W.  B.  Bennett, 
William  Bateman,            D.  Love,  B.  Green, 

J.  A.  Chaffin,  D.  H.  M'Gary,  J.  Kent, 

H.  Corsine,  Thomas  Maxwell,  Caddell, 

Joel  Crane,  A.  G.  k'Gowan,  R.  Hotchkiss, 

R.  T.  Crane,  J.  W.  Proctor,  Thos.  M.  Hughes, 

Josh.  Clelens,  Benj.  Thomas,  A.  Buffington, 

W.  H.  Davis,  D.  Watson,  James  Burch, 

S.  Holeman,  Lewis  Wilworth,  R.  Burch, 

H.  Hill,  R.  Stevenson,  A.  E.  Manuel. 

George  Hancock,  G.  W.  Jones, 

JUAN  N.  SEGUIN Captain. 

MANUEL  FLORES ist  Sergeant. 

ANTONIO  MANCHACA zd  Sergeant. 

NEP.  FLORES ist  Corporal. 

AMBRO  RODRIGES 2d  Corporal. 

PRIVATES. 

Antonio  Cruz,  Antonio  Cuevies,  Cecario  Cormona, 

Jose  Maria  Mocha,  Simon  Ancola,  Jacinto  Pena, 

Euduado  Samirer,  Man'l  Tarin,  N.  Nararro, 

Lucin  Ennques,  Pedro  Henern,  A.  Varcinas, 

Matias  Cuvier,  Thorn  Maldonart,  Man'l  Avoca. 


*•  ..I*** 


